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LOS ANGELES is home to many fine art museums. As the second largest metropolitan area in the United States, it should. One of those museums is the Craft and Folk Art Museum, definitely a trip that is worth your while when visiting LA. What is unique about this museum is its adherence to the original principles that guide museum thought ~ a dedication to the educational merits of collection. There are several upcoming exhibitions worth noting, but clearly the onus of the director is to educate people from birth to old age on the merits of craft art.
Dora De Larios has been on the art scene for over 50 years. Born in Los Angeles with Hispanic ancestry, she learned to appreciate all things around her as artistic. Her website biography says, “She grew up with an appreciation for both native Mexican mythology and Catholicism, finding the green mountains of her ancestral homeland as exalting as the stained glass windows and sacred sculptures of L.A.’s Romanesque cathedrals.” Armed with this knowledge, she has used it to amalgamate icons from the various religions that should side by side in her travels into divine, mystical sculptures and pottery. The collection shows what the world would be like if everyone could at least honor each other’s differences rather than fighting wars over them. It is only fitting that someone who has worked so long to bring this idea together, to be honored herself with an exhibition of her work over the years.
In addition to this work, Ms. De Larios has worked on a number of international commission pieces, particularly in the field of architecture. Her work has been displayed nationally in New York, Washington, and Los Angeles, and the watchful eye can find various pieces of her work around Southern California from public parks to hotel lobbies. This exhibition is being curated by Elaine Levin. According to the press release, she “is one of the preeminent scholars of American ceramics.” She is a frequent contributor to various periodicals and this is her 11 venture with a museum.
Another guest curator that will add color to the Craft and Folk Art Museum is Bill Stern, Executive Director of the Museum of California Design, who will be exhibiting a collection called Myth and Manpower: Graphics and the California Dream. American culture has long been tied in many ways in which the Golden State has marketed itself, perhaps it because of legends of “gold in the hills”. The Eagles wrote in their song “Last Resort” lovingly of the California allure when they sang, “when the chilly winds blew down across the deserts, to the canyons of the coast, and to Malibu.” It didn’t take them long to find the myth shattered in the song by ending that when you, “call someplace Paradise, kiss it goodbye.”
Unfortunately, the rest of the nation holds the image of California in such esteem that they believe it to be the Shangri-La that Milton spoke of, and this collection studies and attempts to shatter that myth. One of the starkest images presented in the collection according to CAFAM’s website is this description. “Early 20th century California fruit box labels painted a mythical picture of a sun-soaked state with pristine orchards, luxurious fruit, and glamorous women…Not depicted on the labels were the laborers who worked the fruit fields, often under harsh conditions and with few rights. In the 1970s, the United Farm Workers of America created posters in order to mobilize for workers’ rights and expose the other side of California’s agricultural history.” Both are on display and Stern juxtaposes images like this throughout the exhibit. This is a stellar example of the ability for art to draw a stark contrast with the realities of life. The collection is not overtly political, but it highlights injustices that have taken years and years to remedy. This is where politics meets the real world, and the UFW was instrumental in making that happen. It is an honor that men like Cesar Chavez can be remembered this way.
The public programs are not only fun and a great way to discover hidden talents; the children’s classes have direct tie-ins with the work that is on display. For example, instead of just teaching looking at the totems of Dora De Larios, children have an opportunity to reenact how she does it by making their own.
They also have classes that are specific to unique seasonal festivities. Currently, they are running a class on making banners for the revered Mexican holiday Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, a celebration honoring friends and relatives that have gone before us. This is unique in the manner that realistically most children are used to making crafts for Halloween, Christmas, and Hanukkah depending on their schools and places of worship. Programs like this expose children to the blessings of other cultures and provide them with experiences that others may not have.
Children however are not the only ones who leave the world of staid, bland museum experiences behind. To the staff of the Craft and Folk Art Museum, learning and doing is a lifelong adventure, so the adults are not left out. Also linked in with the exhibits on display, adults get a more advanced look at the creative process, by taking part in themselves. For relatively nominal fees, the museum patron has an opportunity to extend their hands on knowledge of the craft under the tutelage of someone who is experienced in that particular art.
Over the next few months, patrons will be able to learn the screen printing process, the way it was used many ways in the Myth and Manpower exhibit. There are classes in Tile Making, Holiday Card Making, and Letterpress Printing. This culminates on November 14th when interested persons can take an all day class on mask making with Dora Del Larios herself. There are plenty of activities that the entire family can get involved in. This is the reason that the Craft and Folk Art Museum is worth the journey, and what sets itself apart from many other galleries throughout the country. |
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The LOS ANGELES County Museum of Art is full of permanent cultures that can captivate and intrigue all museum patrons. It is akin to the West Coast version of Washington’s fabled Smithsonian Institution. There are collections from every area of the world, and in some cases split up into eras in the same place. Here are a few of the many things you will see on a trip to LACMA.
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 LOS ANGELES The Hammer Museum at UCLA has a plethora of interesting projects and exhibitions either showing or upcoming. The schedule is rotating and the work is mostly modern, but all of it is worth the trip. Here are some highlights.
For the sculpture lover, the Valentine-Adelson collection can provide just the trick.
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 WASHINGTON Located in Washington DC and part of the Smithsonian Institution, The Freer Gallery of Art is located at 12th Street and Independence SW. The museum is located on the National Mall which is the grassy area between the Capital Building and the Washington Monument. This museum is one of the smaller museums of the Smithsonian Collection, and features mostly Asian and American art.
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The seventh occasion, in a hundred towns, two hundred programmes and exhibitions
 BUDAPEST The programme series titled the Night of the Museums started in 1999 following a French pattern, and is being organised since six years by the educational and cultural department as an easy, summer night excursion. The aim is for the museums to become meeting places where a sparkling cultural life prospers, where a variety of events provide entertainment to the visitors.
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