Pacific Standard Time - almost 70 art exhibits over six months - proves LA's place in history of Modern Art ... Jim Meskimen and his 75 celebrity impressions ... the Wende Museum in Culver City preserves Cold War history ... Are you prepared for The Big One? Probably not ... "Andy Rooney" reminisces ...
Grand opening for "Pacific Standard Time" at the Getty
This weekend marks the grand opening of the biggest and most ambitious art project Southern California - and maybe the world - has ever seen. For the next six months, 60 cultural institutions and 70 galleries are collaborating on "Pacific Standard Time," which documents art made in LA from 1945 to 1980. The Getty Foundation is footing much of the bill with ten-million dollars in grants, and on Tuesday the Getty hosted the press opening. Off-Ramp's John Rabe was there.
Three places: Pacific Standard Time artist Barbara T. Smith
Since Pacific Standard Time is all about L.A., we’ve asked some of the artists who were making art in the city from 1945 to 1980 to take us to three places here that are important to them. Anywhere. We’re starting this week with performance artist Barbara T Smith.
The first place we went was an quiet industrial park in Santa Ana where—among other things, Smith's colleague Chris Burden took a bullet to his arm in 1974 and called the piece "Shoot". Back then it was called F Space and it was started up by several UCI Graduate art students who wanted to show work they couldn't in at the University gallery.
"It didn't matter if we got noticed," said Smith. "We were there to actually realize work that we otherwise couldn't realize."
For Smith, that was work like Nude Frieze, where she suspended several people on a wall – totally naked –and outlined their bodies before taking them down. She was inspired by traditional friezes seen in old, Byzantine churches.
"They would have images of saints, and say the queen," she said. "You could tell not by their faces who the person actually was. You could tell by the symbols they carried. I felt then that the artist would be anonymous in our time, especially performance artists. Because we were doing things that would happen only once, and it would be over and you'd never see it again."
The 80-year-old performance artist also brought Off-Ramp to Pasadena's Pacific Asia Museum, formerly known as the Pasadena Art Museum. As a child, Smith took her first art lessons there.
"The teacher was this big German woman, and she had terrible body odor. That's the one thing I remember!"
Later on in her life, Smith had married and moved to Arcadia. She became a volunteer at the museum. Her time there inspired her to go back to school and make artwork her full time career.
Smith's final destination was her home in Venice - the first home she had ever owned herself.
"I got it after I had moved from many, many studios, after I got divorced. I went from industrial and downtrodden parts of cities."
Smith rents rooms out to help pay the mortgage - which gives the house a sense of community she says she appreciates today more than ever.
"They've mostly been young people, younger than me, anyway," she said. "Many marriages have come through here. It's really been quite wonderful."
For Pacific Standard Time, Barbara has a solo exhibit at UC Irvine's University Art Gallery, and is featured in exhibitions at the Laguna Art Museum, Santa Monica's 18th Street Arts Center and more.
Jim Meskimen makes good 1st, 2nd ... 75th impression with "Jimpressions" one-man show
UPDATE: Off-Ramp talked with impressionist Jim Meskimen in the fall of 2011. The latest edition of "Jimpressions" is July 21st at The Acting Center, 5514 Hollywood Blvd.
Off-Ramp host John Rabe talks with Jim Meskimen, YouTube sensation, actor and man of a thousand voices, including Robin Williams, Kirk Douglas, Charleton Heston, Woody Allen, Droopy Dog, President George W Bush and Harvey Keitel.
Off-Ramp scoops CBS with "Andy Rooney" retirement message
"Andy Rooney" has long been a staple of Off-Ramp. Here, he muses about his 320 years on CBS, and the people who've made a living imitating him.
Remembering Alan Deane, member of KPCC's extended family
Word came last week that Alan Deane, who attended nearly every event at our Crawford Family Forum, died in a bike accident. Deane called himself "homeless by choice," crafting what seemed – for him – to be a satisfying if unconventional life. Off-Ramp host talks with KPCC's Jon Cohn, Jenny Smith and Sharon McNary about their memories of Deane.
Once word of Deane's passing came around the office, multiple people shared their memories of Deane with each other, and I'd like to share a few of those with you:
Jon Cohn, of the Crawford Family Forum wrote: "Anybody who has attended an event at KPCC's Crawford Family Forum (CFF) since we opened in March 2010 is likely to have seen or spoken with Alan Deane. 'Homeless by choice,' Alan frequented our events, was always the first to RSVP, and rode his bike from Eagle Rock for every program. He developed relationships with members of our staff as well as with other CFF patrons. In fact my father, who lives 3,000 miles away and has only come to two events ever, was able to vividly recount the conversations he had with Alan."
"Based on the reported direction that the bicyclist was going, the time of the accident, and the fact that we had a CFF event that evening that Alan had RSVP'd for, it wouldn't be unreasonable to assume he was on his way to us. Alan attended all but one of our public events in the past year-and-a-half and influenced many of our public conversations. He was an active member of the community we have just begun to build here and will be missed."
Alan appears about 1 minute into this video by WildBell (aka Will Campbell), showing his bike commute on Bike To Work day in 2009.
Sharon McNary, Public Insight Journalist, wrote: "Alan slept in his car, kept his belongings at a local storage place, and said this lifestyle had taken him from being several thousand dollars in debt to having several thousand dollars in the bank. He showered at the gym and ate at church food kitchens. He would give them his food stamps to buy more food. He didn't like the people at the shelters, though. That's why he preferred sleeping in his car."
"The last time I saw him - at a CFF program – Alan told the crowd about how he had been a professional guitar player in some well known bands, but that he burned out on it, accumulated too much debt and put his possessions into storage. He described how he now lived the life he wanted to without external controls, rent or mortgage payments.
"He rode across town the other day and found a tree down in a roadway. He says he spent a couple of hours just dragging parts of that tree off the road to let traffic pass. To him, that was a great, productive day. My takeaway is that there are a lot of ways of being happy in this world, even if by others' measures you're not doing it right. Alan did seem like a genuinely happy guy."
Culver City's Wende Museum explores the human side of the Cold War
The Wende Museum in Culver City preserves the history of the Cold War, but not with weapons, letters or treaties. Instead, the Wende shows visitors how everyday citizens lived on the other side of the Iron Curtain. Off-Ramp intern Lainna Fader visited the museum and talked with Justinian Jampol, the museum's founder.
The museum houses over 60,000 items including books, archival documents, art in different mediums, furniture, films, periodicals and photos from Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union from 1945-1991. The museum makes its entire collection available by appointment for research to scholars, students, journalists, artists and others interested in using their primary sources. Currently, only a small portion of the collection is available for general viewing.
“Some of the most interesting parts of history were not found in the archives. Many things having to do with everyday life simply were not represented,” says museum founder Justinian Jampol. Through his travels and interactions in Europe, Jampol realized that the personal artifacts he came across in flea markets and people’s homes told the story of the human experience during the Cold War, and were in need of a home.
Jampol found that home in Culver City. The museum’s distance from Europe allowed him to acquire objects that might otherwise be destroyed, due to the often painful memories they arouse.
“The museum is a response to the preservation policies in Europe,” Jampol says, “These materials, while they’re only 20 years old, there’s still a hesitation to recognize this as being historically important.”
The need to protect and share the personal stories behind the artifacts drives Jampol’s efforts. As an example , he points to the demolition of the Berlin Wall, which was almost entirely ground up and used for road-building material. He says he recognizes that painful associations with the wall, which separated families and friends for years, might have made it easier for Germans to demolish and erase, but maintains that an understanding of its historical significance needs to be preserved for future generations.
KPCC's Fareeha Molvi contributed to this report
KPCC's Crawford Family Forum asks: are you ready for a disaster?
If the big one were to hit tomorrow, how would you react? KPCC's Crawford Family Forum hosted a discussion to answer that question.
KPCC contributor and disaster preparedness expert Christal Smith moderated. This segment features Smith in conversation with John Pacheco, Executive Director of the Santa Monica Red Cross.
Hard Times, Hard Life, Good Attitude
For our Hard Times series – conversations with people hit hard by the "Great Recession" – Off-Ramp host John Rabe talks with 48-year old Peggy Martin in the front yard of her bungalow apartment in Pasadena.