This week: Learn about art from Sister Corita; sit with your kids and leading actors for Gotham Reads storytime; experience Hauser & Wirth Menorica - before it's completed -- through the magic of virtual reality; attend cancelled design festivals around the world housed under one online roof; Zoomdance for SCI-Arc; and bid on art for the Venice Family Clinic.
1) Corita Art Center Launches Online Arts Programs/Gotham Reads
Since we can't get to art venues, the venues are doing everything they can to bring the art to us. This week, the Corita Art Center has launched Corita 101, an online arts education program about the wonderful Corita Kent, known as Sister Corita, the “rebel” nun and teacher at the Immaculate Heart College in Hollywood who shook up religious art with colorful Pop-art screenprints. Corita 101 is free to download and is intended to inspire children and their families to continue creating and designing through art. The programs include a K-5 arts curriculum - notably in both English and Spanish - and the Learning by Heart video series, inspired by Corita and Jan Steward's seminal text "Learning by Heart: Teachings to Free the Creative Spirit". Artists from around the world will respond, starting with Will Von Vogt, an actor, writer, and performance art curator. In addition to offering these free materials, the non-profit Center is also providing donations towards the contributing artists so they can continue creating and supporting themselves through this time.
When: Available now
Where: You can find more information about the programs and links here.
Cost: Free
Also great for kids (of all ages): Gotham Reads
Celebrities and public figures are reading children's stories in a video series called Gotham Reads. Launched on April 22 with five titles, new content is being posted every few days with a roster of close to 75 top children’s authors, content creators, screenwriters and performers reading their favorite books and giving a peek into their creative process. First off the block were Tony DiTerlizzi (The Spiderwick Chronicles) reading his book TED, Gris Grimley (Neil Gaiman’s The Dangerous Alphabet) reading Old MacDonald Had a Farm; and actress AnnaSophia Robb (Little Fires Everywhere), who reads The Book With No Pictures, by B.J. Novak (The Office). Of course the illustrations are essential to the children's book experience and the readers are sure to show them.
2) Hauser & Wirth Launch ArtLab Virtual Reality Experience: Beside Itself
Conceived in 2019, ArtLab was envisioned by Hauser & Wirth to create technology solutions for the most pressing issues in the art world, including greater accessibility and sustainability. This week, they launch their first ArtLab initiative: an exhibition modeling tool they are calling HWVR. According to the gallery, initially the primary goal was to help artists visualize the spaces where their exhibitions would be presented without the need for green-house polluting travel, but as Covid-19 has changed the world, the gallery intensified its focus on the art world's migration to virtual space. It has launched what it's calling the world's first entirely VR-based exhibition - entitled Beside Itself - at the site of the future Hauser & Wirth Menorica. Tour the new art center in Spain, designed by Paris-based, Argentinean architect Luis Laplace, ahead of its scheduled opening in 2021. ArtLab will also host a digital residency program at Hauser & Wirth Los Angeles, where artists can learn how best to use VR technology.
When: Thursday, April 30
Where: You can find the digital premiere here.
Cost: Free
3) Virtual Design Festival
Shelter in place has hit the art and design world hard. One of the impacts has been on expos and art fairs and design festivals, many of which were scheduled for the spring. So Marcus Fairs, editor-in-chief of Dezeen, reached out to the organizers to create “an online platform to showcase projects and connect architects, designers, and creatives across the globe.”
Thus was conceived the Virtual Design Festival, marrying pieces from cancelled festivals around the world. Products and talks from the schedules of Design Indaba and Stockholm, San Francisco and Vienna Design Weeks will appear alongside performances and exhibitions from the Serpentine Gallery, the London Festival of Architecture and New York architecture conference The World Around. Planned events for this week include a series of 20 live interviews with leading architects around the world, Dutch design platform Ventura Projects will present new work by around 70 young designers, a chance to experience the best of the inaugural Dezeen Day 2019, the architecture and design conference took place in London, a live interview with filmmaker Gary Hustwit about his work, followed by a screening of one of his feature films about design, and more! You can find more details here.
When: Now through June 30
Where: You can find a full schedule of events and links here
Cost: Free
4) SCI-Arc Main E-vent Fundraiser 2020
One of the design world events in Los Angeles that has had to be reinvented is the annual "Main Event" for the experimental architecture school SCI-Arc. Now rebranded as the Main E-vent, the annual fundraiser to raise money for scholarships, will showcase a selection of student work and f eature a live Zoom dance party, digital cocktail lounge experiences, and other surprises. The school asks you to stand with them - virtually - by empowering the next generation of architectural thinkers to approach the world's complex problems with "creativity, courage, perspective, and innovative thinking." There will also be video tributes presented throughout the evening to honor Ray Kappe and Merry Norris (1940-2020). In the words of SCI-Arc Director Hernán Díaz Alonso, “architecture is always an act of optimism," which is needed now more than ever.
When: Saturday, May 2, 6 - 9 pm
Where: Zoom details sent with registration confirmation.
Cost: General Admission to online party $200 (discounts for students and alumni). You can get tickets here. Can't make the party or want to do more? You can sponsor the e-vent here.
This year's Venice Family Clinic Fundraiser will honor hometown architect Frank Gehry. The 'Binoculars Building' located at 340 Main Street in Venice (pictured here) was built for Chiat/Day (now TBWA\Chiat\Day) in 1991. The building is now occupied by Google.5) Venice Family Clinic Fundraiser Online Auction
Venice and art and the Venice Family Clinic have long been indelibly tied together through the annual Venice Art Walk and Auction which supports the clinic's vision to 'improve the health of people and communities through accessible, quality care' while offering thousands of visitors to the Venice-based studios of famed and emerging artists. In 2019 the non-profit health center provided services to nearly 28,000 people who might otherwise go without care.
To keep the much needed flow of funds in the age of Covid, the Art Walk has moved online but promises to make it a visual feast. The centerpiece of the fundraiser will be an online auction featuring over 200 works by nationally recognized contemporary artists, including Kelly Akashi, Gary Baseman, Jean Edelstein, Channing Hansen, Andy Moses, Ed Ruscha, Kim Schoenstadt, Vasa, and many more. The "walk" will also honor renowned Los Angeles architect Frank Gehry, who was one of the founders of the Venice Art Walk.
When: Online auction open Sunday May 3 - Tuesday, May 19.
Where: The online auction will be available May 3 on Artsy. Limited prints from artists who have partnered with VFC in the past, including John Baldessari, Sam Durant, and Mark di Suvero, are also available here. You can also donate directly here or become a member here.
Cost: Variable, depending on your purchases or donation