Helms Design District

Textile Arts LA Celebrates with a Weekend Summit
2019-09-28 09:30 - 2019-09-29 17:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Helms Design Center, 8745 Washington Boulevard, Culver City, CA, 90232
On September 28-29th, please join Textile Arts Los Angeles for MATERIALITY & METHOD, a summit that focuses on how artists and designers approach material, and how they manipulate, re-imagine, and transcend its use and possibilities. The Summit will feature speakers from a range of disciplines and a late afternoon trunk show aka show-and-tell with cocktail hour. Sunday will feature workshops geared to professionals and enthusiasts, designed to reinvigorate your professional practice. Come discover something new!
Register today.

Helms Sunset Cinema: Back to the Future
2019-09-21 19:15 - 21:30 | Helms Walk, 3270 Helms Avenue, Los Angeles, CA, 90034
Free
Join us on Helms Walk, our pedestrian plaza on Helms Avenue, for our annual Sunset Cinema series. This year we are kicking it way back to the 1980s, with some film classics the whole family will enjoy. Next in the series is Back to the Future, the adventure of Marty McFly, a 17-year-old high school student who is accidentally sent thirty years into the past in a time-traveling DeLorean invented by his close friend, the maverick scientist Doc Brown. Directed by Robert Zemeckis and starring Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, and Lea Thompson.
1985 | Rated PG | Runtime: 116 Min
Come by early to shop, grab a bite, or get your movie snack to go. We’ll provide plenty of chairs, so bring your friends and neighbors for a little free fun under the stars!

Schedule:
September 28 – E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

Special Poster Installation Honoring the 100th Anniversary of Bauhaus
2019-09-19 06:30 - 20:30 | Washington Corridor Gallery, 8723 Washington Boulevard, Culver City, CA, 90232, United States
Free
On Thursday, September 19th from 6:30 – 8:30 pm, please join us for Bauhaus 100, a poster installation and reception honoring the work of this important art movement. We are pleased to welcome KCRW host of Design and Architecture Frances Anderton and Art Center’s Gloria Kondrup, for a discussion highlighting the legacy and practices of the school, with a Q & A to follow.
The posters will be on display until Friday, October 4th during the hours of 10:00 am to 3:00 pm, Monday through Friday. Please enter through the interior parking garage located at 8711 Washington Boulevard.
Originally an avant-garde art school founded by Walter Gropius, the Bauhaus name soon became synonymous with revolutionary ideas and techniques that found their way into nearly every aspect of arts, crafts, typography, architecture, and design. Belief in harmony of form and function over the traditional notion of art emerged from the academic circles of Bauhaus, bringing about unprecedented change to the contemporary art world of the early 20th century and whose ripple effects are felt one hundred years after the birth of this historic movement.
Bauhaus 100 is a poster campaign illustrative of the impact Bauhaus has had on modern, creative society. This commemorative project has produced a growing collection of more than 400 posters made by designers from all over the globe who have one thing in common — a desire and willingness to experiment with their art, connecting them directly to the groundbreaking principles and practices of Bauhaus. Just as in 1919, when Bauhaus’s revolutionary doctrines first brought together artisans and craftsmen from different parts of the world, today’s global design community joins forces in an expressive celebration of the unique phenomenon that is Bauhaus.
This exhibit evolves and grows with each new artwork that is added to the collection. The deadline has been postponed twice, and we hope that the new deadline of March 31, 2020 will allow more and more artists to participate in this poster action. Organized by PosterTerritory, the Helms Bakery exhibition presents more than 70 posters created by a variety of worldwide artists and designers.
The Bauhaus 100 poster campaign is curated by Serge Serov, AGI, Golden Bee Global Biennale President.
Supported by BrandCulture.
The Corridor Gallery, 8723 Washington Boulevard, Culver City
Free Valet Parking is located at 8711 Washington Boulevard, the interior garage adjacent to the venue.

ABOUT BRANDCULTURE
BrandCulture is a brand, organizational and design consultancy that builds strong brands and cultures. They combine insightful strategy, inspired design, leading technologies, and rigorous execution to create significant brands. BrandCulture is proud to support artistic design initiatives and be a part of the Bauhaus 100 Posters Show.

ABOUT FRANCES ANDERTON
Frances Anderton is host of DnA: Design and Architecture, broadcast weekly on KCRW public radio station and podcast at kcrw.com/dna. For many years Anderton produced KCRW’s acclaimed current affairs shows, To The Point, and Which Way, LA?, hosted by Warren Olney. Anderton is a regular public speaker and moderator, and she curates events and exhibitions; these include “Sink Or Swim: Designing For a Sea Change”, a critically received exhibition about resilient architecture for vulnerable coastlines at the Annenberg Space for Photography. She has written extensively about West Coast design for publications including the New York Times. Her books include Grand Illusion: A Story of Ambition, and its Limits, on LA’s Bunker Hill, based on a studio she co-taught with Frank Gehry and partners at USC School of Architecture.

ABOUT GLORIA KONDRUP
Gloria Kondrup’s professional career spans the fields of art, design, and education. As a design consultant she has helped evolve extensive branding, identity, and packaging systems. Companies benefiting from her expertise include Aon, Avon, and Goodwill Industries. As a full-time professor at ArtCenter College of Design, Gloria has been a dedicated design educator for over two decades, shaping and inspiring future generations of designers. She instills in her students the importance of ethical design practices, fairness and equality, and respect for our natural environment. As the Director of Archetype Press, ArtCenter’s unique and vibrant letterpress studio, she redefined the value of typography and analog technology in the digital landscape.

Helms Sunset Cinema: Labyrinth
2019-09-14 19:15 - 21:30 | Helms Walk, 3270 Helms Avenue, Los Angeles, CA, 90034
Free
Join us on Helms Walk, our pedestrian plaza on Helms Avenue, for our annual Sunset Cinema series. This year we are kicking it way back to the 1980s, with some film classics the whole family will enjoy. Next in the series is Labyrinth, a suspenseful fantasy where a 16-year-old girl is given 13 hours to solve a labyrinth and rescue her baby brother when her wish for him to be taken away is granted by the Goblin King. Directed by Jim Henson and starring David Bowie, Jennifer Connelly, and Toby Froud.
1986 | Rated PG | Runtime: 101 Min
Come by early to shop, grab a bite, or get your movie snack to go. We’ll provide plenty of chairs, so bring your friends and neighbors for a little free fun under the stars!

Schedule:
September 21 – Back to the Future
September 28 – E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

Helms Sunset Cinema: Who Framed Roger Rabbit
2019-09-07 19:15 - 21:30 | Helms Walk, 3270 Helms Avenue, Los Angeles, CA, 90034
Free
Join us on Helms Walk, our pedestrian plaza on Helms Avenue, for our annual Sunset Cinema series. This year we are kicking it way back to the 1980s, with some film classics the whole family will enjoy. First up is Who Framed Roger Rabbit, a live-action/animated mashup where a toon-hating detective is a cartoon rabbit’s only hope to prove his innocence when he is accused of murder. Directed by Robert Zemeckis and starring Bob Hoskins, Christopher Lloyd, and Joanna Cassidy.
1988 | Rated PG | Runtime: 104 Min
Come by early to shop, grab a bite, or get your movie snack to go. We’ll provide plenty of chairs, so bring your friends and neighbors for a little free fun under the stars!

Schedule:
September 14 – Labyrinth
September 21 – Back to the Future
September 28 – E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

Arcana Books Welcomes Billy Al Bengston and Joan Agajanian Quinn on September 7th
2019-09-07 16:00 - 18:00 | Arcana: Books on the Arts, 8675 Washington Blvd., Culver City, CA, 90232
Free
On Saturday, September 7th from 4:00 to 6:00 pm, stop by Arcana: Books on the Arts for a book signing and Q & A with Billy Al Bengston, moderated by Joan Agajanian Quinn.
For more than sixty years Billy Al Bengston has been an innovative and integral part of the Southern California cultural scene. A member of the original group of Los Angeles artists to exhibit at Ferus Gallery, Mr. Bengston has made a name for himself over the decades in the varied worlds of contemporary art, surfing, and dirt-track motorcycle racing. From his early Dentos and Finish / Fetish pieces to delicate watercolors of Dracula bearded irises and beyond, his work remains remarkably vibrant and ever-inventive. He has been the subject of several major museum retrospectives, but until now there has never been a single comprehensive book to fully do justice to his prolific body of work.
At long last, from Galerie Neuendorf comes that tome – Billy Al Bengston: Paintings & Watercolors! This lavishly illustrated hardbound volume features hundreds of works spanning 1957 through 2016, and contains a detailed chronology, exhibition history, bibliography, collections listing, and more.

Arcana Books Host Exhibition + Book Signing for Gary Cannone
2019-08-03 16:00 - 18:00 | Arcana: Books on the Arts, 8675 Washington Blvd., Culver City, CA, 90232
Free
On Saturday, August 3rd from 4:00 and 6:00 pm, please join Arcana: Books on the Arts in collaboration with Hubbyco for an exhibition of Los Angeles-based artist Gary Cannone’s Albums by Conceptual Artists artworks, along with a book signing for Forever Now – the limited edition catalogue that documents them! In addition, there will be a special Conceptual Art-themed record party hosted by Mr. Cannone and the illustrious Tosh Berman.
Albums by Conceptual Artists originated as a crowd-sourced online project in which Gary Cannone encouraged like-minded artists to infiltrate popular and obscure album covers with content from the history of contemporary art in a communal act of parody. Begun as a Facebook comment thread, a Tumblr site of the project soon followed and grew to over five hundred album cover contributions ranging from transgressive to silly, from informative to obtuse. Cannone sees the series as a form of fan fiction, a positive creative act often using arcane minutiae linking the worlds of art and music done by and for art nerds. The artist’s formative influences include 70s comedy such as Norm Crosby, Wacky Packages, Carol Burnett, Mad Magazine, and the disembodied PA from M*A*S*H (the TV series). He is a 2019 recipient of a California Community Foundation’s Fellowship in Visual Arts grant and his artist’s book, Time Settings for a Microwave Oven with Broken Three, Four, and Nine Buttons was recently acquired by The Getty Museum. His current work explores the phenomenology of furniture in gallery spaces through the lens of a prop comic.

Get Inspired by Alexander Girard During a Weekend of Screen Printing
2019-08-03 10:00 | Helms Design Center, 8745 Washington Boulevard, Culver City, CA, 90232
On Saturday and Sunday, August 3-4 from 10:00 to 4:00 pm, please join us for a workshop – Screen Printing on Fabric: Pattern Design Inspired by Alexander Girard, with Instructor Carrie Burckle.
In this intro to screen printing class, students will learn how to design, set up, and print basic repeat patterns on fabric using simple stencil designs cut from transparencies. The morning will be spent designing and cutting out several stencils and mixing textile inks. Carrie will demonstrate the registration and printing of a design in repeat. Students are encouraged to print their designs using the registration system or in an improvisational / random manner.
Saturday morning will be spent looking at Girard designs, getting inspiration, using collage as a process for generating ideas, working with transparent layers, and creating layouts. Saturday afternoon will be spent learning about the printing & registration process, mixing inks and cutting out stencils, and testing stencils by printing on muslin. Sunday will be spent printing on supplied material.
*We will take a lunch break: students are welcome to step outside for a quick walk to The Co-Op Market / Deli or one of the restaurants in the Helms Complex, or bring your own lunch. This class is intended for fine artists, designers, painters, printmakers, surface designers and general enthusiasts. Class size limited to 10.
No previous experience is necessary. Students will be standing on a concrete floor when printing. Wear comfortable clothing, shoes and an apron.
MATERIALS PROVIDED FOR USE: Small handheld screens, inks, squeegees/spreaders, plastic sheet stencils, several cotton fabrics. You may bring your own pre-laundered natural fiber fabrics or clothing as well. Printing tables are 4ft x 8ft, with some of the 8 ft length used for material prep.
FEES: MEMBERS $200, NON-MEMBERS $225; STUDENTS SOLD OUT
INSTRUCTOR BIO
Carrie Burckle is an artist, designer, and educator. She has a BFA in Textile Design, as well as an MFA in Fibers from CSULB, where she has taught for the past 17 years. She is also a co-founder of Textile Arts LA.

Arcana Books Book Signing for Roger Herman: Ceramics
2019-07-20 16:00 - 18:00 | Arcana: Books on the Arts, 8675 Washington Blvd., Culver City, CA, 90232
Free
On Saturday, July 20th, from 4:00 to 6:00 pm, please join Arcana: Books on the Arts for a book signing with noted Los Angeles-based artist Roger Herman to celebrate the publication of his new book, Ceramics. Designed by Ross McLain / Art Design Office and featuring a text by Matt Connors, this massive, stylish, and engaging edition is limited to a mere two hundred and fifty copies, and is sure to sell out quickly.

Innovation in Urban Design with Gerhard Mayer
2019-07-17 18:30 - 20:00 | Helms Design Center, 8745 Washington Boulevard, Culver City, CA, 90232
Free
The City of Culver City is hosting a Speaker Series based on 2018’s successful GPU Prelude Series. This series is intended to inform, educate, and create a common dialogue around issues of importance to everyone who lives, works, plays, and/or learns in Culver City. The entire community is invited to join in the discussion! Access a written summary and video link for past events on the Speaker Series page.
On Wednesday, July 17 at 6:30 pm, Helms Design Center will host the fourth event in this series. Culver City welcomes Gerhard W. Mayer, AIA, LEED AP for a presentation on Innovation in Urban Design. Mayer, an architect, urbanist, and Principal at the Los Angeles office of GGLO, will explore how a flexible approach to design and the use of new autonomous parking technologies can enable us to reclaim some of the space currently devoted to parking and develop a more human-scale urban fabric. Stop in to learn what is needed to support this type of innovation in Culver City.
For More Info and to Register

New Date! Arcana Books Welcomes Photographer Bill Owens
2019-06-29 16:00 - 18:00 | Arcana: Books on the Arts, 8675 Washington Blvd., Culver City, CA, 90232
Free
On Saturday, June 29th from 4:00 to 6:00 pm, please join Arcana: Books on the Arts for a book signing with photographer Bill Owens in celebration of the release of Altamont 1969.
Please welcome our longtime friend of Arcana Books, distilling mogul and renowned photographer Bill Owens for some afternoon revelry and drinks to coincide with his brand new book documenting the Rolling Stones’ Altamont Free Festival held in Northern California fifty years ago! In addition to copies of “Altamont 1969”, there will be a limited supply of his out of print titles “Bill Owens”, “Working”, “Leisure”, and the iconic “Suburbia”.
Bill Owens: Altamont 1969 presents a new and previously unpublished series of photographs of The Rolling Stones’ infamous concert at the Altamont Speedway in Northern California. The Altamont Free Festival has become an emblem of the upheavals and aftershocks of a decade of change, and where Owens captured a generation’s desire to stand up and raise its voices against the war in Vietnam, against segregation and racial discrimination, against authority in general. Owens was hired by the Associated Press to cover what promised to be a huge rock concert whose lineup featured the Stones, Jefferson Airplane, The Grateful Dead, Santana, The Flying Burrito Brothers, and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. But when he arrived at the Speedway with “two Nikons, three lenses, thirteen rolls of film, a sandwich and a jar of water,” the photographer witnessed one of the defining moments of the late sixties. The Utopian hopes and innocent conviviality of the 1960s gave way to tension and a deadly violence; as the Stones continued to play and much of the crowd remained oblivious, an eighteen year-old African-American boy named Meredith Hunter was killed by the Hell’s Angels who had been hired as concert security. This book captures the era’s agitated energy that manifested itself in slogans and billboards, sit-ins and demonstrations, and a concert that was treated as a collective rite

A Community Wellness Expo: Designing a Healthy Mind, Body & Planet
2019-06-23 12:00 - 17:00 | Helms Design District, 8800 Venice Blvd., Los Angeles, CA, 90034, United States
Free
SAVE THE DATE!
On Sunday, June 23rd from 12:00 to 5:00 pm, Helms Bakery District is pleased to partner with Leadership Culver City to host a FREE community Wellness Expo and lifestyle reboot.
Join us for a campus-wide day of education, information, participation, and healthy fun. Creating small changes toward a nourishing and beneficial lifestyle are paramount to good health. Stop by to learn about financial wellness, join a meditation session, learn CPR with the Culver City Fire Department, take a class led by the YMCA, come “Walk With a Doc”, discover the benefits of home composting and gardening, or get organized using the KonMari method.
Being charitable is known to improve your health so we’re providing ways for you to give back as well: UCLA will be on site to organize a blood drive in memory of the Culver City Fire Department’s Chief Mike Nagy, who tragically passed away this past September, The Samburu Project will host a popup shop in support of their mission – providing access to clean, safe drinking water, and learn about the Leadership Culver City program and how you can get involved in your community.
Check back for more details soon!

Join Us for a Lively Convo About Design x Wellness
2019-06-20 18:00 - 20:00 | Helms Design Center, 8745 Washington Boulevard, Culver City, CA, 90232
Free
Achieving a healthy and organized life is not easy, especially with our busy schedules. On Thursday, June 20th from 6 to 8 pm, help us kick off LA Design Festival with a lively conversation about Design x Wellness, featuring panelists Amanda Barnes (Louis Poulsen), Nicole Caswell (California Closets), and Lesley Roberts (OceanParkStudio), moderated by California Interiors Editor-in-Chief Kelly Phillips Badal.
6:00 – 6:30 pm Welcome Reception – Light Bites and Refreshments
6:30 – 7:15 pm Panel Discussion, followed by a Q & A
7:30 – 8:00 pm Meaningful Schmoozing

About Kelly Phillips Badal
Interiors California editor-in-chief and Angeleno executive editor Kelly Phillips Badal is a writer and editor specializing in home design, decor, luxury lifestyle, and travel, with 15+ years of experience. She’s been a senior editor at Better Homes & Gardens, Country Living, and Luxury Retreats magazines, and her work has also appeared in Sunset, BBC Travel, and Travel + Leisure, among other outlets. A former New Yorker, she now calls Los Angeles home and loves exploring California with her husband, professional photographer Tanveer Badal, and her one-year-old daughter, Aria.

About Amanda Barnes
As the sales & event manager at Louis Poulsen’s L.A. showroom, Amanda works to promote Louis Poulsen’s designs within the A+D community. After studying interior design at Pratt Institute, Amanda went on to work for two iconic Danish manufacturers, Louis Poulsen and Carl Hansen & Son. Louis Poulsen’s clients range from global architecture firms such as Gensler to homeowners and art collectors. For over 100 years, the company has grown to become one of the world’s leading experts in luminaire design. Louis Poulsen has always sought, not to design lamps, but to shape light.

About Nicole Caswell
Nicole has been in the design and construction industry for over 15 years and hired onto the California Closets team in 2014. When working with clients, she gets to know their personal design preferences as well as their daily routines, helping to create a space that is customized specifically for them. In her work at California Closets, Nicole finds it rewarding to not only create beautiful spaces for her clients, but also strives to achieve a sense of calm through organization. Her goal is to help design better lives resulting in spaces that are lovely, built to last, and efficiently organized.

About Lesley Roberts
Lesley Roberts believes in the power of thoughtful ideas, creative vision, and clarity of purpose to achieve meaningful change and growth. Her consulting practice, OceanParkStudio, provides marketing and strategy services to brands and industries ranging from a luxury furniture company to an arts start-up, from satellite-based tech to philanthropy. She also serves as the Executive Director of Textile Arts LA, a professional membership organization for fiber artists, designers, and enthusiasts.

Arcana Books Hosts a Celebration with Sharon Johnston and Mark Lee
2019-06-15 16:00 - 18:00 | Arcana: Books on the Arts, 8675 Washington Blvd., Culver City, CA, 90232
Free
On Saturday, June 15th from 4:00 to 6:00 pm, join Arcana: Books on the Arts for a celebration with their very own architects, Sharon Johnston and Mark Lee on the release of “El Croquis 198: Johnston Marklee 2005 2019 Folding Time”.
Founded by partners Sharon Johnston, F.A.I.A. and Mark Lee in 1998, Johnston Marklee is recognized for its diverse portfolio of architecture, engaging the physical and cultural circumstances of each project through a precise synthesis of structural form, materiality, and atmospheric light. The work of the firm pays tribute to a specific Southern Californian interpretation of modernism, and at the same time operates at the intersection of a global and local dialogue.
Johnston and Lee have forged a leading role in the cultural discourse around contemporary art and architecture, eliciting design collaborations with distinguished museums, foundations, and artists around the world. Complementing this far-reaching network, the firm’s work is recognized for being deeply rooted in the history and foundations of the discipline. Their work has been exhibited internationally and is in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Art Institute of Chicago, Menil Collection, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Carnegie Museum of Art, and the Architecture Museum of TU Munich. Mark Lee and Sharon Johnston served as Artistic Directors for the 2017 Chicago Architecture Biennial. In 2018 they were named Professors in Practice at Harvard Graduate School of Design, and Mark Lee was appointed Chair of the Architecture Department. They have also taught at major universities including Princeton University, the University of California, Los Angeles, the Technical University of Berlin, ETH Zurich, and have held the Cullinan Chair at Rice University and the Frank Gehry Chair at the University of Toronto.

Arcana Books Hosts a Meet & Greet with Mark de Paola
2019-06-08 16:00 - 18:00 | Arcana: Books on the Arts, 8675 Washington Blvd., Culver City, CA, 90232
Free
On Saturday, June 8th from 4:00 to 6:00 pm, please join Arcana: Books on the Arts for a meet and greet with Mark de Paola as he unveils his limited edition publication.
Mark de Paola was literally born into a photo studio on Cahuenga Blvd in Los Angeles, and grew up splitting time between Los Angeles and New York. His earliest recollections are of watching photo shoots and being completely immersed in the fashion books and periodicals of the time – Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar. Mark’s photographic foundation is the works of his father Alessio, Richard Avedon, Irving Penn, Bert Stern, and Art Kane.
Now based in New York, Mr. de Paola is a fine art photographer who has had multiple covers for the likes of Vogue Spain and Vogue Mexico, as well as campaigns and commercials for Donna Karan, Laura Biagiotti, Neutrogena, Gucci, Brioni, Sephora, Sony, Leica Camera, Giorgio RED perfume, and MAC Cosmetics to name a few. He has directed nearly seven hundred television commercials in the fashion and beauty sector and has extensive campaign and retail experience.
“Created over several years, “Recent Work” includes portrait, nude, landscape, and inanimate object; illuminating de Paola’s memories, feelings and impressions of people, places and objects he has known. Carefully sequenced by the photographer himself, the series invites viewers to leave behind the everyday and journey with him… Provoking us to project meanings into its viscerally striking, blurred and saturated forms. De Paola’s desire to wield the lens as an extension of his own body is clear in the subtle way he escorts us through his cinematic world. “Recent Work” is endlessly fascinating and promises to reward those who visit and revisit it again and again.”

Women's MMA Art Exhibition Opens on June 6th
2019-06-06 19:00 - 21:00 | Helms Design Center, 8745 Washington Boulevard, Culver City, CA, 90232
Free
On Thursday, June 6th from 7:00 to 9:00 pm, please join us for the opening reception of WOMENʼS MMA- MIXED MEDIA ART 2019, a five-artist exhibition that packs a punch.
This exhibition showcases various techniques and materials from five diverse perspectives; across sculpture, painting, collage, ceramic and neon.
Shelley Heffler transforms found materials, discarded vinyl advertising and textured acrylic strips to create woven sculpture, twisting the traditions of feminine crafts with new contemporary forms.
Marla Fields abstracts the human perception, layered and obscured, vibrant and vibrating. Her own vision echoing with the universal. Attempting to connect a disrupted narrative and depict the contradictions of a harmonious yet chaotic new world.
Kaoru Mansour’s delicate, hyper-realistic, organisms are suspended in planes of linear design and boundless space. We are given a macrocosmic and microscopic view simultaneously.
Sinan Revell reconfigures the works of male, surrealist masters collaging female silhouettes on cut-out textures and landscapes. Her Nature Morte installation mixes ceramic with found seed pods. Pink bullets, S&M postures and neon signage portray a glimpse in to the dystopian
future.
Mika Revellʼs work confronts the viewer with an electrifying shock.

A reception, lecture, and discussion with Lucia Allais
2019-06-04 18:30 - 20:30 | Helms Design Center, 8745 Washington Boulevard, Culver City, CA, 90232
Free – Please RSVP
On Tuesday, June 4th, from 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm, Helms Bakery District and the Cal Poly LA Metro Program in Architecture and Urban Design will host a reception, lecture, and discussion with Lucia Allais – Designs of Destruction: The Making of Monuments in the 20th Century

Lucia Allais
Lucia Allais is an architectural historian and critic who writes about the relationship between architecture, technology, and politics in the modern period, with a special focus on global practices and international institutions.
Her first book, Designs of Destruction (Chicago, 2018) recounts the invention of the “cultural monument” as a global building type in the mid- 20th Century. She has published articles on related themes, including: “The Architecture of Mediocracy,” about the design of the UNESCO headquarters, in Marcel Breuer: Building Global Institutions; “Integrities,” about the Salvage of the Abu Simbel temples in Grey Room; “The Design of the Nubian Desert” in Governing by Design, and a translation and commentary of Superstudio’s “Salvages of Italian City Centers” in Log. Allais also writes about contemporary design and about the history of architecture as a discipline, having published “The Real and the Theoretical 1968,” in Perspecta.
Forthcoming texts include: a short archaeology of architectural rendering, in the 2019 edited volume Architecture and Technics; a book project on the ritualization of urban cores in the postwar; and a critical essay on the return of circular form in contemporary architectural design.
Allais is co-leading, with Forrest Meggers, the project “Concrete is 100 years old” which investigates the history of carbonation equation in reinforced concrete, and its consequences for notions of technical time in history, architecture, and the environment.
Allais has curated a number of exhibitions, including Legible Pompeii at the 2014 Venice Biennale and Mixed Being at the 2016 Istanbul Triennale. Her work has been supported by a number of fellowships, including from the CASVA, the Graham Foundation, the Harvard Center for European Studies, the Radcliffe Institute, and the Princeton Society of Fellows.
Allais is associate professor at Princeton University School of Architecture. She received her B.S.E from Princeton, her M.Arch from Harvard and her Ph.D from MIT. From 2008 to 2011 she was a postdoctoral fellow at the Princeton Society of Fellows. She is a member of the Aggregate Architectural History Collaborative, and an editor of Grey Room.

Introduced and moderated by Stephen Phillips, AIA, PhD, Principal of Stephen Phillips Architects (SPARCHS) and professor, director, Cal Poly LA Metro Program in Architecture and Urban Design (California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo)
Free Parking is available at the corner of Helms Ave. and Venice Blvd.
Photos (Above, Left to Right): Lucia Allais; Cover from Designs of Destruction; Illustration from Designs of Destruction: The Salvage of Abu Simbel; Below: Illustration from Designs of Destruction: Ruins of National Museum in Accra. Building by Franco Minissi. Photo by Kweku Obeng

L.A. Zine Fest Returns to Helms Bakery District
2019-05-26 12:00 - 18:00 | Washington Garage, 8711 Washington Boulevard, Culver City, California, 90232
Free
The 8th annual L.A. Zine Fest returns to Helms Bakery District on Sunday, May 26, 2019 from 12 p.m. to 6 pm. in the Helms interior parking garage (8711 Washington Blvd, Culver City, 90232)
This year’s Fest will feature around 200 zinesters, readings, talks, and workshops; zine libraries; the Wonderspace (free, hands-on activities); Playdate (independent arcade games); and exhibitor art curated by Pengu Labs; and MORE!
Take the Metro Expo line to the Culver City station located just one block east of the event.

A reception, lecture, and discussion with Sylvia Lavin
2019-05-23 18:30 - 20:30 | Helms Design Center, 8745 Washington Boulevard, Culver City, CA, 90232
Free – Please RSVP
On Thursday, May 23rd, from 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm, Helms Bakery District and the Cal Poly LA Metro Program in Architecture and Urban Design will host a reception, lecture, and discussion with Sylvia Lavin on “Trees, Mountains and Clouds – Preliminary Notes on Atmospheric Perspective”

Sylvia Lavin
Sylvia Lavin is a historian, critic and curator of architecture and design.
She received her Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1990 and the MIT Press published her first books Quatremère de Quincy and the Invention of a Modern Language of Architecture and Form Follows Libido: Architecture and Richard Neutra in a Psychoanalytic Culture in 1992 and 2005. Her most recent books include Kissing Architecture, published by Princeton University Press in 2011 and Flash in the Pan, an AA publication.
Among her exhibitions are Architecture Itself and Other Postmodernist Myths (CCA 2018), Super Models (Chicago Architecture Biennial 2016) and Everything Loose Will Land: 1970s Art and Architecture in Los Angeles (The MAK/Schindler House, The Graham Foundation, and Yale School of Architecture 2013-14).
She is Professor of Architecture at Princeton University and was Director of the Critical Studies program in the Department of Architecture and Urban Design at UCLA, where she was Chairperson from 1996 to 2006.

Introduced and moderated by Stephen Phillips, AIA, PhD, Principal of Stephen Phillips Architects (SPARCHS) and professor, director, Cal Poly LA Metro Program in Architecture and Urban Design (California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo)
Free Parking is available at the corner of Helms Ave. and Venice Blvd.
Images (Left to Right): Sylvia Lavin (photo by Richard Schulman); Stassen-Nase, Landscape Photomontage by Haus-Rucker-Co; and The Cloud by Coop Himmelb(l)au

Upcoming Schedule
June 4th Lucia Allais (Princeton)

A Conversation and Book Signing with Gere Kavanaugh
2019-05-21 18:30 - 20:30 | Helms Design Center, 8745 Washington Boulevard, Culver City, CA, 90232
Free
THIS EVENT IS SOLD OUT!
On Tuesday, May 21 from 6:30 to 8:00pm, we are pleased to welcome design icon, Gere Kavanaugh. Join us for a reception with co-authors Louise Sandhaus and Kat Catmur in conversation with the design legend herself.
Books will be available for sale during the event and at Arcana: Books on the Arts.
Limited Seating! Please RSVP.

Book Signing + Conversation with Rohina Hoffman and Aline Smithson
2019-05-18 16:00 - 18:00 | Arcana: Books on the Arts, 8675 Washington Blvd., Culver City, CA, 90232
Free
On Saturday, May 18th from 4:00 to 6:00 pm, please join us at Arcana: Books on the Arts for a book signing and conversation with Rohina Hoffman and Aline Smithson in celebration of the launch of Hair Stories.
Hair Stories is a series of excerpted interviews and color portraits of a diverse array of women that explores the complex relationship women have with their hair. Indian-born, Los Angeles–based photographer Rohina Hoffman deployed the interviewing skills she has developed in her training as a neurologist to establish an intimate rapport that allowed for a truthful dialogue about the role of hair in these women’s lives. Though conceived and shot before the #MeToo movement, this salient project presents hair as a metaphor for identity, femininity, and the manner in which women struggle for control over their own bodies in a sometimes misogynistic world. Hair Stories shows that hair is more than just style or aesthetics; it is a physical manifestation of the ongoing hope and history of women.
Born in India and raised in New Jersey, Rohina Hoffman is a fine art photographer whose practice uses portraiture and the natural world to investigate themes of identity, home, women’s issues, and adolescence. A graduate of Brown University Medical School and resident at UCLA Medical Center, her training led to a career as a neurologist. While an undergraduate at Brown University, Rohina also studied photography at RISD and was a staff photographer for the Brown Daily Herald. A skilled observer of her patients, Rohina was instilled with a deep and unique appreciation of the human experience. Her ability to forge the sacred trust between doctor and patient has been instrumental in fostering a parallel connection between photographer and subject.
Aline Smithson is an artist, educator, and editor based in Los Angeles. She is best known for her conceptual portraiture and a practice that uses humor and pathos to explore the performative potential of photography. Growing up in the shadow of Hollywood, her work is influenced by the elevated unreal. She received a BA in art from the University of California at Santa Barbara and was accepted into the College of Creative Studies. After a decade-long career as a New York Fashion Editor, Aline returned to Los Angeles and to her own artistic practice. She founded LENSCRATCH, a photography journal that celebrates a different contemporary photographer each day, has been the Gallery Editor for Light Leaks Magazine, and has curated and jurored numerous exhibitions.

A reception, lecture, and discussion with Benjamin Ball & Gaston Nogues of Ball-Nogues Studio
2019-05-09 18:30 - 20:30 | Helms Design Center, 8745 Washington Boulevard, Culver City, CA, 90232
Free – Please RSVP
On Thursday, May 9th, from 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm Helms Bakery District and the Cal Poly LA Metro Program in Architecture and Urban Design are excited to host a reception, lecture, and discussion with Benjamin Ball & Gaston Nogues of Ball-Nogues Studio

Benjamin Ball & Gaston Nogues of Ball-Nogues Studio
Benjamin Ball grew up in Colorado and Iowa where his mother’s involvement in theatre proved influential. While studying for his degree at the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc), Ball logged a stint at Gehry Partners. Upon graduation, he sought work as a set and production designer for films (including the Matrix series) as well as music videos and commercials with such influential directors as Mark Romanek and Tony Scott. His experience ranges from work on the Disney Concert Hall and small residential architectural commissions for boutique design firms to complex medical structures and event design.
Gaston Nogues was born and raised in Buenos Aires before moving to Los Angeles at the age 12. Frequently accompanying his father to his job as an aerospace engineer, Nogues acquired a fascination with the hands-on process of building. An honors graduate in architecture from SCI-Arc, he moved directly from school into a position at Gehry Partners where he worked in product design and production; he then became a specialist in creative fabrication. Nogues remained at Gehry’s office until 2005 (except for a one-year stint in 1996 as an assistant curator at a fine arts publishing house, Gemini GEL). In his spare time, Nogues flies paragliders.
Ball-Nogues is a collaborative design and fabrication studio led by Benjamin Ball and Gaston Nogues that produces architecture, art, and industrial objects. The studio has exhibited at major institutions throughout the world, including the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; the Museum of Modern Art; the Guggenheim Museum; PS1; Indianapolis Museum of Art, arc en rêve centre d’architecture + Musée d’Art Contemporain de Bordeaux; the Venice Biennale, the Hong Kong | Shenzhen Biennale; and the Beijing Biennale. They have received numerous honors including two AIA Design Awards, United States Artists Target Fellowships, and a grant from the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts. In 2007, the Studio was the winner of the Museum of Modern Art’s Young Architects Program Competition. Recently, their work became part of the collection of the MoMA. The partners have taught in the graduate architecture programs at SCI-Arc; the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and the University of Southern California. Their work has appeared in a variety of publications worldwide including the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Guardian, Architectural Record, Artforum, Icon, Log, Architectural Digest, and Sculpture.

Introduced and moderated by Stephen Phillips, AIA, PhD, Principal of Stephen Phillips Architects (SPARCHS) and professor, director, Cal Poly LA Metro Program in Architecture and Urban Design (California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo)
Free Parking is available at the corner of Helms Ave. and Venice Blvd.
Photos (Left to Right): Benjamin Ball & Gaston Nogues, Installation at San Diego International Airport by Ball-Nogues Studio, Healing Pavillion in Los Angeles by Ball-Nogues Studio.

Upcoming Schedule
May 23rd Sylvia Lavin (rescheduled)
June 4th Lucia Allais (Princeton)

AIA 2x8 Student Competition Exhibition Opening
2019-05-08 17:30 - 20:30 | Helms Design Center, 8745 Washington Boulevard, Culver City, CA, 90232
Free
On Wednesday, May 8th from 5:30 – 8:30 pm, please join us for the Grand Opening of the 2×8 Student Competition, Exhibition and Scholarship program which showcases exemplary student work from architecture & design institutions throughout California.
Celebrating the state’s unequaled diversity in pedagogical directions, each of the participating academic programs select two student projects that epitomize their core vision. As many as 16 schools participate in the annual show.
Participating students exhibit their work at a public venue and have the opportunity to potentially receive scholarships to further their education as tomorrow’s architects.
2×8:Exchange, the 13th iteration of the AIA|LA’s celebrated annual 2×8 student exhibit and scholarship fundraiser, adds VR immersion, a zero waste plan, and an engaging event series to the one-of-a-kind pop up gallery that 2×8 is known for.

Join us for a Reception + Book Signing for Paperback L.A. Book 3
2019-05-05 16:00 - 18:00 | Helms Design Center, 8745 Washington Boulevard, Culver City, CA, 90232
Free
On Sunday, May 5th from 4:00 to 6:00 pm, please join us for a reception and book signing to celebrate the launch of Paperback L.A. Book 3, A Casual Anthology: Secrets. SigAlerts. Ravines. Records.
Paperback L.A. Book 3 is a freewheeling, visually striking book that brings together an unusual collection of texts and photos to create what Los Angeles Magazine called a “genius” mosaic of Los Angeles, present and past. It’s the final volume of the acclaimed Paperback L.A. anthology series, which was introduced last year and has been honored by critics as among the best recent books about L.A.
Contributors include journalists, fiction writers, oral history tellers, humorists, food writers, and essayists from many different decades from 1873 to the present. Writers will present brief readings from selections of their work:
Lisa See on the legendary 1930s Dragon’s Den nightclub, created by Asian American art students, from her bestselling family history, On Gold Mountain
RJ Smith on a 1940s moment when Central Avenue musicians amplified awareness of a Supreme Court civil rights case, from his book The Great Black Way
Lou Mathews on the street racing scene in the late 1960s, from his novel L.A. Breakdown
River Garza on his apprenticeship as a Tongva plank-canoe paddler, from his essay for News from Native California
Rosanne Welch on how the old New Hollywood came up with The Monkees, from her article for Written By
Patricia Freeman on comparing summers in L.A. and N.Y. circa late’80s when pantyhose were an issue, from her essay for L.A. Style magazine
Contributing photographers will be on hand to introduce their photo essays:
Alexandra Hedison (Nowhere)
Warren Hill (The Right Notes)
Ann Elliott Cutting (Motion and Stasis)
Kovi Konowiecki (Hometown Gold)
Copies of Paperback L.A. Books 1 & 2 will also be available, and writers and photographers from those books will be on hand for signing. The launch is co-sponsored by publisher Prospect Park Books and Liberty Hill Foundation, L.A.’s social justice foundation. Culver City Mayor Meghan Sahli-Wells and Council Member Daniel Lee will welcome attendees.

Cisco Home Hosts META Art Exhibition & Auction
2019-05-04 18:00 - 21:00 | Helms Design Center, 8745 Washington Boulevard, Culver City, CA, 90232
Free
On Saturday, May 4th from 6:00 – 9:00 pm, please join us for an evening of art and appetizers benefiting META’s Latinx college scholars who are attending universities locally and across the country, hosted by our newest showroom, Cisco Home.
The evening will feature amazing art for sale donated to META by prominent artists including Shepard Fairey, Karlos Marquez, Joe Reza and Chaco Ruelas. Complimentary drinks and appetizers will be served. Please stop by to meet the META Scholars!
Tickets are complimentary. RSVPs are strongly encouraged and appreciated.
All proceeds benefit the META Foundation Scholarship Fund. The META Foundation provides college scholarships to Latinx youth from Southern California who attend schools locally and throughout the country. This school year, META is supporting 97 scholars.

Arcana Books Hosts Public Issue 2 Launch Party + Signing
2019-04-27 16:00 - 18:00 | Arcana: Books on the Arts, 8675 Washington Blvd., Culver City, CA, 90232
Free
On Saturday, April 27th between 4:00 and 6:00 PM, please stop by Arcana: Books on the Arts to celebrate the West Coast launch of the latest installment of Creative Director Alexander McWhirter’s thematic annual art and fashion journal, Public.
Presented in a distinctive large-format with three different cover options, the highly-anticipated new issue tackles the challenge “We Must Take Action”. Public 2 features seven subjects photographed by Camille Vivier, Jack Webb, Eileen Cowin, Thomas Giddings, Aleksandra Zagozda, Moises Saman, and Rachel Lamb, with styling by Delphine Danhier, Eliza Conlon, and Shibon Kennedy. Notes McWhirter: “The obvious is all around us. It is a void in which everything has been fine-tuned to such an extent that indistinctiveness prevails. “Cool” has become inoffensive and predictable, and taste is easy to place a pulse on. Public breaks this pattern of democratized cool, bringing together a body of work that covers a unique perspective on subjects in life.”
Originally from London, Alexander McWhirter began his career in New York as the Art Director at V Magazine before founding McWhirter Studio. His projects focus on working closely with distinctive collaborators to present a narrative that observes human interaction, be that with our environment or with each other. The story is woven together with elements from art and fashion, the resulting idea is unmistakable and inclusive to all. He has collaborated with Visionaire, Suzanne Geiss Gallery, Cultural Traffic, and Calvin Klein, where he worked closely with Raf Simons and Pieter Mulier on 2017 campaigns for Calvin Klein Jeans, Underwear, and the 205W39NYC RTW Collection Book.

Dialogues: A reception, lecture, and discussion with Dwayne Oyler and Jenny Wu of Oyler Wu Collaborative
2019-04-25 18:30 - 20:30 | Helms Design Center, 8745 Washington Boulevard, Culver City, CA, 90232
Free – Please RSVP
On Thursday, April 25, from 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm Helms Bakery District and the Cal Poly LA Metro Program in Architecture and Urban Design are excited to host a reception, lecture, and discussion with Dwayne Oyler and Jenny Wu of Oyler Wu Collaborative.

Oyler Wu Collaborative
Dwayne Oyler and Jenny Wu established the architecture and design firm of Oyler Wu Collaborative in Los Angeles in 2004. The firm is recognized for its experimentation in design, material research, and fabrication, and was the winner of the 2013 Design Vanguard Award from Architectural Record and the 2017 J. Irwin and Xenia S. Miller Prize.
Their recently completed projects include the competition-winning design, The Exchange, for Exhibit Columbus, a 3D printing Culinary Lab in Los Angeles, and the Monarch Tower, a 16-story residential high rise in Taipei, Taiwan. The office was recently selected by the City of Los Angeles to design the LA River Bikeway and Greenway project, a large scale public project. The office has won numerous awards including, the 2013 Emerging Talent Award from AIA California Council, the 2012 Presidential Honor Award for Emerging Practice from AIA LA, Taiwan’s ADA Award for Emerging Architect, and the 2011 Emerging Voices Award from the Architectural League in New York.
Their book, Pendulum Plane, was published in 2009 by the Los Angeles Forum for Architecture and Urban Design, and a more recent book, Trilogy: SCI-Arc Pavilions, was published by SCI-Arc Press. Both partners are members of the design faculty at the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) and have been visiting instructors at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, Syracuse University, and Columbia GSAPP.

Introduced and moderated by Stephen Phillips, AIA, PhD, Principal of Stephen Phillips Architects (SPARCHS) and professor, director, Cal Poly LA Metro Program in Architecture and Urban Design (California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo)
Free Parking is available at the corner of Helms Ave. and Venice Blvd.
Photos (Left to Right): Dwayne Oyler, MONARCH Apartments by Oyler Wu Collaborative (Taipei, Taiwan), Jenny Wu.

Upcoming Schedule
May 23rd Sylvia Lavin (rescheduled)
June 4th Lucia Allais (Princeton)

Photography for Artists - A Workshop with Cecily Brown
2019-04-24 19:00 - 21:00 | Helms Design Center, 8745 Washington Boulevard, Culver City, CA, 90232
On Wednesday, April 24th from 7 to 9 pm, please join us for a workshop brought to you by Textile Arts Los Angeles and Cecily Brown.
Capturing the essence of your artwork in a single image can be seriously frustrating. This workshop, Photography for Artists, is an evening learning about the best practices and quick tips for documenting your artist portfolio with Cecily Brown, a local Photographer and Artist. Cecily will be leading a workshop on Portfolio Photography, giving helpful tips and answering questions related to the challenges of documenting works of all shapes, sizes and mediums. Notes on Lighting, Composition, Installation Techniques, and Shooting Tips, and much more will be shared, and your questions will be answered!
CLASS FEE $25 MEMBERS; $35 NON-MEMBERSfessional Development, Cecily Brown,
About Cecily Brown
Cecily Brown received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Film, Photography & Visual Arts from Ithaca College. She has worked as a Gallery Coordinator at the Handwerker Gallery of Ithaca College, a Studio Photography Assistant at Maine Media Workshops, and as a freelance Web Designer & Marketing Specialist since graduating in 2014. After moving to Los Angeles in 2017, Brown has worked as a Professional Re-Toucher and Designer at The Pod Photography, a portrait studio in Culver City; and currently works as their Production Manager and Photographer. She is currently working to expand her personal photography business and looks forward to collaborating with local artists in the future.

Textile Arts LA Hosts Knotless Netting with Polly Giacchina
2019-04-13 10:00 - 16:00 | Helms Design Center, 8745 Washington Boulevard, Culver City, CA, 90232
On Saturday, April 13th from 10 am to 4 pm, please join Textile Arts Los Angeles for a workshop that explores the hand weaving technique of knotless netting with Polly Jacobs Giacchina.
Netting can shape and curve around most any form. Stop by and experiment with this new technique around small objects, learn to make pouches, and explore other possibilities.
Sign up for the workshop at Textile Arts LA!
About Polly Giacchina
Polly Jacobs Giacchina was introduced to fiber with two diverse views. Studying at San Diego State University with Joan Austin and independently exploring natural materials with Misti Washington in Solana Beach CA, which started a unique lifestyle of discovery. She has exhibited in galleries and museums both nationally and internationally and teaches basketry and hand weaving techniques. Polly has been published in American Craft Magazine, Fiber Art Now, the National Basketry Organization Quarterly and several books on fiber art. Polly travels internationally to teach workshops,
Please BYOLunch – You will have an hour break to eat and chat among the group.

Reception, Lecture, and Discussion with Jon Lott of PARA Project
2019-04-11 18:30 - 20:30 | Helms Design Center, 8745 Washington Boulevard, Culver City, CA, 90232
Free – Please RSVP
On Thursday, April 11, from 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm Helms Bakery District and the Cal Poly LA Metro Program in Architecture and Urban Design are excited to host a reception, lecture, and discussion with Jon Lott of PARA Project.

Jon Lott of PARA Project

Jon Lott is principal of PARA Project, co-founder of Collective-LOK, and Assistant Professor of Architecture at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design, where he is the Director of the Master in Architecture I Program.
He is recipient of both the Emerging Voices Award and the Architectural League Prize (from the Architectural League of New York), the Design Vanguard award (by Architectural Record), the New Practices New York award (by the American Institute of Architects), and twice a MoMA/PS1 Young Architect’s finalist.
Lott’s recent and current work includes: Syracuse University’s School of Education Commons; Haffenden House (a finalist for the Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize); the Van Alen Institute in New York City (with Collective-LOK); and two houses in California (both receiving P/A awards). The work has been published in the New York Times, the LA Times, Architectural Record, Metropolis, Domus, the Architect’s Newspaper, a+u, Form, Azure, among others.
He holds a Master of Architecture with distinction from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design, a Bachelor of Architecture from California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo, and is an NCARB-certified architect, with licensure in New York, California, and Massachusetts.
Introduced and moderated by Stephen Phillips, AIA, PhD, Principal of Stephen Phillips Architects (SPARCHS) and professor, director, Cal Poly LA Metro Program in Architecture and Urban Design (California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo)
Free Parking is available at the corner of Helms Ave. and Venice Blvd.
Photos above, left to right: Jon Lott, Stump House by PARA Project office. Below: Stump House and Pioneertown House.

Upcoming Schedule
April 25th: Oyler Wu
May 9th: Ball Nogues
May 23rd: Lucia Allais (Princeton)
