By Emily Winters and maryjane In March 1974, Judy Baca of the City Wide Mural Project approached Jaya (Sanskrit for non-violent Revolution/peace/victory), an active, uppity Women Artists Collective, to create a mural about the Venice Canals community and its struggle to survive the intrusion of profiteers. Open public tedious meetings and hearings for this mural...
Jaya Mural Celebration – On May 3, the Venice Arts Council (VAC) Endangered Art Fund is celebrating the completion of the Jaya Mural Restoration Project by honoring donors at a champagne brunch. The brunch will be held at Switch Studios where the Jaya Mural is located, near the Venice Canals at Dell Avenue and South...
Venice is a city of artists, musicians and writers. Yet most of them get no encouragement when it comes to survival. A network of support for artists and writers exists in Cuba. Most aspiring artists, musicians and writers go to art or music schools or major in art, music or literature at the universities (which...
On December 19 & 21, Venice Food Not Bombs continued their tradition of resurrecting prominent leftists and bringing them to Venice. KB Solomon brought Paul Robeson’s songs and activism to life at the United Methodist Church’s Peace and Justice Hall. The year before, Karl Marx; this year Che? –Alice Stek
By Jim Smith Sculptor Robert Graham died Dec. 27 from undisclosed causes. He was 70 years old and had been ill for about six months. Graham lived with his wife, Anjelica Huston, on Windward Avenue. He was internationally known and admired by art connoisseurs. Among his works are the 25-ton bronze doors on the Cathedral...
By Jim Smith Earl Newman was back in town last month for events in his honor at Danny’s Deli and Sponto Gallery. Newman has been living in Oregon for the past 35 years, but he has not been forgotten in Venice. The silk-screen poster artist-extraordinaire was a fixture in Venice from 1960-72. His impact on...
By Samuel Brantley The writer has experienced the change in the area’s creativity from what was once free and vibrant to what is now oftentimes quite stifling under the influence of the city’s approach to the new regulations on the lottery system. At first, the experience had been enlightening. It was a time of befriending...
By Mark Lipman Contrary to public opinion, Karl Marx is alive and well … and was living, at least temporarily last month, in Venice. His reincarnation comes to us thanks to the fact that the one thing you can’t kill is an idea. So, in order to clear his name, he has returned to us...
For forty years after the founding of Venice, the area from Windward to the water was the Kinney Pier, the biggest attraction in Southern California between 1905 – 1946. When it was torn down, the beach lay vacant until the 1960s when our very own amphitheater – just like in ancient Rome – was built....
By Stash Maleski The Venice Art Walls are scheduled to be closed to painting starting July 1, when the last of the city of Los Angeles funding for the current program runs out. People painting on the walls without a permit will be subject to tickets and arrest. In an effort to raise funds to...
