Friday, April 25, 2014

Member Announcement from Michael Childs

SPARC Member Michael Childs, furniture designer and maker, will bedoing a show in Saratoga, CA on Sunday May 4, 2014. I
Also, he joined the Board of Directors for the Baulines Craft Guild, of which he is a member at the master level. 

He will be sharing a booth at the upcoming Contemporary Crafts Market to be held at the Pasadena Convention Center on June 20 - 22. 

Roy Helms donated the booth to the Baulines Craft Guild, which he holds in high esteem and which will display Michael Childs' work as well as fellow member, Mickey Singer, another master woodworker. 
www.michaelchilds.com

Thursday, April 24, 2014

JT Burke @ Photo Independent



 Jeff Burke
SPARC member and supporter Jeff Burke will be showing more wonderfully wiggly images this weekend at the Photo Independent Fair at Raleigh Studios in Hollywood.
Gala opening Friday night, then continues all day Saturday and Sunday. He will be in Stage 7, booth 201.

Not coincidentally, the very popular Paris Photo is appearing right across the street at Paramont Studios. Dedicated photo fans can put their feet and eyeballs into high gear and see both shows.
Untitled mural.

There will be a large preview of a mural work-in-progress, as well as his first images printed on canvas.  Please stop by and support Jeff.

Can't make it?  See his work online at the website  JTBurke.com












                                                      



 



Sunday, April 20, 2014

ARTISTS AND HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS ADDRESS PUBLIC HEALTH CRISIS








ARTISTS AND HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS ADDRESS PUBLIC HEALTH CRISIS AT “LONG LIVE LA” VIDEO EVENT


The South Pasadena Arts Council (SPARC) in partnership with Freewaves, a Los Angeles-based media organization, presents a free screening of artists’ videos, LONG LIVE LA and a panel discussion about art and health/care issues, Wednesday, April 30th, 7:30 – 9:30 pm, at the Laurie Hendricks Gallery/Burgess Collection, 1504 Mission Street, South Pasadena as part of its SPARC LAB Series.

SPARC LAB is a series of presentations, discussions, and workshops designed to bring together community members who share a common interest in the arts for inspiration, information, professional development and networking.

Along with several videos, the event will feature a discussion about art and healthcare and ways that the arts can influence, bring attention to, and contribute to community dialogue.

“ I have always believed that art and artists are one of several solutions to community issues, and must be at the table during these community conversations”, says Howard Spector, Director of SPARC.


“Our country’s public health crisis has received a lot of attention in the traditional media, yet the problem continues to get worse,” says Anne Bray, executive director of Freewaves. “We thought that artists could bring a fresh perspective to these issues and reach people in a way that conventional PSAs and news stories do not.”

 The event will feature a panel of artists and healthcare professionals discussing a variety of issues related to health and ways the arts and artists can inspire people to embrace healthier lifestyles.

The panel includes:
Cissy Brady-Rogers is a Duke University Integrative Medicine trained health coach. She brings 20 years of experience as a licensed marital and family therapist specializing in eating disorders, spirituality and women’s health to her coaching. In addition to her coaching and clinical work, she blogs on health related topics (www.cissybradyrogers.com/blog) and speaks on mental, physical and spiritual health for professional and community groups. Cissy is a clinical member of the California Association of Marital & Family Therapists and the International Association of Eating Disorders Professionals. She is also a certified yoga teacher, spiritual director, and full of gratitude to be enjoying her twenty-second year of life following breast cancer treatment at age 30!

Dr. Marina Khubesrian, M.D. was elected to the South Pasadena City Council in November, 2011. She currently serves as Mayor for the 2013 term. Mayor Khubesrian values teamwork and works closely with her talented and dedicated colleagues on the City Council, Staff, Commissions and members of the community to preserve and enhance the quality of life for South Pasadena families and plan for a healthy and sustainable future for the City. Dr. Marina supports the work of Physicians for Social Responsibility and Doctors Without Borders globally, National Women's Political Caucus (NWPC), Women in South Pasadena Political Action (WISPPA), and many other "wonderfully active and dedicated" non-profit community groups in South Pasadena.  She is excited to support community efforts to increase healthy food and active lifestyle choices through programs like cooking classes for at-risk youth, health fares for seniors, and health, wellness, and media literacy promoting documentary screenings.  She recently worked with newly formed Healthy South Pasadena Community Coalition to organize a screening and discussion of the documentary, Miss Representation and is currently working with the group to organize a screening of the documentary, Hungry for Change.

Anne Bray has been working at the intersection of public space and media art as a hybrid artist and director of the nonprofit media arts organization, Freewaves.  She is a visual instigator and context provider who teaches new genre art at USC and Claremont. Her specialty is finding platforms where artists and viewers exchange ideas.  Freewaves, a grassroots yet global arts organization dedicated to collecting and connecting innovative and culturally relevant independent new media from around the world (www.freewaves.org).  Eleven biennial festivals presenting more than 3000 artists with the partnership of 125 curators and 100+ organizations have been held at Los Angeles’ Museum of Contemporary Art, Getty Center, Hammer Museum, on Hollywood and Chinatown streets, and have been supported by National Endowment for the Arts, MacArthur, Rockefeller, and Warhol Foundations.  Her own 2013 work involves micro projections of 2 word poems (e.g. sacred and scared) on crowds, ground, sides of moving buses during a public art event at Pasadena City Hall.

Ann Kaneko
Independent filmmaker Ann Kaneko is known for her personal essayistic videos that confer documentary subjects with personal insights. She weaves her intimate aesthetic with the complex intricacies of political reality.  The visible and invisible are entwined. Often involving subjects in other parts of the world, Kaneko poetically treats her home, Los Angeles in close relationship.  In this series inspired by Qigong, the Chinese practice of energy cultivation, she worked with Qigong practitioners and Peter Bill, a respected digital painter and regular collaborator. Kaneko's films have screened internationally at numerous festivals, and she has been a Fulbright and Japan Foundation Artist fellow.

Mark Dreskin, M.D. is a Family Physician with Kaiser Permanente since 1996. He leads numerous teams including Urgent Care Departments at the Los Angeles and Pasadena centers, Southern CA Kaiser Depression Management Protocols and regional clinical research teams.  Dr. Dreskin is an engaging speaker and participates on many national and regional teaching panels. He served on an advisory team to the Presidents' Affordable Care Act.  Dr. Dreskin is a native Angeleno who lives in South Pasadena with his wife and 2 kids. He is an avid musician and writer of skits, screenplays, and a popular twitter tweeter of humorous zingers.
 

Thursday, April 17, 2014

SPARC/SOPA Stage at the SOPA Studios

The South Pasadena Arts Council (SPARC) in partnership with the South Pasadena Chamber of Commerce and SOPA Studios will be presenting four musical groups as part of the Sixth Annual Eclectic Music Festival.

The Eclectic Music Festival will take place on Saturday, May 3, from 2:00 – 10:00 pm at several venues around the city.

The SPARC/SOPA Stage happens at the SOPA Studios, 1025 Hope Street, South Pasadena, from 5:00 – 10:00 pm.

At the SPARC/SOPA Stage we are presenting a fantastic lineup of music.  The acts scheduled to appear include:

*5:00pm            Lisa Finnie

*6:15pm            Shadowlands

*7:30pm            Anny Celsi Band

*8:45pm            Jonah Smith

* All times approximate


Lisa Finnie
Described by the LA Weekly as a “torch-hillbilly enchanteuse” with “hip-chick atmospherics”, local singer-songwriter and radio host Lisa Finnie incorporates elements of blues, jazz, folk into her songs of love and loss. A Pasadena native and a fixture on the LA roots scene for over a decade, Finnie brings her “sultry languid approach” to a rich set of originals and a cover tune or two, and always with a groove.
Joining Finnie will be the stunningly versatile, guitarist-in-demand, Dylan Thomas (Max Collins Band, The Dickies, King Cotton), multi-talented bassist/trumpeter/banjo player, Tim Fleming (Laura Branigan, Yesterday's Child) & Finnie’s longtime collaborator, percussion maestro/harmonica slinger, John Palmer (Wanda Jackson, Ronnie Dawson, Three Bad Jacks).


Shadowlands
This newly formed band’s ethereal folk pop sound combines the voices and instruments of four experienced songwriters. With musical roots in San luis Obispo, Southern Californai and Denmark, Shadowlands is an expression of the universal language of music, the love of good songwriting and tasteful arrangements. Karoline Hausted’s distinctive piano and voice, Mark Davis’ solid guitar and vocals combine with Bob and Wendy Liepman’s vocals, guitar and cello. Accolades as separate artists include the SLO New Times music awards, LA Times Album of the Decade and a nomination for a Danish Grammy.




Anny Celsi Band
Her style has been described as “beatnik cool,” “pop-noir,” and “slightlydelic pop jangle,” and has evoked comparisons to artists like Aimee Mann, Lucinda Williams and Jackie DeShannon.  The LA Weekly recently cited her as “one of this city’s smartest and catchiest pop songwriters.”  Tangle-Free World (2009), produced by Nelson Bragg of the Brian Wilson Band, showed influences ranging from Bacharach to The Bangles and back and was chosen by Al Kooper for his “Cream of the Crop” album list.   Anny’s latest self-produced album, January, once again combines Brill Building hooks with a songwriter’s eye for detail. 
Anny has recently returned from her fifth tour of the UK and Europe, performing with Tish Hinojosa in England, Ireland, Germany and The Netherlands. Other acts she has shared the stage with include The Coal Porters, Steve Forbert, Amy Rigby and I See Hawks In LA. She has performed at music festivals from SXSW to NXNW, New Orleans’ LMNOP Festival, The Bite of Portland and the Blue Highways Festival in The Netherlands.  Several of her songs have shown up in films by Tyler Perry as well as on the ABC show “Once Upon a Time.”
A Southern California transplant from Portland, Oregon, Anny has called South Pasadena home for seven years and is the proud mother of a SPMS graduate, musician Ivan Pyzow



Jonah Smith
Jonah Smith is a critically acclaimed singer-songwriter that is based in Los Angeles, CA. He pulls from the deep well of American blues and many of its offshoots, including soul, country, and folk. Smith is essentially a songwriter with the voice of a soul singer. He has won an Independent Music Award for his song, “My Morning Scene” which was a radio staple and has toured internationally for the last nine years including performances at festivals such as Bonnaroo and the BAM festival in Barcelona, Spain. He has shared the stage with other artists like Los Lobos, & Little Feat. His latest release, "In The Kitchen" was recorded and produced by Smith in his friend's kitchen. The song "Big Umbrella" is currently in rotation at SiriusXM Coffeehouse. At its best, the singer Jonah Smith’s amalgam of American Roots and soul evokes The Band (Garth Hudson’s accordion on an early record didn’t hurt).

If you are a music aficionado, it will be a great day to come to the SOPA Studios and partake of the music @SPARC/SOPA STAGE.  All events are free. Food, Art, Live Music, and fun for the entire community.  Come out to the Eclectic Music Festival

                                       

Sunday, April 13, 2014

Artist Videos Focus on Public Health Crisis




ARTISTS ADDRESS PUBLIC HEALTH CRISIS WITH “LONG LIVE LA”

VIDEO SERIES TO ENGAGE, EDUCATE, AND INSPIRE

The South Pasadena Arts Council (SPARC) in partnership with Freewaves, a Los Angeles-based media organization, presents a free screening of artists’ videos, LONG LIVE LA and a panel discussion about art and health/care issues, Wednesday, April 30th, 7:30 – 9:30 pm, at the new Laurie Hendricks Gallery, 1504 Mission Street, South Pasadena as part of its SPARC LAB Series.
In January 2014, Freewaves commissioned a distinguished group of artists to create videos addressing the public health crisis facing Los Angeles County for a new program entitled LONG LIVE LA. The participating artists are: Mel Chin, Yoshua Okón, Poli Marichal, Ann Kaneko, John Jota Leaños, and The Here and Now (Paolo Davanzo and Lisa Marr). 
Using a variety of styles, narratives, images, and music, the artists have created a total of 35 original videos addressing the issues of heart disease, obesity, mental health, lead poisoning, and overall wellbeing. From Feb. 17 through March 31, the videos were broadcast hourly on more than 2,000 LA Metro buses throughout Los Angeles County, reaching an estimated one million Metro riders daily.
“ I have always believed that art and artists are one of several solutions to community issues, and must be at the table during these community conversations”, says Howard Spector, Director of SPARC.
“Our country’s public health crisis has received a lot of attention in the traditional media, yet the problem continues to get worse,” says Anne Bray, executive director of Freewaves. “We thought that artists could bring a fresh perspective to these issues and reach people in a way that conventional PSAs and news stories do not.”
The evening will feature a panel discussion about how artists can contribute to the public dialogue about health and inspire people to embrace healthier lifestyles. 
The persuasive and compelling videos included in LONG LIVE LA suggest that artists have much to contribute. Following their run on Transit TV, the videos are now on view in waiting rooms and websites of community health clinics and health organizations throughout Los Angeles. They are available online at: http://out-the-window.org/videos and can be embedded via Vimeo at: http://vimeo.com/freewaves.


Ann Kaneko from the Series "Quigon"