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Yesterday I mentioned our friend Steven Murashige’s first group show he’s taking part in, today I’m telling you about another show from another one of our too talented friends as Gelatobaby Alissa Walker puts on her curating cap for the very first time for the California Design Biennial: Action/Reaction at the Pasadena Museum of California Art in Pasadena of course.

Click here for much, much more from Alissa’s gelato heavy blog (including her delicious gelato party courtesy of Gelato Bar!)

Also…the inspirational art and influence of Sister Corita Kent and Jan Steward (Learning by Heart) will be on display as well!

From Gelatobaby:

“Half a year ago, I tapped you all for help with a massive project. I was asked to curate the product design section of the California Design Biennial, a hefty task that sometimes felt like I was sifting through every single design blog post written in the last three years.

Fast forward to six months later and the show is opening this weekend! I don’t want to give away the surprise of what’s actually featured in the exhibition, but I do want to give a shout out to all the amazing designers whose work will be found in the product design section. These designers are doing amazing work and, to me, epitomize California’s unique convergence of high-tech wizardry and crafty activism. I couldn’t be prouder to live in this state with them.”

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Last week (March 3-7) Los Angelenos were treated to Manifest Equality, the massive group art show in support of equal rights awareness. Throughout the week the gallery was open to the public where the works of over 200 artists were on view, Aaron Rose taught a Make Something!! DIY workshop, musical performances by Ben Lee, Seawolf and Modest Mouse and more rocked the opening and closing night parties where stirring speeches were delivered by activists such as Cleve Jones and actors Marissa Tomei and Heather Graham among others.

Click here or on photos to view entire Manifest Equality set on Flickr.

Barry McGee

Robbie Conal

Shepard Fairey

Aaron Rose

Curtis Kulig

Trey Speegle

Jesse Spears in the Make Something!! workshop room

Also…read more on Yosi Sergant’s Manifest Equality brainchild from our Gelatobaby friend Alissa Walker in her article for Fast Company.

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For the denizens of design: My dear design-minded Gelatobaby friend Alissa Walker has been selected to co-curate The Pasadena Museum of California Art’s fourth annual California Design Biennial and is looking for a few good like-minded contributors for the Industrial Design portion of the show. Details and info below and remember, entries due by March 1, 2010.

From Ms. Alis:

“I’ve covered the PMCA’s design biennial for the last few years and it’s always served as a great survey of the state’s design. This year, however, we decided to theme it in a way that was appropriate to these times:

“Americans today live in a world of transformation and upheaval; we are facing a national economic  crisis and worldwide political uncertainties and are becoming increasingly attuned to environmental issues. The designs in California Design Biennial: Action/Reaction will address how designers are responding to these issues and how the products they create reflect the influences of our changing world.”

So, I am looking for a range of industrial design pieces, from furniture to gadgets, which evoke these principles:

1. Visually excellent (this goes without saying)
2. Initiated or furthers positive change:  economic, political, environmental, or social (creates an Action/Reaction, if you will)
3. Designed in California between January 2008 and early 2010 (as in by now)

To help me out, add worthy products—either your firm’s, something you own and love, or maybe something you spotted in a magazine or blog—to the CA Biennial Industrial Design Flickr group (or you can email directly to me, but uploading to Flickr would be really great). And if you’ve got something in the Graphic Design, Fashion, Architecture or Transportation fields, be sure to pass it along to my cohorts. We must receive all submissions by March 1, 2010.”

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With the holidays and gift giving seasons upon us, some generous art shows and events are here to lend a helping hand with giveaways, affordable stuffs and comic books.

• The Secret Headquarters hosts a “one night only” evening with acclaimed artist and creator of Hellboy, Mike Mignola, at their Silver Lake comic book store. In addition, “SHQ will also be offering a limited edition Mignola illustrated 3 color letterpress print made specifically for this show. The prints feature never before seen Hellboy artwork by Mike Mignola with color supervision by Dave Stewart.”

• Sonja Rasula once again gives us her uniquely locally independent design show which features direct shopping from over 300 designers and artists, in support of local design as well as our economy, with the UNIQUE LA Holiday Show. Admission not only gets you re-entry through the weekend and a free drink, but also a free tote with exclusive artwork by Shepard Fairey’s Studio No. 1. Also our Gelatobaby friend Alissa Walker will be on hand to help you do the robot, ornaments that is.

• To commemorate the DVD release of our film, Beautiful Losers, director Aaron Rose will be coming on hand to introduce Beautiful Losers Shorts, rare films by the artists and friends of the film. Screening at The Cinefamily on Fairfax, this special presentation features works Mike Mills, Harmony Korine, Thomas Campbell, Geoff McFetridge, Cheryl Dunn, Chris Johanson, Stephen Powers, Spike Jonze, Clare E. Rojas, Tobin Yelland, Jo Jackson and more!

(flyer design once again creatively crafted by Keith Scharwath)

• Giant Robot’s ever affordable cash and carry show is back at GR2 with Post It 4 featuring new work on post its by Gary Baseman, Bob Dob, Evah Fan, Matt Furie, Ryan Heshka, Travis Lampe, Johnny Ryan, Souther Salazar, Deth P. Sun and many, many more. Prices vary between $5.00 and $100.00 - but most pieces priced at $20.00. Limit one piece from each artist on opening night.

• Deck the Halls with Tony Alva for a charitable silent art auction and 4 Year Anniversary Celebration at his Exhibit A Gallery on Fairfax. Featuring artwork from skateboarders Christian Hosoi, Wynn Miller, Mark Gonzalez and many more. RSVP a must!

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This Sunday through next Saturday walk with a street walker, Alissa Walker that is. To commemorate the release of her New York walking guide, City Walks Architecture: New York published by Chronicle Books, the Gelatobaby herself will be taking you on a specially guided walking tour through the mean streets of the Big Apple. On the (free) personally guided tours throughout the week, Alissa will take you through “the fantastic structures left behind by the 1964 World’s Fair” in Queens to a “brisk early morning walk over the Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan to see New York rising in all its glory” to “a leisurely stroll up New York’s public space pride-and-joy, the converted railway corridor now known as The High Line, recently named to the GOOD 100 as one of the people, projects or places changing our world.” For more take a hike over to Gelatobaby.com

Here’s the full schedule of Alissa Walker’s walking adventures:

Sunday, October 18
A World of Tomorrow in Queens: Space-Age Adventures for Pint-Size Walkers/Pre-Walkers
Sponsored by Core77
Bring the kids (and strollers) for this walk as we wander through the fantastic structures left behind by the 1964 World’s Fair. We’ll be joined by World’s Fair enthusiast and designer Andrew Sloat who will tell us about the ongoing work to preserve the New York State Pavilion. And we’ll end at the New York Hall of Science for a round of Rocket Park Mini Golf ($6 for adults/$5 for children 6+) and astronaut ice cream.
1pm Meet at Willets Point Blvd – Shea Stadium Station [7], Queens

Monday, October 19
Sustainable Skyscrapers: Times Square Goes Green
Sponsored by Worldstudio & SVA MFA in Interaction Design
Join Alissa and a group of special guests, including Glenn Weiss, manager of public art and design for Times Square Alliance, as we learn about the reactive interiors and intelligent materials that make up the Bank of America Tower and six more of the city’s greenest buildings. We’ll find out how this unlikely corner of the city is going green, from low-energy LEDs to pocket parks in closed streets. Then we’ll head to SVA’s Interaction Design HQ for eco-friendly refreshments.
6pm Meet outside the Bank of America Tower at One Bryant Park (corner of Sixth Avenue

& 42nd Street)
8pm Reception at SVA MFA in Interaction Design, 132 W 21 Street, 6th floor

Tuesday, October 20
Official Release Party at Jen Bekman Gallery & Rising Lower East Side Walk
Sponsored by ForYourArt
Join us at Jen Bekman Gallery for drinks, carb-loading and and Hosang Park’s photography, then stroll through the ever-changing Lower East Side with special stops at the New Museum, Red Square, BLUE, the Hotel on Rivington, Storefront for Art & Architecture and more. Then we’ll head back to Jen Bekman Gallery for four special New York-inspired flavors of gelato from il laboratorio del gelato. Purchase a copy on-site and Alissa will sign your favorite neighborhood!
6pm Meet at Jen Bekman Gallery, 6 Spring Street
7-8:30pm Walk through the LES
8:30pm Gelato reception at Jen Bekman Gallery

Wednesday, October 21
The Brooklyn Bridge Before Breakfast
Sponsored by Chronicle Books
Don’t miss this brisk early morning walk over the Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan to see New York rising in all its glory. And gosh darn it if we don’t find some breakfast ice cream on the other side. We’ll be finished by 8am, just in time for you to head to work.
7am Meet outside the High Street Station [A/C], Brooklyn

Thursday, October 22
Broadway Skyscrapers: How New York Got High
Sponsored by The Architect’s Newspaper
Pack a picnic for this one-hour lunchtime walk that starts at Bowling Green Park and marches up Lower Broadway, revealing the Gossip Girl-worthy back-stabbing backstory behind the battling buildings (and architects) who attempted to keep topping each other during the skyscraper race of the early 1900’s.
12pm Meet outside the Bowling Green Station [4/5]

Friday, October 23
Midtown Modernism: Then & Now
Sponsored by SVA MFA in Design Criticism
Wear your Mad Men finest for this evening walk to see some of the city’s modern masterpieces, as Alissa narrates with excerpts from reviews of each building that were published at the time of completion. Includes the “Slaughter on Sixth,” MoMA, Lever Building, Seagram Building and a few lesser-known/secret spots, followed by Gordon Bunshaft-approved martinis and Mies van der Gelato.
6pm Meet in front of the Time & Life statue at the Time-Life Building, 1271 Avenue of the Americas

Saturday, October 24
The High Line: A Rail Good Idea
Sponsored by GOOD
A leisurely stroll up New York’s public space pride-and-joy, the converted railway corridor now known as The High Line, recently named to the GOOD 100 as one of the people, projects or places changing our world. We’ll also be gawking at the spanking-new architecture sprouting up around New York’s “Starchitect Row,” followed by gelato in the shape of Frank Gehry’s InterActiveCorp Building. Kids absolutely welcome!
11am Meet at the southern terminus of the High Line, at the corner of Gansevoort & Washington

Lost? Left behind? Raining? Canceling? Wanna meet the tour already in progress? Simply check my Twitter updates or send me a message at @gelatobaby

Also check out Alissa’s coverage of City Walks Architecture: New York which is now on sale at bookstores everywhere as well as online at Amazon.com!

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With their fresh locally grown produce, independent vendors and hours or operation that usually directly coincide with your workday, farmers’ markets have been a Los Angeles staple for 30 years now. This Thursday’s celebration of the LA institutions will be held at the first farmers’ market, the Gardena market which opened back on June 23, 1979. On hand will be Mayor Villaraigosa to start the day’s festivities, as well as our friends at GOOD (focusing on design solutions for local food) and Fresh Pressed (handing out free vegetable dyed produce bags from ECOBAGS and the crafty hands of Gelatobaby’s Alissa Walker), a salsa Contest, free birthday carrot cake and food samplings galore. A worthy celebration to be happy for, but sadly the farmers’ market schedule holds true as the party only lasts from 10am-2pm in Little Tokyo.

Click here for a confirmed list of the day’s participants and festivities.

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Openings all over Los Angeles, a walking tour that turns into a Big Parade, and a dime bag to take home from New York.

• The Clayton Brothers come home to Santa Monica’s Patrick Painter Gallery with Jumbo Fruit, their latest series featuring their trademark surreal twist this time focussing on the standard issue still-life model of fruit.

• A big two for one opening for Culver City’s LeBasse Projects summer season with Distorted Lens, featuring “Superflat” styled pop artists David Flores and Lisa Alisa.

• Make a move to the group show Momentum, featuring Tiffany Bozic, Chigi (also known as Neri), Ina Kyung Lim, Tessar Lo, Veronique Meignaud, and Brooks Salzwedel at Alhambra’s Nucleus Gallery.

• Giant Robot New York goes tiny for their massive group show Dime Bag 3. Among the over 200 New York painters, illustrators, graphic designers, filmmakers, photographers, and product designers, are Cynthia Connolly, Evah Fan, Maya Hayuk, Rich Jacobs, Andy Kehoe, Matt Leines, Jeff Soto, and Tobin Yelland.

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Ever since GOOD Magazine opened up the doors to their GOOD Space on Melrose for their GOOD.IS/DECEMBER series this month, they’ve been good enough to offer free events open to the public as well as free wi-fi for anyone wanting to stop by. They’ve hosted D.I.Y. workshops, town hall meetings on sustainability, and even film screenings. This Thursday they continue to bring the goods as gelato baby Alissa Walker and Good’s Casey Kaplow host artist Geoff McFetridge and others as they engage in a discussion on how good design can affect our LA community. Make sure to RSVP!

From GOOD:

“Designers love to claim that good design can solve any problem. Join the brightest minds from the vast and varied Los Angeles design world as they sketch out better solutions to some of LA’s most pressing issues.”

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