Early last year we followed up our documentary Beautiful Losers with a short film just as inspiring and heartfelt about Sister Corita Kent-a revolutionary nun who shared her unique vision of creating art with her friends and students in 1960’s Los Angeles. During a time when the Catholic church was none to pleased with these new and off-beat ideas, Sister Corita excelled. The film, titled Become a Microscope-90 Statements on Sister Corita, was created in association with the Corita Art Center in honor of what would have been Sister Corita’s 90th birthday.
Crafted by most of our Beautiful Losers crew, the film was deftly directed by Aaron Rose; produced by do-it-all-man Jon Barlow; features a hauntingly beautiful original score by Money Mark and Becky Stark; great graphic design by our great pal Keith Scharwath; stellar sonics by sound designer extraordinaire Eddie Kim; Corita’s work come to life through a small After Effects army including Alex Dervin, Max Erdenberger, Miguel Bautista and a ton of other skilled individuals; and edited by yours truly-me (Lenny Mesina).
Graphic design created by Keith Scharwath. See more of Keith’s “90 statements” here.
Corita’s art also received the After Effects treatment courtesy of Alex Dervin, Miguel Bautista and many, many more.
We were also very fortunate to have access to an archive of material made about Sister Corita including films by Haskell Wexler, Baylis Glascock, Cal Bernstein and Alex Singer.
Now our favorite Silver Lake based Beautiful Losers graphic designer who looks exactly like Paul Rudd has teamed up with Poolga to create (free!) digital wallpapers for your favorite Apple and Palm Pre devices.
“A few months ago I was invited by my friend JC to create a few wallpapers for Poolga, a site dedicated to providing quality original artwork for iPads and iPhones.
It became the perfect opportunity to point out the similarities between all the boards (planks, slates etc.) in my life. Head over to Poolga for the free download and never forget to be thankful for the board under your feet (or fingers).”
Drove back late last night from an amazing San Francisco food-fueled (Molinari’s, Pizzeria Delfina) shoe and shirt-hunting (Upper Playground, Shoebiz) art-viewing and buying (Coverage on Le Merde at Super 7 coming soon!) weekend getaway with friends (old, new and bunny-centric) in my former SF neighborhoods only to come back completely drained late last night to my trusty Los Feliz hood. Yet still, the price of a good time in SF is always worth the trip up north.
About the four different covers (above) from Keith:
“For the art in the magazine, we selected many different visual creators to show us their unique perspective on what a neighborhood is. Valeriya Volkova (Brooklyn, NY), Lorin Brown (Los Angeles, CA), Miss Lotion(Copenhagen) and Public School (Austin, TX) all created covers for GOOD’s first multiple-cover issue. You can learn a bit more about the covers here. And they are all available as prints from Society6.“
And a bit of the Scharwath golden touch thrown in for good measure (pun intended).
The patron saint of Los Angeles locals gives back yet again as my dear friend and Unique LA and LA Street Food Fest founder Sonja Rasula brings us Unique LA’s 2nd Annual Spring Show at the California Market Center. Just what is Unique LA you ask? Not only is it the largest independent design and art show in Los Angeles, but it’s the largest show of it’s kind in the entire country! Major props to our pal Sonja for making it all just for us!
Also…the first 300 ticket buyers will not just get the usual entry with a tote bag (designed by our buddy Keith Scharwath), free drinks, etc. but will also get a t-shirt from The Grammy Museum featuring artwork by Paul Stanley of KISS among many other gifts and amenities.
“We’re bringing you 300 amazing local designers/artists/gourmet food trucks just in time for you to buy your mom something nice. Hint-hint. From big names like Anthropologie favorites Salt Swimwear and Eva Franco (all made here in LA) to folks just starting out, we’ve got the best independent talent around! FACEBOOK FANS, BUY PRE-SALE TICKETS to avoid lines (http://uniquela.com/show-info/buy-tickets/).
* Amoeba has joined us with a Pop-Up Shop… Amazing!
* This show’s Artist Series tote bag is by Keith Scharwath, http://scharwath.com/ (which you’ll get with paid admission along with re-entry both days, free drinks and more!)
* Our two cafe areas have expanded to include 3 restaurants (Tiara Cafe, MALO, Gram & Papas) and some of LA’s best food trucks like Coolhaus and The Flying Pig! http://uniquela.com/show-info/extras-amenities/
* On Sunday Luxury at Your Door will be on-hand giving free mini spa services such as hand massages & manicures (omg)!
* Test-drive Pedego’s COOL electric bikes… All weekend we want you to take a ride and discover their eco-friendly transportation options. They’ll be in the lobby! http://www.pedegoelectricbikes.com/
* Our non-profit partner for the Spring Show is GREENWISH, an important org headed by green guru Ed Begley Jr. that raises funds for 9 really important local eco charities. We donate a portion of proceeds to Greenwish, so when you attend you’re helping them too! http://uniquela.com/about/giving-back/
“I made this edition of 20 prints for Aaron Rose’s Simulacrum show that is happening next week in Sydney, Australia at the famous Monster Children gallery. I’m making a few of the prints available for purchase. Skull Print: $40 + $5 shipping in the USA.”
Also…a Busy-Being pop up shop with curated artist made goods will be on hand with a porton of the proceeds going to support for the cause.
But first, more from the Manifesters:
“The MANIFESTEQUALITY Gallery, issues an inspiring, visual call-to-action, with hundreds of artists motivating public energy toward true reform on a local, state and national level.
MANIFESTEQUALITY will be open to the public, Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010 through Sunday, March 7th, 2010 between the hours of 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM with extended hours Friday - Sunday.”
MANIFESTEQUALITY
Wednesday-Saturday, March 3rd-7th
1341 Vine St. (between Hollywood & Fountain) Los Angeles, CA 90028-8141
March 3, Wednesday
10am - 6pm Gallery Open to the Public
8pm - 1am Opening Night Party:
Musical Guest: Uh Huh Her, Fitz & the Tantrums, and more
DJ Sets by: Tim Biskup, Chris Holmes, and Booby Trap
“Art plays a pivotal role in creating cultural momentum, and this is your chance to get involved. The MANIFESTEQUALITY Gallery invites you to join artists from across the nation who are using their voices and talents to amplify and motivate the grass roots movement to fight for full & unrestricted equal rights for all Americans.
Submission is simple and quick. Just click here to submit images of your original artwork. You can submit any kind of visual art: painting, illustration, sculpture, collage— 2D or 3D. MANIFESTEQUALITY will be accepting submissions from Wednesday, January 20th, 2010through 11:59 a.m. PST on February 19, 2010.
Our amazing panel of JUDGES will select up to thirty works of art from among those submitting to the art contest. FIVE First Prize Winners pieces will be shown along side some of today’s most respected contemporary artists, onsite, at the MANIFESTEQUALITY Gallery in Los Angeles, which will run from Wednesday, March 3rd to Sunday, March 7th, 2010.
TEN Second Prize Winners will be selected by our judges and displayed along with the FIVE First Prize Winners in the MANIFESTEQUALITY Online Gallery.
The MANIFESTEQUALITY Online Contest will center on six themes: EQUALITY, JUSTICE, RESPECT, UNITY, CIVIL RIGHTS, and LOVE. Artworks on any one, or all of these themes, will be considered for inclusion.”
Beautiful Losers graphic/poster designer and my good buddy Keith Scharwath is now also a good art director as he guest art directs the upcoming Neighborhoods issue of GOOD magazine. In his new do-gooder role he’s looking for a few good contributors and that’s where you good creative types come in. Get in while the gettings good!
From Keith’s Carwash (obvs cover deadline has passed but content submissions ongoing through Feb 15!):
“Are you an artist or a photographer? We’ve opened up the issue to the greater creative web community through Society6 for visual artists, and Pictory for photographers. What this means in a nutshell is if you are interested in having your art in (or on the cover) of the magazine, you can participate on these sites and your art may be chosen.
The Society6 deadline is end of day tomorrow – Feb. 9th. Click here for more information about participating on Society6.
The Pictory deadline is Feb. 15th. Click here for more info about submitting a photo to Pictory.”
Stephen Powers (ESPO), one of my favorite graffiti artists (or artists for that matter), is currently working on a Love Letter-an ambitious project in which he’s literally painting a love letter to his hometown of West Philly. In conjunction with The City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program, Steve has been outfitting the city of brotherly love with his signature slogans in his uniquely bold style for this “public art project consisting of a series of 50 rooftop murals from 45th to 63rd streets along the Market Street corridor” which has been ongoing since July of this year.
And if you’ve seen our film Beautiful Losers you’ll have a much better understanding as to why this project means so much to the “handmade myth” known as ESPO (see how Steve eloquently puts it in the Coney Island section of the film).
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