Monday, November 19, 2012


   Just a few random thoughts this week...I'll be back next week with GREAT events for December.  In the interim, have a HAPPY TURKEY DAY!


Now is the time for all good men 
to come to the aid of their Country!

   
   This life is a test.  If this had been an actual life,
   you would have been told what to do and where to go!

   
No Man is an Island.

  
  




No Island can be a man.


Where does that leave women with dogs?

   And what about kids...
   who want to grow up to be men or women        
   and work on a farm growing kittens?

Monday, November 5, 2012



This week I am taking a little detour from my usual enlightenment about Architectural events in Los Angeles to make note of the ongoing events at the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust.  I was recently paging thru some family albums and came across a group of photographs taken by my father at the Potsdam Conference in July of 1945.  He was a photographer in the Signal Corps during the war and was fortunate enough to attend the proceedings at the conference where Churchill, Truman and Stalin divided up what was left of Europe and the Far East at the end of the war. You can read more about this at:  http://bit.ly/XfAvuI 


 













These photos depict not only the “Big Three” as they were known, but also images behind the scenes; the press corps and Cecilienhof, the home of Crown Prince Wilhelm Hohenzollern of Germany where the conference was held.  I found these images fascinating and I hope you do as well.

The size of the press corps in 1945 stands in sharp contrast to how the media covers an international event  in the current world of media frenzy!
 










As for the Museum, here’s some background and a synopsis of the schedule for November:  The Los Angeles of The Holocaust boasts the west coast's largest archive of documents, relics and other primary source materials from the Holocaust period (1933-1945). There is a Virtual Tour for detailed descriptions of each area of the Museum on the web site:  http://bit.ly/VPybWk  

The Difference of a Single Day
Photos and artifacts detail Katy Haber’s quest to resolve the mystery of her relatives’ fate and the amazing discovery she made across continents and years.

Erich Lichtblau-Leskly Collection

The Museum’s Erich Lichtblau-Leskly Theresienstadt Collection of original paintings or ghetto-picture diaries is the largest collection of this artist’s work. 

The World That Was Interactive Table

Located in the first room, The World That Was, a large computer touch-screen table depicts the intertwined and rich Jewish community existing before the Holocaust.

Interactive Concentration Camp Monitors

In the combined Deportation & Extermination and Labor/Concentration/Death Camps rooms, individual touch monitors allow visitors to learn about 18 different concentration camps.

Tree of Testimony

The Tree of Testimony, a dramatic array of video screens displayed the final room of the Museum tour, showcases the unbelievable stories of Holocaust survivors.

Where is it, you ask…

100 S. The Grove Dr.
Los Angeles, Ca. 90036
(323) 651-3704

Friday, October 26, 2012

LEVITATED MASS and Architectural Events in November







If you haven’t been to LACMA to see Levitated Mass by Michael Heizer it’s worth the trip.  If you live in LA I am sure you heard of it as it made its journey from Riverside to the museum (unless you’ve been living under a rock and if there weren’t any guards there, you probably could live under this rock).  A good time to see it is on a Wednesday when the museum is closed and there are few, if any, people to block your field of vision.  As the original project manager during my time at AC Martin, I had an opportunity to visit the boulder in its natural habitat at the quarry.  At first viewing from afar, I was not impressed since it was sitting in front of the mountain it had been blasted from, but as I approached it, I realized what a challenge this was going to be to move it and install it on-site in order to create Michael Heizer’s vision.  One gets a similar sensation at the install, as large as the boulder is, it appears to pale by comparison to its surroundings.



 








Beginning of the month time, here are a few going’s on at the A+D  Museum during November.

November 1, 2012
A+D SUGGESTS
Deborah Sussman: "to be"
Deborah Sussman pioneered the field called “Environmental Graphic Design.” Her contributions to “urban branding” have been internationally applauded, and have influenced generations of designers. Come learn more from Deborah’s experience and wisdom during this fascinating presentation.

When: Thursday November 1st, 7.00PM
Where: Art Center College of Design-Hillside Campus
Los Angeles Times Media Center 1700 Lida Street, Pasadena
Admission: Free and open to the public 

November 2, 2012
A+D Event
A+D + CAFAM Joint Admission Day
A+D Museum and the Craft and Folk Art Museum (CAFAM) would like to welcome you to join us for the A+D + CAFAM Joint Admission Day! Visitors will be able to get their fill of craft, architecture and design from two museums along the Miracle Mile every first Friday of the month. Visit either institution and receive free admission at the other!

November 3, 2012
PRIVATE EVENT
A+D CLOSED | Private Event
A+D Museum will be closed to the public Saturday, November 3rd for a private event. A+D will reopen to the public Sunday, November 4th. Questions: Please call 323.932.9393
November 9, 2012
PROGRAMS In CONVERSATION | SEEING ARCHITECTURE
'SEEING ARCHITECTURE' with MINA MAREFAT, PHD, AIA + ERIC SAARINEN

Eric Saarinen grew up in a household where “Art was God,” his father was Eero Saarinen, his mother, Lily Swann Saarinen was a sculptor, his grandfather was Eliel Saarinen, Finland’s famous architect and his grandmother Loja was an accomplished artist and sculptor. His father’s best friend was Charles Eames. Not surprisingly, Eric is a successful filmmaker and camera man with an eye for architecture. Join A+D Museum for a special inCONVERSATION event Friday, November 9th at 6pm with Eric Saarinen as the topics of architecture and film, architecture as visual medium, and growing up under the influence of his illustrious parents and grandparents are explored with exhibition curator Mina Marefat, PhD, AIA.

Admission: $15 indiviudal, $7 Student with valid ID, A+D Members FREE

November 13, 2012
PROGRAMS In CONVERSATION | Grand Illusion Panel
On Tuesday, November 13th A+D will host a panel discussion at 6pm about Grand Avenue, MOCA and new development in downtown, with Dean Qingyun Ma, Frances Anderton, Sam Lubell and other guests. The discussion takes off from a graduate studio, led by Frank Gehry and Frances Anderton last year that analyzed MOCA Grand Avenue in relation to 60 years of urban redevelopment on Bunker Hill. This was part of a series of research-based studios, initiated by USC's Dean Ma, that examine the dynamics of the changing city. Guests will also sign copies of the book that accompanied the studio, Grand Illusion: A Story of Ambition, and Its Limits, on L.A.'s Bunker Hill. Drinks will be served. 
Admission: $15 Individual, $7 Student w/ valid ID, A+D Members FREE

November 15, 2012
PROGRAMS SHELTER : Design for Good Screening and Panel Event
Join A+D Museum for a special in COLLABORATION screening and panel event at the Room & Board showroom. The evening sponsored by Room & Board will premiere new media from Shelter, a documentary media project chronicling architects, designers, urban planners and engineers who are using their design skills to create social change.
Following the screening of Shelter, panelists, led by moderator Frances Anderton, will discuss developments in public interest design, its relevance to the design and architecture professions, and whether the practice and growing interest in public interest design will result in lasting change in the way architecture is practiced.
Panelists:
Eric Corey Freed, Principal, organic ARCHITECT
Eric Owen Moss, Director, SCI-Arc; Eric Owen Moss Architects
Robin Osler, Principal, EOA: Elmslie Osler Architect

Admission: $25 Individual, $15 Students and A+D Members, $30 at the door