Friday, October 10, 2008

Art Night In The Daytime

Walking down Fair Oaks Avenue this morning I noticed an empty lot which looked like it was straight out of my days in graduate school. You see, there was an art school in the same building as the Herb Alpert School of Music. They did things like this. I stopped by to investigate. A nice man said I could take pictures.

Art Night Pasadena paper sculpture and sign
The most affecting work I saw was a field covered with human skulls and piles of bones. Ceramics. At least I assume they aren't real remains. (UPDATE: The artist's name is Sierra Pecheur.)

Art Night Pasadena skullsArt Night Pasadena skullsArt Night Pasadena skulls
This previous MM post contains pictures of piles of actual human skulls. (Scroll to the end past all the stuff about Nazis and Abu Gharib.) The pictures were taken by Kristina, the friendly barrista, while she was in Cambodia.

Art Night Pasadena bones
The nice man - whose name might have been Jon Lapointe - said that they were preparing for Art Night. And it is TONIGHT! (October 10). Who says Mixed Meters isn't on the ball?

Art Night is when many Pasadena arts organizations provide art for free all at exactly the same time - so people can wear themselves out deciding what to take in and what they must miss. Click here to see a previous MM notice of Art Night.

In addition, he said this particular empty lot was part of Side Street Projects (http://www.sidestreet.org/) which in turn is part of the Armory Center for the Arts (UPDATE: Wrong!! See Jon's comment at the end of this post.)

Art Night Pasadena Armory Center Trailer
Furthermore, John said this particular exhibition was "off the grid". There were large solar panels. To make sure things would work properly all electrical devices were being turned on while I was there.

Art Night Pasadena Solar CellsArt Night Pasadena Compact Florescent Lamp
This included the fan for an inflatable sculpture called Butt Man. I wonder why it's called that.

Art Night Pasadena Butt Man
Traffic is always a problem in Los Angeles. http://www.islandsofla.com/


Click any picture for an enlargement. Sorry, but I didn't find out the name of some of these pieces or the names of the artists. If you know, please consider leaving that information in a comment. Thanks.

Here's another recent MM post about an Armory Center art project in Pasadena. And about ice cream.

UPDATE: A Response from Jon LaPointe (whose title is Creative Director of Side Street Projects)
hey man, thanks so much for the kind words and great photos!

one detail clarification: we are NOT part of the armory, we're our own 501c3 nonprofit. the armory loaned us their airstream for artnight to house a video/audio installation by doug henry and joe potts. side street projects & the armory are simply good friends and we collaborate and share resources with one another quite often.

come on by & visit us anytime. thanks again!
Find this "empty" lot yourself:
730 North Fair Oaks Avenue, Pasadena, CA
(...the NE corner of Fair Oaks & Orange Grove,on the vacant Lot behind Church's Fried Chicken)

Art Day Tags: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1 comment :

Anonymous said...

I gave them a 100 bucks a few months back. I'm a fan. Missed them on art night. First time I took advantage of the bus lines. Next time I'm going to organize my route with more efficiency. Going as far east as PCC can land you in the land of "long waits".