Columnists
Meet the minds who make Artbound great. Our columnists span the 11 counties of Southern and Central California. They are authors, writers, artists, curators, rebels, dreamers, musicians, academics, poets and more. The common thread? Love of art and the words to make it come to life.
Thank You for Coming is a new restaurant that is also an artist residency space.
The Los Angeles Unified School District Art and Archive Collection houses precious works of art and artifacts that were gifted over the span of 150 years.
The towns in the eastern side of the Coachella Valley have long utilized romanticized portrayals of the Middle East to shape views of their own desert backyard.
Arts for LA presents a nonpartisan candidate survey which seeks to initiate public dialogue about the role arts and culture play in building communities.
How does modern war mark the California landscape? A single day's photographic record produced on the Southern California coast offers one compelling answer.
David Taylor set out to photograph each of the 276 obelisks installed by the International Boundary Commission following the Mexican/American War.
The collective Cyrcle.'s new show, "Organized Chaos!," showcases its hexagonal and rectangular works that riff on the bee ethos.
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Sergio Haro, veteran photojournalist and editor of "Semanario Zeta" is the subject of the documentary film "Reportero."
The Watts Village Theater Company, the only arts organization that regularly produces live theater in Watts, speaks to the greater L.A. and U.S. community through themes shaped by the Watts experience.
Incendiary Traces lists historical and contemporary border walls to provide some global and historical context for understanding Southern California's contested US/Mexico border.
Artist Adam Silverman discusses the inspiration behind his creation of new pots and sculptures that are currently on view at the Edward Cella Gallery through December 29.
Since arriving in L.A. in the 1930s, William Reagh captured a sense of the city's humanity during its most vigorous years of growth and urban renewal.
Digital pop-up "events" have revolutionized the online efforts of savvy creatives to both share and sell their goods. Social media strategist Su Wu divulges how her pop-up gallery connects artists to consumers.
Artist Wangechi Mutu's recent work is inspired by Kenyan folk tales and her reflection on the exile and alienation brought about by her unresolved visa status.
L.A. based artist Jennifer Bolande's work includes constructed images, photo-objects, sculpture and installations. She talks about her latest show, Landmarks, at the Luckman Gallery at Cal State L.A.
The Glendale Narrows, the three mile soft bottom stretch of the L.A. River, is subject to conflicting agendas from river advocates, private enterprise, and government agencies.
For more than half a century, the Colby Poster Printing Company located in the Pico-Union neighborhood has been churning out the posters seen across Southern California.
Spaces In-Between is a community led project intended to advance broader participation in public discourse.
"Crossfader Playlist" features a sampler of the blog posts, essays, and digital riffs of Tijuana writer Rafa Saavedra. The third installment of an excerpt from Josh Kun and Fiamma Montezemolo's upcoming anthology, Tijuana Dreaming: Art and Life at the Global Border.
Despite OCMA's credentials, many have been hesitant to hear the region's voice in the modern and contemporary art conversation. The museum wants to change that with its 50th anniversary capstone showcase.
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"We Are Talking Pyramids", a public art project, gave young artists the opportunity to work with leaders in many contemporary art fields, opening up their worlds to art forms they had never before encountered.
Art historian Jason Weems examines three mid-century constructions understood as staples of the California landscape: Disneyland, Lakewood, and the aerospace industry.
In the face of budget cuts to arts education in the LAUSD, Abe Flores of Arts for L.A. argues that advocacy for arts education is advocacy for a complete 21st century education.
2013 is the Chinese Year of the Snake, and a number of local artists are celebrating this much maligned creature in their work.
Ruth Wallach examines hand-drawn sketches of mid-20th century Modern architecture in Southern California, an art form preserved in the archives of the Helen Topping Architecture and Fine Arts Library at USC.
SOC(i)AL: Art + People investigates the precarity of workers in our current economy, the relationship of the university to activism, manifestations of art in politics, and the future of Occupy.
Artists Michelle Dizon and Gina Osterloh both create works based on their Filipino heritage. Artbound explores the nexus of their art, in this poetic rumination on identity, environment, and water.
Tony Corley, founder of the Black Surfing Association, recalls his early life on the Central Coast and his lifelong quest for unity amongst Black surfers.
Georgia Jeffries tells the story behind a family heirloom: a handsome weapon that was once in the possession of Tiburcio Vasquez, an infamous California bandito.
KUSC Interactive creates digital platforms, stories, and experiences for web, mobile, and other forms of interactive media.
To trace the trajectory of Southern California art, Artbound is creating a collective timeline comprised of the decisive events that shaped artists' creative development. Today we talk to Los Angeles artist David Weidman.
Artist Steve Rowell assembles a video piece documenting Johnston Island's past. Located 800 miles west of Hawaii, the site was transformed after numerous high altitude nuclear test launches during the 1960s and 70s.
Los Angeles is currently home to a rare constellation of origami projects; one could say that we are experiencing an "origami moment."
A brief history of rockabilly in Los Angeles, a full-fledged regional phenomenon with thousands of aficionados ranging from casual observers to diehard fanatics -- and many are Latinos.
Feedback is a traveling site-specific performance project by the Heidi Duckler Dance Theatre.
To trace the trajectory of Southern California art, Artbound is creating a collective timeline comprised of the decisive events that shaped artists' creative development. Today, we talk to Los Angeles artist Cristian "SMEAR" Gheorghiu.
Janet Owen Driggs reports on "The Del Aire Fruit Park," the first public fruit park in the state.
Orange County painter Justin Bower's oversized faces are steeped in a future dystopia where humans appear to be being subsumed by technology.
To trace the trajectory of Southern California art, Artbound is creating a collective timeline comprised of the decisive events that shaped artists' creative development. Today we talk to Los Angeles artist Sandow Birk.
The Mt. Wilson observatory will host an experimental art show with photographs, two-dimensional art, and performances and concerts all exploring the relation between man and the universe.
Susanna Newbury examines the history of the U.S./Mexico border and its geopolitical importance to the United States.
Regine Basha examines the role of dissonance in Iraqi Jewish folk songs and its validation of her otherness in a culture where she is often misunderstood.
Tanya Aguiñiga explores "performance crafting," bringing the intimate activity of plein air weaving into the public, thus activating spaces and encouraging contemplation of people's interaction with natural and urban environments.
In the final installment, we come full circle, back to Fred Drake, the "gay cowboy rocker" who led us into the House of the Moon.
S.A. Griffin's got a bomb...but it's not filled with what you would expect. Take a tour with "The Poetry Bomb" as his 'disruption' bursts in Venice.
L.A. based artist Jessica Rath speaks about what the fruit has to teach us about current food debates, diversity, and our relationship to nature and art.
This week, we take Weekender to Santa Barbara County.
18th Street Arts Center Artist in Residence Leander Djønne's work reflects his interest in the socio-economic power struggles that occur in industrial cities.
We talk to Mark Allen of Machine Project for the first iteration of our new column "Incubators," which seeks to illuminate the interconnected ecosystem of artistic production often obscured by the high visibility of commercial galleries and large museums.
Tijuana has quietly become an epicenter of avant-garde music in Mexico, with some of the world's most influential music makers eyeing what's happening there.
Tracy Hudak analyzes reports from the Ventura County Community Foundation and the "Local Arts Index" by national organization, Americans for the Arts. The research offers data measuring the health and vitality of the arts in Ventura County.
As its new director, Inland Empire native Drew Oberjuerge has a vision for the museum to be accessible and relevant to all communities.
San Luis Obispo shelters a small enclave of artists and architects who have collaborated on designing their homes for artistic expression and production.
Independent publishing companies in L.A. are growing and blurring the distinction between literature and art.
L.A. designer Victor Wilde sees fashion as the ultimate forum for a literally and metaphorically collaborative art form.
Sue Mitchell made a year-long project of paying close attention to the natural world at Riverside's Fairmount Park, then transformed what she discovered into art.
In downtown San Diego, a series of recycled and modified steel containers create a temporary structure where art and public culture is presented, produced and embodied. Military drones become muses for local artists.
The Joffrey Ballet returns to Los Angeles in February with performances of "The Rite of Spring," one of the most influential works of the 20th Century.
The Coachella Valley Archaeology Society Symposium is an annual event that celebrates Native American cultural and artistic expression.
On Saturday, Nov. 17, a few events will take place at Border Field State Park in San Diego that will call attention to the militarization of the US/Mexico border.
In Palm Springs, the financing of preservation projects is still borne primarily by private investors - individuals wise enough to see how an investment in integrity can also turn a profit.
Corbett Barklie discusses the shortfalls of traditional arts gatherings and the value of alternative convenings like L.A. Ladies Arm Wrestling.
Filmmaker Sharon Lockhart intently interprets the world under her watchful lens.
SOCAL SOCIAL: Art + People is a free, public series of roundtable discussions and weekend events that explores socially engaged art in Southern California from East to West.
Twenty years ago, musician Emilio Morales started La Banda Elástica as a fanzine. It featured huge Latin alternative acts at a time when no other American publication did.
San Francisco photojournalist Candacy Taylor followed her interest in the social dynamics of traditional female work roles to Twentynine Palms and never looked back. Salons and diners are her subjects of choice.
Artists, art historians, and students gathered to draw the most southwestern edge of the U.S./Mexico border as part of a continued investigation by Incendiary Traces.
Elementary schools in "the Southeast" area of San Diego have implemented innovative arts integration programs that have begun to energize schools in neighborhoods that were once left behind.
The dozen owners of wacky Volkswagen bugs that are part of the sprawling VW Classic in Irvine this weekend probably wouldn't be there if not for Adolf Hitler. The world's most beloved car was shaped in no small fashion by one of the world's most atrocious human beings ever.
The almighty Opp, a traveling puppet performance that unfolds from a bicycle trailer, has been entertaining at bus stops and street corners for seven years.
Oliver Wang speaks to Palm Springs native Damien "DJ Day" Beebe about hip-hop culture in the Coachella Valley and how the desert cities are a world unto themselves.
What song comes to mind when you think of the border? The sixth transmission of Borderblaster creates a mixtape for their final live recording event.
Frances Anderton examines the role of guns in American culture since Samuel Colt pioneered the assembly line production of firearms in the early 19th century.
Santa Barbara musician Parry Gripp is the man behind some of the web's biggest memes.
The group Las Cafeteras was born from the Mexican folk music tradition of Son Jarocho. They explore the power of music to build and tell stories from their community.
After a devastating fire in 2004, the Dorland Mountain Arts Colony is being resurrected by community efforts in a secluded natural setting in Temecula.
Photographer and Santa Barbara native Morgan Maassen's career in the surf editorial world is on a meteoric rise.
Mexicali Rose is a creative space exhibiting the work of Mexicali artists, visual art, film initiatives and live musical performances.
In recent years, San Diego has seen an efflorescence of private homes re-imagined as galleries, music venues, and experimental project spaces.
What did California mission music sound like? Cal Poly music professor Craig Russell has spent three decades tracking down the answer.
Artists Mark Farina and Matthew Horne converted a radio telescope to absorb the sun's rays, transforming the waves into audible sounds, high-pitched blips to Yoko-esque wails to white noise like the ocean. It's sun music for desert lands.
In her paintings and photographs, artist Diane Best illustrates timeless desert panoramic landscapes of the Mojave.
Tyler Stallings revisits the 2003 exhibition, "Whiteness, A Wayward Construction," in light of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
Midcentury-modern architecture is back in fashion, but what draws the 20- and 30-somethings? Danny Heller, who paints Palm Springs chic in almost photorealistic fashion, explains the attraction.
Bill Kelley Jr., the curator in residence at 18th Street Arts Center, discusses the future of art institutions in Los Angeles.
Artist RISK has created a vibrant mural called "Ye Sun" on a wall facing L.A.'s Skid Row to bring art to this blighted corner of downtown.
Artist Cristian "Smear" Gheorghiu shares several moments in the history of Southern California that have shaped his development as an artist.
Gun violence is ubiquitous in American life, but hip-hop seems singled out for critique in ways that
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The towns in the eastern side of the Coachella Valley have long utilized romanticized portrayals of
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Atascadero photographer Joe Schwartz, whose 100th birthday coincides with his community's centennial
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Polyglot rockers Chicano/Son visited the KCET Studios for a lively session of their son jarocho flav
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Architecture/ Design
California becomes an international export by redefining the concept of city and home.
Community Arts
Through workshops, education and placed based projects, art is the connective tissue of a community.
Cultural Politics
Funding bubbles, cultural deserts and the politics of access to the arts in the 21st century.
Film & Media Arts
At the shadow of the entertainment industry, video artists and underground filmmakers take a stand.
Literature
Noir, sunshine and dystopia create a multi-ethnic narrative that is read, watched and admired around the globe.
Multi-Disciplinary
Multi-hyphenate works that combine disciplines, remix dogmas, and reinvent the wheel.
Music
A dialogue between cultures, the music of our state serves up the California dream like no other artform.
Visual Arts
Breaking away from the European and New York vanguard, California reinvents the art world.
