#heartofla

THANK YOU to everyone who came out to mark the first voyage of The Ideal X! It was a perfect day to share artwork with our supporters. The banner soared over the party from the side of the new building, providing a colorful backdrop for the diverse pieces we’ve developed over the past five weeks. The message written in maritime flags, “STAY ALIVE,” was certainly taken to heart by the lively atmosphere and the warmth of the summer sun. 

It is the final week of The Ideal X, and the project is coming together in big ways. As soon as students walked in the door, they picked up their shipping containers and got to work. Paint splattered and conversation filled the studio as Carolina consulted with everyone individually to write artist statements explaining the narrative of their containers.  

We have been building these narratives for weeks, and seeing them evolve and come to fruition was awesome. Slowly but surely, students began finishing their containers. A makeshift photography studio popped up in the corner to capture each piece before it’s transformed into part of the collaborative sculpture. 

The few who finished early practiced their curatorial skills with David. Reminders of our journey, from the maps we created with Vincent Ramos to the messages we brainstormed for the banner all re-emerged to be mounted for our Friday celebration. Finishing touches, attention to detail, and a final push have finally brought The Ideal X safely to harbor, and we are ready for you!

Watersheds, containers, and coded messages kept us busy during Week 4 of The Ideal X! Students focused on creating their individual shipping containers, using a combination of pencils, paints, paper, and glue to tell unique stories. Their designs tackle gender equality, ocean pollution, identity, and more. Although every piece is different, they share common inspiration in the complexity of shipping containers. 

After a productive session with our containers, LA Water Keeper joined us for a special presentation and hands-on workshop. We learned about pollution in the Los Angeles watersheds and advocacy efforts like the Creeks to Coast program that protect our water. In groups we built our own mini watersheds out of foil, then polluted them with “oil,” “toxins,” and “feces” (represented by various delicious sauces!) to see how the movement of water affects our environment.  

Finally, we came together to answer an important question: what is The Ideal X’s message to the community? Students nominated short phrases that could be translated into maritime flag code on our giant banner. Eventually two front runners emerged: DO SOMETHING and STAY ALIVE. After several heated rounds of voting, we had a winner-STAY ALIVE.

Week 3 of The Ideal X brings special guests, starting with artist Suné Woods. She gave a beautiful presentation of her work for the students, including the recent performance You are mine. I see now, I'm a have to let you go in collaboration with Fred Moten and James Gordon Williams. We discussed trauma, healing, and how artists find the messages they want to share. 

The Ideal X will include a large banner with a coded message from HOLA to the community. What is our message? The students broke into small discussion groups where they jotted down ideas and talked about what issues they have been grappling with while developing their shipping container projects.  

SAVE OUR SOULS

FEAR ISN’T RESPECT

WE SHARE THE SAME WATER

The students shared these messages with Suné and Carolina, and every group had powerful ideas tackling environmental issues, championing diversity, and more. As we transitioned back into working on our shipping containers, this new direction and energy took hold. Mock-ups were finished and we began to paint, collage, and build elements for the final container. 

We ended the week with a special appearance from East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice. The young leaders explained to the students how pollution negatively affects vulnerable populations at  a higher rate, using examples from their own experience to demonstrate why this inequality happens. They also shared the community organizing work to resist and dismantle these environmental dangers. 

#fightingforlife #wearejusttryingtobreathe #zeroemissionsnow 

Although the second week of The Ideal X continues a deeper exploration into our shipping containers, it is clear the creativity of our students cannot be ‘contained!’ We began the day with a presentation from Carolina about her work as an artist. Feeling inspired, everyone then found their mini containers from last week and received a new shipping container blueprint. This time, instead of maps, we constructed mock ups!

Students built on the images, texts, and resources they encountered last week to plan how they will design shipping containers that will fit together to form a collaborative sculpture. Some worked together in teams, challenging themselves to think in three dimensions while sketching on a flat surface. Carolina and David moved around the table discussing concepts ranging from goldfish crackers to immigration. 

The Ideal X is full steam ahead! The first week of our Public Art Residency with Carolina Caycedo and David de Rozas was thought provoking, creative, and definitely messy. As students entered the space, they were greeted by a tower of mini shipping containers. David presented the project’s connection to HOLA’s new shipping container building, the sea, and the many sides of shipping containers that we will be fitting together to tell our story. 

We were joined by guest artist Vincent Ramos, who shared the power of history and the importance of getting in touch with materials in his own work. Then, each student choose a shipping container. The containers were blank and unassuming on the outside, but inside we discovered plenty of surprises! Images, texts, maps, songs, and all kinds of sources evoking themes from architecture to whales. 

Vincent gave each student a blank blueprint for their shipping container and prompted them to “make a map” collaged from the found materials. Some began a precise layout of physical space, others took a metaphorical approach. Wonderful layers appeared, along with curious combinations of pictures and text. The students were true explorers, armed with scissors against a sea of shuffling pages. 

Alyse Edmur is a versatile artists with success in many mediums, perhaps best known for her series Prison Landscapes. She currently teaches at Chaffey College and California State University, Long Beach. Michael Parker is a similarly diverse artist working primarily with large sculptural pieces who also teaches at California State University, Long Beach. 

They are both longtime residents of the Los Angeles Arts District who have come together to take a stand against gentrification. This issue is close to their hearts, since the couple are currently being evicted from their home and studio in the Arts District. What can artists do to combat displacement and destruction? The answer, of course, is create! Alyse and Michael are founders of the Artists’ Loft Museum Los Angeles, housed in their threatened live/work space to showcase the creative capital being lost.

This week as they pack their own belongings into boxes, they prompt HOLA students to reflect on what they value most in their homes and communities. Over the next five weeks they will be working together with HOLA to explore the hot button topic while collaborating on innovative ways to protect our communities. HOLA’s neighborhood is also undergoing rapid development, so how can we respond to and shape this change?

This Public Art Residency will include guest talks from housing rights activists, many skill-building workshops, and the creation of three massive sculptures that will take to the streets!