Helms Design District

Textile Arts LA Presents practiceLAB with Nathalie Miebach
2021-05-05 17:00 - 18:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | Zoom, CA
On Wednesday, May 5th from 5:00 to 6:30 PM, join Textile Arts Los Angeles for the next iteration of practiceLAB with Nathalie Miebach -artist, environmental commentator, educator, collaborator, woman of many hats!
practiceLAB is a series of conversations exploring the nature of practice. We invite artists, curators, designers, authors, and creatives to present their work, their relationship to the work, and sometimes to engage our hands in small acts of creativity, too.
Tickets: members $8 / public $14 / students/concessions $6
ABOUT NATHALIE
My work focuses on the intersection of art and science and the visual articulation of scientific observations. Using the methodologies and processes of both disciplines, I translate scientific data related to ecology, climate change and meteorology into three-dimensional structures. My method of translation is principally that of weaving – in particular basket weaving – as it provides me with a simple yet highly effective grid through which to interpret data in three-dimensional space. Central to this work is my desire to explore the role visual aesthetics play in the translation and understanding of scientific information. By utilizing artistic processes and everyday materials, I am questioning and expanding the traditional boundaries through which science data has been visually translated (ex: graphs, diagrams), while at the same time provoking expectations of what kind of visual vocabulary is considered to be in the domain of ‘science’ or ‘art’.

Design Your Own Dream Space, A Virtual Community Art Class in Partnership with L.A. GOAL
2021-05-01 11:00 - 12:30 | Zoom, CA
Free
On Saturday, May 1st from 11:00 AM to 12:30 PM, we are partnering with L.A. GOAL and artist Dani Samson of Calico Flower Studio to bring you a virtual mixed media workshop.
In this workshop, participants will design their own 2-dimensional dream space – for example, a home, a room, a garden – through a mixed media approach. Dani will walk you through creative prompts to help ease the flow of ideas. Dani will demonstrate by creating her own dream space, but the specific design will ultimately be up to each participant.
Grab your family, a friend, or an artist in your life and join the fun! This class is intended to be enjoyable, joyful, and inspirational. A time to explore your creativity, connect with a creative community, and decompress from the stresses of everyday life. No experience necessary.
Read MORE about suggested art materials HERE.
REGISTER HERE
***Please be punctual! Once Dani begins class, she will not be repeating instructions for late-comers.***

ABOUT DANI SAMPSON
Dani Michaux Samson is a scrappy mixed media collage artist. She loves to collect residual material from her art and her day-to-day so that she may give it new life in her collages. Her creative practice stems from thoughts about her living space, the sanctuary that she calls home. Naturally, her cat is one of her muses and her number one studio assistant. Born and raised in Ohio, Dani received her MFA degree from Columbus College of Art & Design just before moving to Los Angeles in 2019. In L.A., she established her business, Calico Flower Studio, where her independent artwork can be viewed and purchased online. In the past, she has facilitated art activities with organizations such as Goodwill Columbus Art Studio & Gallery, Kya’s Krusade, Paint Nite, and Columbus Museum of Art. Her range of experience has allowed her to work with people of various ages and abilities. Currently, Dani brings art into the lives of LAUSD middle schoolers in the Team Prime Time After School Program. Throughout her career, she has maintained the belief that everyone has creative potential. Dani is so excited to meet the Helms Bakery/L.A. GOAL community!

Room & Board Features an Artist Each Month in Support of LA Family Housing
2021-05-01 - 2021-05-07 | Room&Board, 3231 Helms Avenue, Culver City, CA, 90034
Please join Room & Board in support of LA Family Housing (LAFH) in an effort to help our homeless neighbors obtain permanent housing and a place to call home. When you purchase an artwork by the featured artist – this month is Jill Sykes – a 50% donation will be made on your behalf to continue the critical and life-saving services LAFH provides. Jill’s art may be found inside the Room & Board showroom through the month of May.

ABOUT THE ARTIST
Jill Sykes is a painter living in Los Angeles. Her work is included in many private and corporate collections including Omgivning Architecture Interiors, Kelly Wearstler, Kovac Design Studios, Saks Fifth Avenue as well as many others. Her paintings have been featured in exhibitions throughout Southern California and across the country including Tobey C. Moss Gallery in Los Angeles, Museum of Art + History (MOAH) in Lancaster, CA, the Santa Paula Art Museum in Santa Paula, CA, El Camino College Art Gallery in Torrance, CA and The Brand Library and Art Center in Glendale, CA.
“We as artists create objects that nourish and enrich existence, and as such what we do, consciously or not, has profound effect. The images I create are about life and the sheltering aspects of Nature – I focus on botanical forms and the abstracted spaces I find between individual branches and leaves. These paintings are sophisticated in terms of color and form, and yet remain incredibly soothing and serene to look at.”

Studio Tour with Artist Lesley Kice Nishigawara
2021-04-30 12:00 - 13:00 | Zoom, CA
On Friday, 4/30 from 12:00 to 1:00 PM, please join Textile Art Los Angeles for a studio tour with artist, educator, weaver, and keen observer Lesley Kice Nishigawara.
ARTIST STATEMENT
My work explores the world around us with a system of visual examination. The grid frames my work in both a conceptual and practical manner. Conceptually, the grid reflects a need for regulation and perfection; a method or system of organization. With the aim for exacting and ordered spaces, slippages in the grid appear within varied applications and renditions. Explorations into these concepts present misalignments that occur within a desire for order. Through various translations including reflections and shadows, each articulation is created following a system of self-imposed rules to shift into new forms, images, and ideas. Practically, it creates a structure for my ideas to unfold.
The work takes on multiple formal configurations to probe these ideas. Large-scale tiled textile works produce a soft and elegant interpretation of misaligned urban patterns. Layered drawings create space to activate the work through shadows and perspectival shifts. Throughout the work, the complexity of order and structure is exposed through these iterations.
Translating the grid and patterns that appear through human intervention in our built environment produces an expanded view of the world. Highlighting and refiguring the nuanced visual elements—from the regularity of a chain link fence to a shadow projected from an overpass—this work is developed through a series of iterative examinations that develop beyond their original form and meaning. It acknowledges that the simple is often more complex as it is explored; the perfect is often more imperfect than at first glance. It exposes that the limits of perfection have endless possibilities.
Tickets: $10 public / Free for members

Better Together: a Virtual Showcase and Collaboration with L.A. GOAL
2021-04-28 08:00 - 2021-05-01 17:00 | Online, CA
Since 2016, Helms Bakery District has hosted an annual integrative art exhibit each spring that showcases the artwork of L.A. GOAL artists and artwork from L.A. GOAL Staff members and Volunteers. This collaboration is always such a treat as L.A. GOAL and Helms Bakery District introduce our ever-growing communities to one another through our shared passion (art & design) and an in-person exhibition/reception.
Although this last year we have been unable to partner for what would normally be an in-person event, one thing has remained true: We Are Better Together. The community partnership between Helms Bakery District and L.A. GOAL has remained strong, and although so much has changed over this past year, we are collaborating in the form of a virtual art showcase featuring functional artwork for the home & garden. The virtual art showcase begins on April 28th and runs through June 5th, an entire month to find ways to support L.A. GOAL and their mission.
We hope you will help us kick off this fun collaboration on May 1st for a FREE Virtual Community Art Class titled: Create Your Own Dream Space with artist Dani Samson.
Working together as community partners we can teach the world about how the people we meet can better our lives, creating a more diverse, inclusive, and equitable art & design sector through our continued collaboration. We Are Better Together.
ABOUT L.A. GOAL
L.A. GOAL provides opportunities for adults with developmental disabilities to increase their independence and employability through educational, vocational and recreational programs. L.A. GOAL’s art and outreach activities educate the community about the abilities of people with disabilities. Our vision is to create a more open society where people with developmental disabilities can enjoy full inclusion in their communities. To accomplish this, L.A. GOAL teaches the world about how people with developmental disabilities can better our lives. It is a magical reciprocity that we believe has long been overlooked.

A lecture and live Q+A discussion with Adam Nathaniel Furman
2021-04-15 12:00 - 13:30 | Zoom, CA
Join us on Thursday, April 15th, for a lecture and live Q+A discussion with Adam Nathaniel Furman
Joyful Deviance
In collaboration with the Cal Poly LA Metro Program in Architecture and Urban Design
Lecture is Free and Open to the Public
Register for the Zoom Webinar

Adam Nathaniel Furman
Adam Nathaniel Furman is a London-based designer & artist of Argentine and Japanese heritage whose practice ranges from Architecture & interiors to sculpture, installation, writing, and product design. He co-runs the Saturated Space research group on colour at the Architectural Association, and was a studio master of Productive Exuberance at Central Saint Martins College of Art. Furman published the book Revisiting Postmodernism with Sir Terry Farrell for the Royal Institute for British Architects in 2018, and has written for numerous publications internationally. Presently, he is writing a new work for RIBA — “Queer Spaces: An Atlas of LGBTQ+ Places and Stories”. Furman is also the recipient of several awards, including the Blueprint prizes for Design Innovation in 2014, Best Small Project in 2018, the UK Rome Prize for Architecture 2014-15, and FX Product Designer of the Year 2019. Furman’s work is in the collections of the Sir John Soane Museum, the Design Museum (London), the Abet Laminate Museum, the National Gallery of Victoria, and the Carnegie Museum of Art, and continues to be exhibited in numerous cities around the world.

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): Image of Adam Nathaniel Furman; Image of Gateways at London Design Festival (2017); Image of Nagatacho in Tokyo (2017).

Arcana Presents a Ruskin Art Club Discussion + Book Signing, "The Spanish Style House"
2021-04-08 17:00 - 18:30 | Arcana: Books on the Arts, 8675 Washington Blvd., Culver City, CA, 90232
On Thursday, April 8th from 5:00 to 6:30 PM, join photographer Melba Levick and author Ruben G. Mendoza for the launch of The Spanish Style House: From Enchanted Andalusia To The California Dream published by Rizzoli, presented by The Ruskin Art Club.
This will be an online discussion celebrating the book’s launch with photographer Melba Levick and writer Rubén G. Mendoza moderated by Dr. William Deverell, director of the Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West. Both authors will be signing copies especially for Arcana: Books on the Arts on April 9th that will begin shipping Tuesday, April 13th. Order your signed copy here!
Join the Ruskin Art Club online discussion April 8th at 5:00 PM by clicking here
”Luminous new photography showcases contemporary and historic homes in the beloved Spanish Style in Southern California, while offering, as well, a rare look at the original inspirations to the style born in Andalusia, Spain. This presentation will include photographs of the Ruskin Art Club’s historic 1922 clubhouse designed by Frank Meline (now a private residence), and review a host of 12th through 18th century palatial Spanish estates, and their Andalusian expressions in southern California for the period spanning the 1920s through the present.”

A lecture and live Q+A discussion with John May and Zeina Koreitem
2021-04-08 16:00 - 17:30 | Zoom, CA
Join us on Thursday, April 8th, for a lecture and live Q+A discussion with John May and Zeina Koreitem
A Loose Collection of Objects, Images and Texts
In collaboration with the Cal Poly LA Metro Program in Architecture and Urban Design
Lecture is Free and Open to the Public
Register for the Zoom Webinar

MILLIØNS
MILLIØNS is a Los Angeles-based experimental design practice, founded by MILLIØNS and Zeina Koreitem. MILLIØNS conceives of architecture as a speculative medium for exploring the central categories of contemporary life: technology, politics, energy, media, and information. Their approach insists on an expansive parallel project of technical, historical, and cultural analysis, which surrounds and informs their work.
MILLIØNS’ work has been featured in numerous solo and group exhibitions, including a commissioned furniture set by Friedman Benda Gallery NYC and Chamber, a commissioned display system for the Taipei Biennial, shows at La Triennale Di Milano, the Storefront for Art and Architecture in New York, The Architecture + Design Museum of Los Angeles, the MIT Keller Architecture Gallery, and the Harvard Graduate School of Design, among others. Recent work includes completed and ongoing projects in California, New York, Boston, Taipei, and Beirut. Recently they were selected as the winner of an international competition to reimagine the east wing of I.M. Pei’s Everson Museum, in Syracuse, NY, and to restore other aspects of the museum.
Zeina Koreitem is a registered architect in Beirut, Lebanon, and Design Faculty at SCI-Arc. John May is Assistant Professor of Architecture at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design and author of Signal. Image. Architecture. (Columbia, 2019) and Design Technics: Archaeologies of Architectural Practice (Minnesota, 2019; co-edited with Zeynep Çelik Alexander).

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): Image of John May and Zeina Koreitem; Image of The Ghosts Acres of Architecture (2020); Image of the Everson Museum of Art Renovation.

Textile Arts Presents Textile Slam!
2021-04-07 19:00 - 20:30 | Zoom, CA
On Wednesday, April 7th from 7:00 to 8:30 PM, Textile Arts | Los Angeles invites you to join them for Textile Slam! We are excited to partner with Textile Arts for this casual, community, conversation-oriented event featuring artists, designers, architects, educators, and all-around neat thinkers talking about their work, the ideas that interest them, and the projects they are exploring. Textile Slam! occurs four times a year, and is an opportunity for friendly conversation and networking, featuring a rotating slate of presenters, each of whom will deliver an informal six-minute (or less!) slide show / improv / show-and-tell presentation.
REGISTER Here
$20 public; $0 members, students, and concessions
Upcoming Slams on June 9th and October 27th.

Arcana Presents a Deanna Templeton Remote Book Signing for ”What She Said”
2021-04-06 08:00 - 2021-04-17 17:00 | Arcana: Books on the Arts, 8675 Washington Blvd., Culver City, CA, 90232
Already a “Best of 2021” photobook, Deanna Templeton’s truly excellent new MACK offering What She Said is now available! Arcana: Books on the Arts hoped to have a real-life signing event for this launch, but as we’re all still playing it safe, Deanna will be specially personalizing copies with your choice of inscription (within reason of course) and a special rubber stamp created for the occasion.
Order by April 17th, while supplies last! Order now on Arcana’s website here.
“What She Said takes its title from a song by The Smiths: “What she said was sad / But then, all the rejection she’s had / To pretend to be happy / Could only be idiocy. The work originates in portraits Deanna Templeton made on the streets of the US, Europe, Australia and Russia, in which she captured women in their adolescence: punks and outcasts whose ripped jeans and tights, tattoos, and hairstyles stand as testament to this transitional moment in their lives as they navigate the intensity of teenage life. Templeton grew up in an ostensibly different environment in 1980s youth, but she recognized in them something of the universality of female adolescence, as they struggled with similar disappointments and challenges she encountered as a young woman. The book combines these modern portraits with gig flyers and Templeton’s own teenage journal entries from the mid to late 80s, in which the familiar experience of growing up is laid bare in all its antagonism, humor and pathos.”

A Convo with Jiseon Lee Isbara, Provost of OTIS College of Art and Design
2021-03-17 18:30 - 20:00 | Zoom, CA
On Wednesday, March 17th from 6:30 to 8:00 PM, Textile Arts | Los Angeles invites you to join them for Displaced, a conversation with the new provost of OTIS College of Art and Design, artist, and curator Jiseon Lee Isbara.
Jiseon Lee Isbara will speak about the inquiries addressed in her work and the use of visual languages and processes developed over time to communicate her concepts and emotions. Her work mirrors her life and its complexities of a displaced person in two countries: conversant in the language and culture of both places, but not considered a full-fledged member of either one. Through her work, she embodies two cultures, times and identities colliding and merging together.
TICKETS
$10 members; $20 public
PracticeLAB is a series of talks exploring the ideas, issues, and inspiration that inform a robust creative practice. Textile Arts | Los Angeles invites artists, authors, architects, and creatives to present content that addresses the nature of a practice, as well as educational sessions that offer an opportunity to practice. We look forward to meeting more of LA’s creative community with these engaging sessions.

ABOUT JISEON LEE ISBARA
Jiseon Lee Isbara is an artist and educator who serves as the Provost at Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles, CA. She exhibits nationally, engages with viewers through lectures and discussions, and collaborates with and contributes to the community by serving in various roles for regional and national art and education organizations. Amplified by her experience as a first-generation immigrant, she engages with socially and culturally charged dialogue through the accumulated aesthetics, materials, and processes she has garnered as an emigrant from her native culture. Through her artwork, Jiseon questions the congruity around her emotions and cultural topics. Jiseon earned her MFA in Fibers, one from Colorado State University and one from Ewha Woman’s University, Seoul, South Korea. She is Professor and Dean of Academic Affairs at Oregon College of Art and Craft.

Reading Materials, A Book Club Hosted by Textile Arts
2021-03-16 19:00 - 20:30 | Zoom, CA
Textile Arts | Los Angeles invites you to join READING MATERIALS, a book club with an art and material focus. We will be reading books about the artist’s life, about ways of seeing and reasons for making, and about our inextricable relationship with material. The titles and conversations should appeal to all creatives, regardless of medium. Offered in partnership with Studio203, an art gallery / creative space in Mar Vista, they will gather on Tuesdays at 7pm. Admission free for members; $40 for the public (for the year). Please consider purchasing your books from Arcana: Books on the Arts in Culver City, or your favorite local indie shop, or bookshop.org
On Tuesday March 16th from 7:00 – 8:30pm the book selection is ART & FEAR: OBSERVATIONS ON THE PERILS (AND REWARDS) OF ARTMAKING by Ted Orland, and David Bayles
Art & Fear explores the way art gets made, the reasons it often doesn’t get made, and the nature of the difficulties that cause so many artists to give up along the way. This is an old favorite, and a quick read (and worth re-reading several times).
JOIN THE CLUB!

Join Textile Arts for an Intimate Studio Tour with artist Ruth Katzenstein Souza
2021-03-12 12:00 - 13:00 | Zoom, CA
Textile Arts | Los Angeles invites you to join them in a series of intimate, behind-the-scenes looks at artists’ studios, and a discussion of the habits and practices that allow them to thrive and make new work.
On Friday, March 12th from 12:00 to 1:00 PM take a lunch time walk-and-talk-about through the studio of artist, gleaner, mender Ruth Katzenstein Souza. Ruth is a practicing artist, as well as the force behind Mending as Metaphor. Ruth will walk us through her studio – if you’ve seen it before, you know it’s a real treat.
TICKETS
$10 public; $Free for members
UPCOMING STUDIO TOURS
Friday, April 30th: Lesley Kice Nichigawara
Friday, May 14th: Ann B.
ABOUT TEXTILE ARTS
Textile Arts | Los Angeles cultivates and promotes textile art and design. As a professional membership organization, we encourage dialogue, share resources, and build community in order to elevate the practice of the textile arts, create opportunity for our members, and advocate for this vibrant and enduring artform.

A lecture and live Q+A discussion with Teddy Cruz and Fonna Forman
2021-03-04 16:00 - 17:30 | Zoom, CA
Join us on Thursday, March 4th, for a lecture and live Q+A discussion with Teddy Cruz and Fonna Forman
Unwalling Citizenship
In collaboration with the Cal Poly LA Metro Program in Architecture and Urban Design
Lecture is Free and Open to the Public
Register for the Zoom Webinar

Teddy Cruz and Fonna Forman
Teddy Cruz (MDes Harvard) is a professor of Public Culture and Urbanism in the Department of Visual Arts at the University of California, San Diego. He is known internationally for his urban research of the Tijuana/San Diego border, advancing border neighborhoods as sites of cultural production from which to rethink urban policy, affordable housing, and public space.
Fonna Forman (PhD Chicago) is a professor of Political Theory and Founding Director of the Center on Global Justice at the University of California, San Diego. A theorist of ethics and public culture, her work focuses on human rights, climate justice, border ethics, and equitable urbanization.
Together Cruz + Forman are principals in Estudio Teddy Cruz + Fonna Forman, a research-based practice, investigating issues of borders, informal urbanization, civic infrastructure, and public culture, with a special emphasis on Latin American cities. Blurring conventional boundaries between theory and practice, and merging the fields of architecture and urbanism, political theory and urban policy, visual arts, and public culture, Cruz + Forman lead a variety of urban research agendas and civic/public interventions in the San Diego-Tijuana border region and beyond. From 2012-13 they served as special advisors on civic and urban initiatives for the City of San Diego and led the development of its Civic Innovation Lab. Together they lead the UCSD Community Stations, a platform for community-based research and teaching on poverty and social equity in the border region.
Their work has been exhibited widely in cultural venues across the world, including the Museum of Modern Art; the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco; the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum; Das Haus der Kulturen der Welt; and M+ Hong Kong. They represented the United States in the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale. They have two forthcoming monographs: Top-Down / Bottom-Up: The Research and Practice of Estudio Teddy Cruz + Fonna Forman (Berlin: Hatje Cantz); and The Political Equator: Unwalling Citizenship (London: Verso)

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): Image of Teddy Cruz and Fonna Forman, Image of The UCSD-CASA Community Station at Living Rooms at the Border (2019), Image of The UCSD-Alacran Community Station + Migrant Sanctuary (2020).

Architecture is a Social Act with Lorcan O'Herlihy + Frances Anderton
2021-02-18 18:30 - 19:30 | Zoom, CA
Free
On Thursday, February 18th from 6:30 to 7:30PM, please join Lorcan O’Herlihy, FAIA, and Frances Anderton for a livestream discussion about LOHA’s latest monograph Architecture Is a Social Act. Lorcan and Frances will talk about his work, and how he navigates tight budgets and stakeholder needs to integrate common space. He will also share insights into 410 Rossmore, his latest Los Angeles project, where he will add five new floors of co-living space to the 90-year-old apartment building in Hancock Park.
Register here. Once you register, a Zoom link will be emailed prior to the event date.
To purchase a signed copy of the book, please visit Arcana: Books on the Arts.

Lorcan O’Herlihy is the founder and design principal of Lorcan O’Herlihy Architects [LOHA], a Los Angeles/Detroit based architecture and urban design firm.
Lorcan O’Herlihy spent his childhood as a thespian’s son. His father Dan O’Herlihy was an actor and took his family on overseas shoots. From time spent hanging out in Rome, London and other great urban cities, Lorcan developed a deep appreciation for social space.
He has since made his mark as an architect with housing, workplaces and cultural buildings that put human connectivity at their center, while emphasizing bold design. Formosa 1140 in West Hollywood, for example, connects residents and neighbors in a pocket park, and it bursts with the color and spirit of the nearby Formosa Cafe, a one time drinking haunt of Dan O’Herlihy and his buddy Orson Welles. O’Herlihy has tackled social inequity in Detroit with a conversion of the African Bead Museum, new housing and neighborhood plans. At Isla Intersections in South LA, he has put supportive housing in a complex of prefabricated structures attached to a paseo. These are just some of the projects featured in his latest monograph, Architecture Is a Social Act published by Frame, with an introduction by Frances Anderton.

Frances Anderton covers design and architecture in Los Angeles for radio, podcast and print. A series she co-produced, Wasted: Neat Solutions to the Dirty Problem of Waste, is currently airing on KCRW public radio station. She is writing a book entitled Common Ground: Multifamily Housing in Los Angeles; and she is working with Helms Bakery District on the programming of events and talks about design, architecture and art.

A lecture and live Q+A discussion with Skylar Tibbits of the MIT Self-Assembly Lab
2021-02-11 16:00 - 17:30 | Zoom, CA
Join us on Thursday, Feb 11th, for a lecture and live Q+A discussion with Skylar Tibbits of the MIT Self-Assembly Lab
In collaboration with the Cal Poly LA Metro Program in Architecture and Urban Design
Lecture is Free and Open to the Public
Register for the Zoom Webinar

Skylar Tibbits
Skylar Tibbits is a designer and computer scientist whose research focuses on developing self-assembly and programmable materials within the built environment. Tibbits is the founder and co-director of the Self-Assembly Lab at MIT, and Associate Professor of Design Research in the Department of Architecture.
Tibbits has a professional degree in architecture and a minor in experimental computation from Philadelphia University, as well as a masters in design computation and computer science from MIT. He has worked at a number of design offices including Zaha Hadid Architects, Asymptote Architecture, and Point b Design.
He has designed and built large-scale installations and exhibited in galleries around the world, including the Centre Pompidou, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum, and various others. He is the author of the book Self-Assembly Lab: Experiments in Programming Matter (Routledge, 2016), Active Matter (MIT Press, 2017), co-editor of Being Material (MIT Press 2019), and the Editor-In-Chief of the journal 3D Printing and Additive Manufacturing.
Awards include LinkedIn’s Next Wave Award for Top Professionals under 35 (2016), R&D Innovator of the Year (2015), National Geographic Emerging Explorer (2015), an Inaugural WIRED Fellowship (2014), the Architectural League Prize (2013), Ars Electronica Next Idea Award (2013), TED Senior Fellow (2012) and 2008 he was named a Revolutionary Mind by SEED magazine.

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): Image of Skylar Tibbits, Image of Macrobot & Decibot, Image of Self-Folding Straw.

Textile SLAM! An Evening of Short Talks, Conversation and Community
2021-02-10 19:00 - 20:30 | Zoom, CA
On Wednesday, February 10th from 7:00 to 8:30PM, please join our friends at Textile Arts LA for Textile Slam! This is an opportunity for friendly conversation and networking, featuring a rotating slate of presenters, each of whom will deliver an informal six-minute (or less!) slide show / improv / show-and-tell presentation.
Members, artists, designers, architects, educators, and all-around neat thinkers will talk about their work, ideas that interest them, or projects they are exploring. The Slam! is a casual, community, conversation-oriented event.
TICKETS
New ONLINE format: $20 non-members; $10 members. This event is hosted on Zoom. Info to join will be sent to all RSVPs.

Westside Urban Forum Hosts the Mayors Panel
2021-02-10 12:00 - 13:00 | Zoom, CA
On Wednesday, February 10 from 12:00 to 1:00PM, please join Westside Urban Forum (WUF) for the annual Mayors Forum!
This is a WUF signature event that brings together the Westside Mayors for a candid discussion of each Mayor’s priorities for 2021, the land use policy issues of importance to each city, and provides the opportunity to understand the different ways in which these unique cities are responding to current issues in what is already another extraordinary year.
In 2021 our Mayors will be faced with a myriad of issues, including the central conflict of land use and social and racial equity, police reform, and housing and homelessness – all within an environment of shrinking budgets resulting from the pandemic. To begin to address these complex matters, what are the cities’ near-term responses to retail spaces left vacant by the pandemic? How are cities going to change as a result of the pandemic and what temporary COVID policies would the Mayors like to see adopted permanently (such as encouraging telecommuting to reduce traffic congestion and air pollution, greater diversity in housing typologies and private outdoor space, growing park space for all community members, or allowing outdoor dining to remain permanently)? How are the cities working to address structural racial and social injustices in land use and government agencies’ operations? What measures are cities considering to address police reform and community mental health? What is the outlook for public transit and the extension of the Purple Line Subway? And what does all of this mean for the cities’ plans to address climate change?
Panelists:
Mayor Lester Friedman, City of Beverly Hills
Mayor Alex Fisch, City of Culver City
Mayor Sue Himmelrich, City of Santa Monica
Mayor Lindsey Horvath, City of West Hollywood
Registration: Registration closes for this Zoom panel on February 9 at 9:00 pm.
WUF Members Free
Nonmembers $35.00
Student Nonmembers $10.00
REGISTER NOW to be a WUF Member for 2021 and attend all monthly panel events for FREE through December 2021.

Room & Board Features an Artist Each Month in Support of LA Family Housing
2021-02-01 - 2021-02-07 | Room&Board, 3231 Helms Avenue, Culver City, CA, 90034
Please join Room & Board in support of LA Family Housing (LAFH) in an effort to help our homeless neighbors obtain permanent housing and a place to call home. When you purchase an artwork by the featured artist – this month is Nina Jun – a 50% donation will be made on your behalf to continue the critical and life-saving services LAFH provides.
For questions and inquiries about Ceramic Balloons, please contact the artist at ninajunart1@gmail.com.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
One day, Nina Jun saw a Mylar balloon fly into the sky after it was accidentally released from her hand. She felt sad, her eyes followed the balloon disappearing into infinite space, and began wondering: what if there was a balloon that could stay with us forever?
Five days after the party all the balloons had drifted down near to the floor with a deflated memory of past happiness. She thought what if they kept hovering forever there in limbo?
These questions of the levity and gravity of the balloon inspired Nina to create ceramic balloon sculptures. Korean born, Nina Jun received her MFA in sculpture at California State University, Long Beach. She has had 14 solo shows in the U.S and Korea and her works have been shown in numerous international art fairs. Her works are currently represented by Skidmore Contemporary Art in Santa Monica and BluePrint Art Gallery in Dallas.

Textile Arts LA Presents practiceLAB with Ferne Jacobs
2021-01-28 19:00 - 20:30 | Zoom, CA
On Thursday, January 28th at 7:00 pm ONLINE, please join us in welcoming Textile Arts Los Angeles in a spirited, freeform conversation with Ferne Jacobs. Where does an Idea come from? What is an Idea? When does it emerge? How do you know it is an idea? How do you relate to the idea?
Textile Arts kicks off 2021 with an idiosyncratic, unconventional, open-ended dialogue about the provenance, shape, and meaning of an idea. They will open the floor right away for Q&A and commentary from the audience. Please come with your own research, quotes, and experience with ideas.
Tickets $FREE members; $20 non-members

Join Culver Arts for Holiday Fun in Support of Artist Resiliency
2020-12-27 17:00 - 19:00 | Online, CA
Art is at the heart of resiliency. And Culver City’s Honorary Poet Laureate Dr. Janet Cameron Hoult has a big place in her heart for artists. Here is a poem Janet wrote simply called Art and Community Resiliency, about how to keep going in times of crisis by using creativity to stay resilient.
Please join the Culver Arts Foundation on December 27th from 5:00 to 7:00 pm to honor Janet for her lifetime of dedication and support of the arts. Plus there’s origami fun for the whole family. Help lend your support to keep #CulverCityResilient!
PURCHASE TICKETS

December #GiftableGiveaways @Helms
2020-12-01 - 2020-12-24 | Online, CA
Nothing pleases us more than sending you good cheer during the holidays. Let’s face it. 2020 has been heartbreaking at times, but we feel fortunate to have your continued support. To show our appreciation for all the #lovelocal and #shoplocal you have shown us, Helms Bakery District is giving away gifts during the month of December!
The Rules are simple. To be entered:
(1) you must be Following us on Instagram,
(2) tell us why you’re feeling grateful (and add your fave emoji),
(3) and tag 2 friends in your comment so they can follow us and enter too!
The IG Giveaway begins December 1st on #GivingTuesday at 4:00 pm PST with an ornament from Rejuvenation to benefit St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and ends on December 31st at 4:00 pm PST. Other Bakery swag includes author-signed books from Arcana: Books on the Arts, a Market Bag with goodies from Pasta Sisters, a carpet from The Rug Warehouse, a vase from Room & Board, Gift Certificates and so much more! We have many items to give away so be sure to check back with us every day throughout the month.
May the Holidays bring you joy and delight. Plus a little dose of giveaway luck!
Rules & Regs
(1) No purchase is required to enter.
(2) Winners will be selected randomly, contacted after each giveaway closes, and announced in our comments on Instagram.
(3) Open to US residents only, 18 years and older.
(4) This is a “GIFTABLE GIVEAWAY” and is not eligible for return, refund, or exchange at any of our showrooms or restaurants.
(5) The Helms Bakery #GiftableGiveaway is not sponsored, endorsed, administered by or associated with Instagram. Entrants release Instagram and all brands of all responsibility and agree to Instagram’s terms of use.
(6) One entry per Instagram user. Duplicate entries will not be considered.

An Instagram Takeover: Art, Home, and the Art OF Home!
2020-11-11 12:00 - 12:30 | Online, CA
Free
Looking for ways to create feelings of calm and warmth in your home during these uncertain times? On Wednesday, November 11th at 12:00 pm PST, tune into a casual and meaningful conversation about Art, Home, and the “Art” OF Home.
Intuitive design consultant & feng shui practitioner Alyssa Mannis takes over the Helms Bakery District for an Instagram LIVE event with feng shui expert, residential and commercial architect, and founder of Mindful Design School, Anjie Cho. Alyssa & Anjie will talk about the art of home, feng shui, and a few great ways to create warmth and support within your home this fall/winter season, especially as we won’t be gathering with friends, family, and all of those who are important to us.

ABOUT ALYSSA
Alyssa is an intuitive design consultant obsessed with all things home, house plants, and California sunsets. She is a BTB feng shui practitioner and forever student. Alyssa helps people create living and working spaces that resonate, support, and inspire them. She also looks to guide people, helping them energetically embed their values, goals, and vision into their design projects. If you are looking to shift the energy of your living spaces, manage decision fatigue, get truly honest feedback, or cultivate your intuition within a home or business design project, Alyssa can start you on the right path.

ABOUT ANJIE
Anjie Cho is an architect, feng shui educator and author of Holistic Spaces: 108 Ways to Create a Mindful and Peaceful Home. Since 1999, she has been designing beautiful and nourishing spaces (inner and outer) with balance and harmony, informed by the ancient practice of feng shui. Her focus is to create nurturing and supportive environments, tailoring her practice to each individual’s specific needs. Anjie is a sought-after expert in the fields of feng shui and interior architecture. She is the owner of Anjie Cho Architect, co-founder of the Mindful Design Feng Shui School, and founder of Holistic Spaces which hosts a blog, podcast and online store.

Room & Board Features an Artist Each Month in Support of LA Family Housing
2020-11-02 - 2020-11-09 | Room&Board, 3231 Helms Avenue, Culver City, CA, 90034
Please join Room & Board in support of LA Family Housing (LAFH) in an effort to help our homeless neighbors obtain permanent housing and a place to call home.
When you purchase an artwork by the featured artist – this month is Gay Summer Rick– a 50% donation will be made on your behalf to continue the critical and life-saving services LAFH provides.
For questions and inquiries, please contact the artist at gaysummerartist@gmail.com.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Gay Summer Rick is a Los Angeles-based artist whose practice is focused on creating urban and coastal atmospheric landscapes rendered with a keen sense of place and a flair for abstraction. She applies layers of oil paint on canvas using palette knives to reveal scenes often bathed in the luminosity of clear blue white light, or set aflame inside the warmth of a blood orange glow.
Born and raised in New York, Gay Summer Rick began her arts education early, surrounded by artists, immersed in art. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in New York at the School of Art and Design, Alfred University and a Master’s degree from the University of Puget Sound. She has exhibited in the United States, Europe, and Japan. Her paintings have been featured in solo gallery exhibitions, and in national and international gallery and museum group exhibitions where she has received awards and honors. She is a member of Oil Painters of America, California Art Club, Malibu Art Association, and is listed by the Malibu Cultural Arts Commission. Her work has been featured in publications including Artillery Magazine, Huffington Post, ArtScene, Medium, Dive Madhouse Magazine, Santa Monica Mirror, Malibu Surfside News and others, and in several books and short documentary films. Her paintings are in corporate and private collections around the world. A resident of Southern California for over 25 years, the artist maintains studios in Inglewood and Malibu.
There’s a quiet vibration and unexpected beauty in commonplace elements found in the urban environment. My work describes this in an atmospheric and dreamlike yet familiar manner. – Gay Summer Rick

Room & Board Features an Artist Each Month in Support of LA Family Housing
2020-10-27 - 2020-11-02 | Room&Board, 3231 Helms Avenue, Culver City, CA, 90034
Please join Room & Board in support of LA Family Housing (LAFH) in an effort to help our homeless neighbors obtain permanent housing and a place to call home.
When you purchase an artwork by the featured artist – this month is Trine Churchill – a 50% donation will be made on your behalf to continue the critical and life-saving services LAFH provides.
Click here check out the work, or to learn more about the art.
For questions and inquiries, please contact the artist at tc@trinechurchill.com / 310-699-2560.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Trine Churchill is a Los Angeles-based, contemporary painter from Copenhagen, Denmark. She received her B.A. in Fine Art from Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles, and studied at the école nationale supérieure des beaux-arts in Paris. Churchill works in what she describes as the “fictive landscape.” Charged yet effortless, her paintings offer the viewer a walk through scenery of symbolic meaning with a composition that combines abstract landscape with references from current life to ancient times. Her art has been exhibited in a number of galleries in Europe, California, and New York, including George Billis Gallery in LA, The Torrance Art Museum, Nancy Margolis Gallery NY, and Galerie Hübner + Hübner in Frankfurt.

Join Artists Aneesa Shami and Monica Lloyd For a Livestream Studio Tour + Discussion
2020-10-26 13:00 - 13:30 | Helms Design District, 8800 Venice Blvd., Los Angeles, CA, 90034, United States
Free
On Monday, October 26 from 1:00PM to 1:30PM, please join artists Aneesa Shami and Monica Lloyd for a livestream discussion about their current exhibition, The Sketchbooks, on view at Studio 203. This exhibition was inspired by Aneesa and Monica’s collaborative sketchbook project, which led to new ways of creating with recycled paper and textiles.
Register for the event here! Links for the Facebook and YouTube livestreams will be sent to ticketholders prior to the event.
Studio 203 is an artist-run space that collaborates with fellow artists to feature exhibitions, workshops and performances, founded by Aneesa Shami and Grant Zizzo.
Photo by Cecily Brown

Louis Poulsen Presents a Design Dialogue with Alfred Homann
2020-10-21 09:00 - 10:00 | Zoom, CA
Free
On Wednesday, October 21st at 9:00 AM, please join Louis Poulsen for a lighting design conversation with distinguished lighting designer and architect, Alfred Homann, as they explore landmark projects, design processes, and lighting philosophies.
Alfred Homann grew up in South Zealand, Denmark. In 1976, he graduated as an architect from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine arts in Copenhagen. During his years as a student, he worked at renowned architect Vilhelm Wohlert’s office. Homann has partnered with Louis Poulsen for many years, creating innovative lighting designs which have been specified on architectural projects throughout the world. Homann designs with Louis Poulsen include the Homann Park, Kipp Post, Nyhavn, Pulsar 172 and many others.
Register Here: https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/419249691252512016

Al Fresco Music @Helms Wraps Up The Series With L.A. Love Band
2020-09-26 17:00 - 19:00 | Helms Walk, 3270 Helms Avenue, Los Angeles, CA, 90034
This evening wraps up our Al Fresco Music on Helms Avenue. We hope you will stop by, grab a table at one of our restaurants, and enjoy some socially-distanced dinner music with a selection of talented, local musicians.
To close us out, The L.A. Love Band charms fans with a wide variety of Souldies, Classic Rock, Pop, Reggae, Blues, Latin, Mardi Gras, Country, and Childrens music. The L.A. Love Band’s mission is to raise the vibration of any gathering with a fun presentation featuring crowd pleasing vocalist Elizabeth Hangan, versatile keyboardist/vocalist Valerie Taylor, drum groove king Louis Gonzales and fearless leader/vocalist/guitarist/bassist Captain Dan Meyer. They never met a gig they couldn’t groove. So join us for a soul-stirring musical journey.
Thanks so much for joining us. We hope you enjoyed the series! Be well, be safe.

Join Us For A Screening of Public Trust on National Public Lands Day!
2020-09-26 07:00 - 23:30 | Online, CA
Free
On Saturday, September 26th beginning at 7:00 am and ending at 11:30 pm, please join us for a free screening of the film PUBLIC TRUST.
​​In a time of growing polarization, Americans still share something in common: 640 million acres of public land. Held in trust by the federal government for all citizens of the United States, these places are a stronghold against climate change, sacred to native people, home to wildlife and intrinsic to our national identity. But today, despite support from voters across the political spectrum, they face unprecedented threats from extractive industries and the politicians who support these endeavors. Part love letter, part political exposé, PUBLIC TRUST investigates how we arrived at this precarious moment through three heated conflicts—a national monument in the Utah desert, a proposed mine in the Boundary Waters and oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge—and makes a case for their continued protection.
Please register for your tickets to receive your log in information.
Wishing you all a Happy National Public Lands Day!
Image Description: Musk oxen have been around for almost two millions years. Along with caribou, they are the only hoofed animals that survived the end of the Pleistocene era. Today, they roam the tundra of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, in search of grasses, mosses and herbs in the permafrost.
Image Credit: Florian Schulz

Al Fresco Music @Helms Wraps Up The Final Weekend With Del Rey Community Jazz Band
2020-09-25 17:00 - 19:00 | Helms Walk, 3270 Helms Avenue, Los Angeles, CA, 90034
This weekend wraps up our Friday and Saturday evening Al Fresco Music on Helms Avenue. We hope you will stop by, grab a table at one of our restaurants, and enjoy some socially-distanced dinner music with a selection of talented, local musicians.
To close out the month, The Del Rey Community Jazz Band performs this evening with classic American jazz, Brazilian bossa nova, and swinging blues. Run by bandleader Captain Dan Meyer with a mix of professional, weekend warrior, and student jazz musicians, they have brought the joy of live music to over 300 community functions in the last 8 years.
SCHEDULE
Friday, September 25th: Del Rey Community Jazz Band
Saturday, September 26th: L.A. Love Band
