Helms Design District

Welcome Blanket Exhibition in the Design Center
2022-09-03 12:00 - 16:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Helms Design Center, 8745 Washington Boulevard, Culver City, CA, 90232
Free
Join us! Open gallery hours Saturday, September 3 @ 12:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Welcome Blanket is a platform for engagement that transforms the abstract concept of immigration into a tangible crowd-sourced artistic action. Handcraft makers are invited to make Welcome Blankets that include notecards with stories important to their families about immigration/migration/relocation to create symbolic and practical gifts of welcome for new refugees coming to the United States. These gifts are collected, catalogued, and displayed at art institutions and exhibitions. After each show’s close, Welcome Blanket’s 30+ partner refugee resettlement groups present these tangible gifts of welcome to our newest neighbors.
Welcome Blanket makes its inaugural Los Angeles exhibit at Helms Bakery District and will continue at Skirball Cultural Center and LAX airport. A national initiative in partnership with other museums and cultural institutions will continue in the years to follow.
Exhibition Dates
August 4th through September 24th
Viewing Hours on Saturdays from 12:00 to 4:00 PM

ABOUT WELCOME BLANKET
Woven into the fabric of our country is the fundamental idea that our diversity and individual freedoms, together, allow for our personal stories that collectively make the United States a great nation. The diverse migration stories are human stories; yet the abstraction of immigration, from sweeping government policies to the use of language, particularly by the media, perpetuates “otherness,” removing us from these human stories, ones that we all have. Welcome Blanket is a platform for engagement that transforms this abstraction into a tangible, crowd-sourced, artistic action. Participants use their heads, hearts, hands, and histories to craft the country they wish to see.
Welcome Blanket was initially a response to the proposed 2000-mile border wall between Mexico and the United States. The project reimagined the 2000-mile length, one of exclusion, as 2000 miles of yarn to make individual welcome blankets for refugees coming to the United States. Handcraft makers who knit, sew, quilt, crochet, weave, felt, etc., use any textile to make 40 inch x 40 inch blankets that are easy to care for and hard to give away. They included stories important to their families about immigration, migration, or relocation, creating symbolic and practical gifts of welcome for new refugees coming to the United States. These gifts are collected, cataloged, and displayed at art and cultural institutions. During these exhibits, the message of welcome is amplified through hosting craft circles, performances, discussions, forums, and legal assistance for immigrants. Post-show, our 30+ partner refugee resettlement groups present these tangible gifts of welcome to our newest neighbors. Over 6500 have been made and distributed.
After reaching our initial goal of 2000 miles of yarn, resulting in 3400 blankets, the impact was clear. New immigrants felt the welcome; they felt seen as they were gifted these heartfelt, handmade blankets–a symbol of home, itself. And the makers reflected the diversity of this country: the youngest was 4 and the oldest 104; there were evangelical Christians, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists; and there were makers from a wide range of political leanings. Many participants had diverse migration stories, from being descendants of slaves to displaced Native Americans, from recent refugees to descendants of the Mayflower.
Welcome Blanket’s impact reflected a sense of inclusion and we set a new goal–to bring people together to develop a new American tradition of welcome. We aim to create an enduring project and build a community of connection, a network that creates thresholds of welcome that is a public visual pronouncement and a private and tactile experience. We are building a tapestry of American migration history, connecting the stories of past migrations with people coming to the United States right now, and creating a space to discuss the complex issues around immigration with humanity.
Make a Welcome Blanket, share your story, come together and craft. Join us.
For more information: welcomeblanket.org and @welcomeblanket
Information about additional Welcome Blanket events will be posted shortly.
Previous Exhibitions
Museum of Design Atlanta (Atlanta, GA)
Smart Museum of Art (Chicago, IL)
Fuller Craft Museum (Boston, MA)
Build Peace Conference (San Diego and Tijuana)
Welcome Blanket Brookline
Upcoming Exhibitions
San Francisco International Airport (San Francisco, CA)
Heritage Winooski Mill Museum (Winooski, VT)
Revere History Museum (Revere, MA)

ABOUT JAYNA
Jayna Zweiman is an architecturally-trained multidisciplinary artist and designer. Her independent practice combines architecture, art, craft, and new media to focus on experiences that overlap physical, virtual, and conceptual spaces.
Perhaps best known as the co-creator and co-founder of Pussyhat Project, an international network and movement of women’s rights supporters, Zweiman has become a leading advocate of utilizing design innovation to enact social change. Pussyhat Project became a worldwide phenomenon at the 2017 Women’s Marches with one of the largest crowd-sourced art advocacy projects ever. She is also the creator and founder of Welcome Blanket, a reconceptualization of the 2000-mile length of the proposed border wall as 2000-mile length of yarn to make individual welcome blankets for new immigrants coming to the United States.
Zweiman’s work has been exhibited and published internationally. Her work has been nominated for the Beazley Design of the Year by the Design Museum in London, has been acquired by the Victoria & Albert Museum, and has been awarded the first ever Brand of the Year by the School of Visual Arts. Zweiman was awarded in 2017 as one of “The 25 People Who Defined Visual Culture” by Artsy.
Jayna earned her AB from Brown University with concentrations in visual arts and economics and her Master in Architecture from Harvard University Graduate School of Design. She lives and works in Los Angeles.
Special thanks to Welcome Blanket sponsors:

Welcome Blanket Exhibition in the Design Center
2022-08-27 12:00 - 16:00 | Helms Design Center, 8745 Washington Boulevard, Culver City, CA, 90232
Free
Join us! Open gallery hours Saturday, August 27 @ 12:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Welcome Blanket is a platform for engagement that transforms the abstract concept of immigration into a tangible crowd-sourced artistic action. Handcraft makers are invited to make Welcome Blankets that include notecards with stories important to their families about immigration/migration/relocation to create symbolic and practical gifts of welcome for new refugees coming to the United States. These gifts are collected, catalogued, and displayed at art institutions and exhibitions. After each show’s close, Welcome Blanket’s 30+ partner refugee resettlement groups present these tangible gifts of welcome to our newest neighbors.
Welcome Blanket makes its inaugural Los Angeles exhibit at Helms Bakery District and will continue at Skirball Cultural Center and LAX airport. A national initiative in partnership with other museums and cultural institutions will continue in the years to follow.
Exhibition Dates
August 4th through September 24th
Viewing Hours on Saturdays from 12:00 to 4:00 PM

ABOUT WELCOME BLANKET
Woven into the fabric of our country is the fundamental idea that our diversity and individual freedoms, together, allow for our personal stories that collectively make the United States a great nation. The diverse migration stories are human stories; yet the abstraction of immigration, from sweeping government policies to the use of language, particularly by the media, perpetuates “otherness,” removing us from these human stories, ones that we all have. Welcome Blanket is a platform for engagement that transforms this abstraction into a tangible, crowd-sourced, artistic action. Participants use their heads, hearts, hands, and histories to craft the country they wish to see.
Welcome Blanket was initially a response to the proposed 2000-mile border wall between Mexico and the United States. The project reimagined the 2000-mile length, one of exclusion, as 2000 miles of yarn to make individual welcome blankets for refugees coming to the United States. Handcraft makers who knit, sew, quilt, crochet, weave, felt, etc., use any textile to make 40 inch x 40 inch blankets that are easy to care for and hard to give away. They included stories important to their families about immigration, migration, or relocation, creating symbolic and practical gifts of welcome for new refugees coming to the United States. These gifts are collected, cataloged, and displayed at art and cultural institutions. During these exhibits, the message of welcome is amplified through hosting craft circles, performances, discussions, forums, and legal assistance for immigrants. Post-show, our 30+ partner refugee resettlement groups present these tangible gifts of welcome to our newest neighbors. Over 6500 have been made and distributed.
After reaching our initial goal of 2000 miles of yarn, resulting in 3400 blankets, the impact was clear. New immigrants felt the welcome; they felt seen as they were gifted these heartfelt, handmade blankets–a symbol of home, itself. And the makers reflected the diversity of this country: the youngest was 4 and the oldest 104; there were evangelical Christians, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists; and there were makers from a wide range of political leanings. Many participants had diverse migration stories, from being descendants of slaves to displaced Native Americans, from recent refugees to descendants of the Mayflower.
Welcome Blanket’s impact reflected a sense of inclusion and we set a new goal–to bring people together to develop a new American tradition of welcome. We aim to create an enduring project and build a community of connection, a network that creates thresholds of welcome that is a public visual pronouncement and a private and tactile experience. We are building a tapestry of American migration history, connecting the stories of past migrations with people coming to the United States right now, and creating a space to discuss the complex issues around immigration with humanity.
Make a Welcome Blanket, share your story, come together and craft. Join us.
For more information: welcomeblanket.org and @welcomeblanket
Information about additional Welcome Blanket events will be posted shortly.
Previous Exhibitions
Museum of Design Atlanta (Atlanta, GA)
Smart Museum of Art (Chicago, IL)
Fuller Craft Museum (Boston, MA)
Build Peace Conference (San Diego and Tijuana)
Welcome Blanket Brookline
Upcoming Exhibitions
San Francisco International Airport (San Francisco, CA)
Heritage Winooski Mill Museum (Winooski, VT)
Revere History Museum (Revere, MA)

ABOUT JAYNA
Jayna Zweiman is an architecturally-trained multidisciplinary artist and designer. Her independent practice combines architecture, art, craft, and new media to focus on experiences that overlap physical, virtual, and conceptual spaces.
Perhaps best known as the co-creator and co-founder of Pussyhat Project, an international network and movement of women’s rights supporters, Zweiman has become a leading advocate of utilizing design innovation to enact social change. Pussyhat Project became a worldwide phenomenon at the 2017 Women’s Marches with one of the largest crowd-sourced art advocacy projects ever. She is also the creator and founder of Welcome Blanket, a reconceptualization of the 2000-mile length of the proposed border wall as 2000-mile length of yarn to make individual welcome blankets for new immigrants coming to the United States.
Zweiman’s work has been exhibited and published internationally. Her work has been nominated for the Beazley Design of the Year by the Design Museum in London, has been acquired by the Victoria & Albert Museum, and has been awarded the first ever Brand of the Year by the School of Visual Arts. Zweiman was awarded in 2017 as one of “The 25 People Who Defined Visual Culture” by Artsy.
Jayna earned her AB from Brown University with concentrations in visual arts and economics and her Master in Architecture from Harvard University Graduate School of Design. She lives and works in Los Angeles.
Special thanks to Welcome Blanket sponsors:

Join Arcana Books for a book signing with Eric Kroll: The New York Years, 1971 to 1994
2022-08-20 16:00 - 18:00 | Arcana: Books on the Arts, 8675 Washington Blvd., Culver City, CA, 90232
Please join us for a Book Signing with Eric Kroll at Arcana on Saturday, August 20th, 4:00 – 6:00 PM.
If you cannot attend but would like a signed copy of The New York Years, 1971 to 1994 please place your order here!
Eric Kroll is a name familiar to anyone with even the vaguest interest in contemporary photography, he has several high-profile best-selling books with houses like Taschen to his name (Fetish Girls anyone?) and his work has been featured in countless magazines over the years.
Timeless is extremely pleased to showcase a side of his work that hasn’t been widely publicized before. In the late ’70s and early ’80s Eric found himself at the very heart of a cultural eruption in NYC, with his camera ever at the ready he has documented the work and private pursuits of luminaries from the Stones to the Dead Boys, Blondie, Warhol and Haring. Madonna, Kenneth Anger, Grace Jones and Robert Mapplethorpe all feature in this stunning collection of mostly never-before seen photos. Dive into a world that no longer exists from the sleazy underbelly to the high-brow art galleries Timeless and Eric Kroll invite you to a New York at the height of its decadence and its cultural importance. A unique book, a journey, an experience!

It's the Summer of "Love Local" in Culver City
2022-08-20 12:00 - 18:00 | Helms Design District, 8800 Venice Blvd., Los Angeles, CA, 90034, United States
Free
Saturday, August 20, 2022
12:00 – 6:00 PM
Campus-Wide Event
In partnership with the City of Culver City, we invite you to join us on Saturday, August 20th for a campus-wide celebration of Summer. Stop by and explore the center featuring music, poetry, art, dining, demos, shopping, book signing, and sipping.
We have a jam-packed day in support of all things local, with featured fun including a film screening of the GOONIES, Live Music on Helms Walk with artists The Desperate Measures and The Black Heartthrobs, a book signing with Eric Kroll, poetry writing with The Poetry Society L.A., family crafts, T-shirt design, Welcome Blanket exhibition and so much more! Plus Enter-To-Win a Pasta Sisters gift certificate at the City of Culver City’s Welcome Booth with free buttons, stickers, Helms Bakery merch and beach balls.
CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE DETAILS
Come out and show your love for Culver City!

Welcome Blanket Exhibition in the Design Center
2022-08-20 12:00 - 16:00 | Helms Design Center, 8745 Washington Boulevard, Culver City, CA, 90232
Free
Join us! Open gallery hours Saturday, August 20 @ 12:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Welcome Blanket is a platform for engagement that transforms the abstract concept of immigration into a tangible crowd-sourced artistic action. Handcraft makers are invited to make Welcome Blankets that include notecards with stories important to their families about immigration/migration/relocation to create symbolic and practical gifts of welcome for new refugees coming to the United States. These gifts are collected, catalogued, and displayed at art institutions and exhibitions. After each show’s close, Welcome Blanket’s 30+ partner refugee resettlement groups present these tangible gifts of welcome to our newest neighbors.
Welcome Blanket makes its inaugural Los Angeles exhibit at Helms Bakery District and will continue at Skirball Cultural Center and LAX airport. A national initiative in partnership with other museums and cultural institutions will continue in the years to follow.
Exhibition Dates
August 4th through September 24th
Viewing Hours on Saturdays from 12:00 to 4:00 PM

ABOUT WELCOME BLANKET
Woven into the fabric of our country is the fundamental idea that our diversity and individual freedoms, together, allow for our personal stories that collectively make the United States a great nation. The diverse migration stories are human stories; yet the abstraction of immigration, from sweeping government policies to the use of language, particularly by the media, perpetuates “otherness,” removing us from these human stories, ones that we all have. Welcome Blanket is a platform for engagement that transforms this abstraction into a tangible, crowd-sourced, artistic action. Participants use their heads, hearts, hands, and histories to craft the country they wish to see.
Welcome Blanket was initially a response to the proposed 2000-mile border wall between Mexico and the United States. The project reimagined the 2000-mile length, one of exclusion, as 2000 miles of yarn to make individual welcome blankets for refugees coming to the United States. Handcraft makers who knit, sew, quilt, crochet, weave, felt, etc., use any textile to make 40 inch x 40 inch blankets that are easy to care for and hard to give away. They included stories important to their families about immigration, migration, or relocation, creating symbolic and practical gifts of welcome for new refugees coming to the United States. These gifts are collected, cataloged, and displayed at art and cultural institutions. During these exhibits, the message of welcome is amplified through hosting craft circles, performances, discussions, forums, and legal assistance for immigrants. Post-show, our 30+ partner refugee resettlement groups present these tangible gifts of welcome to our newest neighbors. Over 6500 have been made and distributed.
After reaching our initial goal of 2000 miles of yarn, resulting in 3400 blankets, the impact was clear. New immigrants felt the welcome; they felt seen as they were gifted these heartfelt, handmade blankets–a symbol of home, itself. And the makers reflected the diversity of this country: the youngest was 4 and the oldest 104; there were evangelical Christians, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists; and there were makers from a wide range of political leanings. Many participants had diverse migration stories, from being descendants of slaves to displaced Native Americans, from recent refugees to descendants of the Mayflower.
Welcome Blanket’s impact reflected a sense of inclusion and we set a new goal–to bring people together to develop a new American tradition of welcome. We aim to create an enduring project and build a community of connection, a network that creates thresholds of welcome that is a public visual pronouncement and a private and tactile experience. We are building a tapestry of American migration history, connecting the stories of past migrations with people coming to the United States right now, and creating a space to discuss the complex issues around immigration with humanity.
Make a Welcome Blanket, share your story, come together and craft. Join us.
For more information: welcomeblanket.org and @welcomeblanket
Information about additional Welcome Blanket events will be posted shortly.
Previous Exhibitions
Museum of Design Atlanta (Atlanta, GA)
Smart Museum of Art (Chicago, IL)
Fuller Craft Museum (Boston, MA)
Build Peace Conference (San Diego and Tijuana)
Welcome Blanket Brookline
Upcoming Exhibitions
San Francisco International Airport (San Francisco, CA)
Heritage Winooski Mill Museum (Winooski, VT)
Revere History Museum (Revere, MA)

ABOUT JAYNA
Jayna Zweiman is an architecturally-trained multidisciplinary artist and designer. Her independent practice combines architecture, art, craft, and new media to focus on experiences that overlap physical, virtual, and conceptual spaces.
Perhaps best known as the co-creator and co-founder of Pussyhat Project, an international network and movement of women’s rights supporters, Zweiman has become a leading advocate of utilizing design innovation to enact social change. Pussyhat Project became a worldwide phenomenon at the 2017 Women’s Marches with one of the largest crowd-sourced art advocacy projects ever. She is also the creator and founder of Welcome Blanket, a reconceptualization of the 2000-mile length of the proposed border wall as 2000-mile length of yarn to make individual welcome blankets for new immigrants coming to the United States.
Zweiman’s work has been exhibited and published internationally. Her work has been nominated for the Beazley Design of the Year by the Design Museum in London, has been acquired by the Victoria & Albert Museum, and has been awarded the first ever Brand of the Year by the School of Visual Arts. Zweiman was awarded in 2017 as one of “The 25 People Who Defined Visual Culture” by Artsy.
Jayna earned her AB from Brown University with concentrations in visual arts and economics and her Master in Architecture from Harvard University Graduate School of Design. She lives and works in Los Angeles.
Special thanks to Welcome Blanket sponsors:

Knitting Workshop with Welcome Blanket's Linda Preuss and Joanne Poyourow
2022-08-14 13:30 - 15:30 | Helms Design Center, 8745 Washington Boulevard, Culver City, CA, 90232
Free
Are you learning to knit? Have you been knitting for years? On Sunday August 14th from 1:30 to 3:30 PM, please join us for a FREE workshop led by Linda Preuss and Joanne Poyourow who over the years have knitted 9 blankets with a group of friends for the Welcome Blanket project. Come be part of making a Welcome Blanket, meet new friends from the fiber community, and share your immigration stories.
Pattern and yarn will be supplied, although you may also bring yarn from your stash (DK gauge acrylic or superwash-wool, please; any color.) If you have #7 or #8 needles, pop them in your bag as well. Otherwise we’ll have some for you to borrow.
This is a knitting workshop and although we won’t be mentoring crocheting or quilting skills at this workshop, feel free to join us. The more the merrier!
This workshop will be an indoor event. Out of consideration for others we kindly ask that participants wear masks.
Questions? Contact welcomeblanketvolunteer@gmail.com

Join Arcana Books for a book signing with Peter Fetterman: The Power of Photography
2022-08-13 16:00 - 18:00 | Arcana: Books on the Arts, 8675 Washington Blvd., Culver City, CA, 90232
Please join us for a Book Signing and discussion with Peter Fetterman at Arcana Saturday, August 13th, 4:00 – 6:00 PM.
If you cannot attend but would like a signed copy of The Power of Photography please place your order here!
The power of photography lies in its ability to ignite emotions across barriers of language and culture. This selection of iconic images, compiled by pioneering collector and gallerist Peter Fetterman, celebrates the photograph’s unique capacity for sensibility.
Peter has been championing the photographic arts for over 30 years. He runs what is arguably the most important commercial photography gallery in the world. During the long months of lockdown, Peter ‘exhibited’ one photograph per day, accompanied by inspirational text, quotes and poetry. This digital collection struck a chord with followers from around the world. The Power of Photography presents 120 outstanding images from the series, along with Peter’s insightful words.
This carefully curated selection offers an inspiring overview of the medium while paying homage to masters of the art. From the bizarre Boschian fantasies of Melvin Sokolsky to the haunting humanity of Ansel Adams’s family portraits; from Miho Kajioka’s interpretation of traditional Japanese aesthetics of to the joyful everyday scenes of Evelyn Hofer; from rare interior shots by famed nude photographer Ruth Bernhard to Bruce Davidson’s wistful depiction of young men playing ballgames on a street; this book gathers some of the most unique and heartening photographs from the 20th century. Each image is a time capsule, offering us a glimpse into days gone past. Yet each photograph also speaks of tranquility, peace, and hope for the future.

Welcome Blanket Exhibition in the Design Center
2022-08-13 12:00 - 16:00 | Helms Design Center, 8745 Washington Boulevard, Culver City, CA, 90232
Free
Join us! Open gallery hours Saturday, August 13 @ 12:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Welcome Blanket is a platform for engagement that transforms the abstract concept of immigration into a tangible crowd-sourced artistic action. Handcraft makers are invited to make Welcome Blankets that include notecards with stories important to their families about immigration/migration/relocation to create symbolic and practical gifts of welcome for new refugees coming to the United States. These gifts are collected, catalogued, and displayed at art institutions and exhibitions. After each show’s close, Welcome Blanket’s 30+ partner refugee resettlement groups present these tangible gifts of welcome to our newest neighbors.
Welcome Blanket makes its inaugural Los Angeles exhibit at Helms Bakery District and will continue at Skirball Cultural Center and LAX airport. A national initiative in partnership with other museums and cultural institutions will continue in the years to follow.
Exhibition Dates
August 4th through September 24th
Viewing Hours on Saturdays from 12:00 to 4:00 PM

ABOUT WELCOME BLANKET
Woven into the fabric of our country is the fundamental idea that our diversity and individual freedoms, together, allow for our personal stories that collectively make the United States a great nation. The diverse migration stories are human stories; yet the abstraction of immigration, from sweeping government policies to the use of language, particularly by the media, perpetuates “otherness,” removing us from these human stories, ones that we all have. Welcome Blanket is a platform for engagement that transforms this abstraction into a tangible, crowd-sourced, artistic action. Participants use their heads, hearts, hands, and histories to craft the country they wish to see.
Welcome Blanket was initially a response to the proposed 2000-mile border wall between Mexico and the United States. The project reimagined the 2000-mile length, one of exclusion, as 2000 miles of yarn to make individual welcome blankets for refugees coming to the United States. Handcraft makers who knit, sew, quilt, crochet, weave, felt, etc., use any textile to make 40 inch x 40 inch blankets that are easy to care for and hard to give away. They included stories important to their families about immigration, migration, or relocation, creating symbolic and practical gifts of welcome for new refugees coming to the United States. These gifts are collected, cataloged, and displayed at art and cultural institutions. During these exhibits, the message of welcome is amplified through hosting craft circles, performances, discussions, forums, and legal assistance for immigrants. Post-show, our 30+ partner refugee resettlement groups present these tangible gifts of welcome to our newest neighbors. Over 6500 have been made and distributed.
After reaching our initial goal of 2000 miles of yarn, resulting in 3400 blankets, the impact was clear. New immigrants felt the welcome; they felt seen as they were gifted these heartfelt, handmade blankets–a symbol of home, itself. And the makers reflected the diversity of this country: the youngest was 4 and the oldest 104; there were evangelical Christians, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists; and there were makers from a wide range of political leanings. Many participants had diverse migration stories, from being descendants of slaves to displaced Native Americans, from recent refugees to descendants of the Mayflower.
Welcome Blanket’s impact reflected a sense of inclusion and we set a new goal–to bring people together to develop a new American tradition of welcome. We aim to create an enduring project and build a community of connection, a network that creates thresholds of welcome that is a public visual pronouncement and a private and tactile experience. We are building a tapestry of American migration history, connecting the stories of past migrations with people coming to the United States right now, and creating a space to discuss the complex issues around immigration with humanity.
Make a Welcome Blanket, share your story, come together and craft. Join us.
For more information: welcomeblanket.org and @welcomeblanket
Information about additional Welcome Blanket events will be posted shortly.
Previous Exhibitions
Museum of Design Atlanta (Atlanta, GA)
Smart Museum of Art (Chicago, IL)
Fuller Craft Museum (Boston, MA)
Build Peace Conference (San Diego and Tijuana)
Welcome Blanket Brookline
Upcoming Exhibitions
San Francisco International Airport (San Francisco, CA)
Heritage Winooski Mill Museum (Winooski, VT)
Revere History Museum (Revere, MA)

ABOUT JAYNA
Jayna Zweiman is an architecturally-trained multidisciplinary artist and designer. Her independent practice combines architecture, art, craft, and new media to focus on experiences that overlap physical, virtual, and conceptual spaces.
Perhaps best known as the co-creator and co-founder of Pussyhat Project, an international network and movement of women’s rights supporters, Zweiman has become a leading advocate of utilizing design innovation to enact social change. Pussyhat Project became a worldwide phenomenon at the 2017 Women’s Marches with one of the largest crowd-sourced art advocacy projects ever. She is also the creator and founder of Welcome Blanket, a reconceptualization of the 2000-mile length of the proposed border wall as 2000-mile length of yarn to make individual welcome blankets for new immigrants coming to the United States.
Zweiman’s work has been exhibited and published internationally. Her work has been nominated for the Beazley Design of the Year by the Design Museum in London, has been acquired by the Victoria & Albert Museum, and has been awarded the first ever Brand of the Year by the School of Visual Arts. Zweiman was awarded in 2017 as one of “The 25 People Who Defined Visual Culture” by Artsy.
Jayna earned her AB from Brown University with concentrations in visual arts and economics and her Master in Architecture from Harvard University Graduate School of Design. She lives and works in Los Angeles.
Special thanks to Welcome Blanket sponsors:

Room & Board Features Artists in Support of LA Family Housing
2022-08-08 - 2022-08-12 | 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 Richard Bruland – a 50% donation will be made on your behalf to continue the critical and life-saving services LAFH provides. Bruland’s art may be found inside the Room & Board showroom through the months of July and August.
For inquiries, please contact the artist at 323.422.9071 or email richardbruland@sbcglobal.net.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Richard Bruland was born in Lima, Peru and grew up in Geneva, Switzerland. He studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and is a graduate (BFA) of California Institute of the Arts in Valencia. He has exhibited extensively throughout the U.S.
From 1982 -1990 he was owner/operator of Bebop Records & Fine Art, a combination retail record store, art gallery, and performance place. The gallery regularly hosted shows by artists, musicians, and poets, becoming known as one of the finest small venues in the L.A. area.
Bruland is married to artist Dori Atlantis, and works out of his studio in their Silver Lake home. He teaches painting at Whizen Center for Continuing Education at the American Jewish University, Los Angeles, and lectures and speaks about art in the Los Angeles area.

Knitting and Crocheting Workshop with Welcome Blanket
2022-08-07 11:00 - 14:00 | Helms Design Center, 8745 Washington Boulevard, Culver City, CA, 90232
On Sunday, August 7th from 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM stop in at the Helms Design Center to join in the knitting and crocheting workshop with the Welcome Blanket team. Beginning knitting will be taught by fiber artist and instructor Andrea Roth-Fedida. Yarn, needles and pattern supplied for novice knitters, but feel free to bring your own!
Suggested yarn: worsted weight and size US8-US11 knitting needles.
All levels of knitting/crochet are welcome to join the Welcome Blanket community knitting gatherings.

Join Arcana Books for a book signing with Clara Balzary: Big Fresh Air
2022-08-06 16:00 - 18:00 | Arcana: Books on the Arts, 8675 Washington Blvd., Culver City, CA, 90232
Stop in to Arcana: Books on the Arts this Saturday, August 6th, between 4:00 and 6:00 PM to celebrate the launch of Clara Balzary’s Big Fresh Air.
If you cannot attend but would like to purchase a book signed by Ms. Balzary, please place your order here or call Arcana at 310-458-1499.
Clara Balzary is a Los Angeles-based photographer and filmmaker whose first book is the newly released Big Fresh Air from London’s Pinch Publishing. “The photographs in Big Fresh Air were taken over the course of four days, spanning from the late spring to the late summer of 2021. All pictures are the result of a collaboration with Ruby Kernkamp and Emily Leona Rose. Kernkamp and Rose used contact improvisation techniques to create distinct movement dialogues between participants and the natural landscape, stemming from an interest in what happens when bodies give and receive weight and touch. Each day took place in the public parks in La Cañada / Flintridge, a city in the foothills of the Verdugo Mountains in Los Angeles County, during a time when groups were encouraged to gather exclusively in outdoor spaces.”

Welcome Blanket: An Exhibition + Conversation with Jayna Zweiman
2022-08-04 18:30 - 20:30 | Helms Design Center, 8745 Washington Boulevard, Culver City, CA, 90232
Free
On Thursday, August 4th from 6:30 – 8:30 PM, please join us for an opening reception of Welcome Blanket with founder Jayna Zweiman in conversation with cultural journalist Frances Anderton.
Welcome Blanket is a platform for engagement that transforms the abstract concept of immigration into a tangible crowd-sourced artistic action. Handcraft makers are invited to make Welcome Blankets that include notecards with stories important to their families about immigration/migration/relocation to create symbolic and practical gifts of welcome for new refugees coming to the United States. These gifts are collected, catalogued, and displayed at art institutions and exhibitions. After each show’s close, Welcome Blanket’s 30+ partner refugee resettlement groups present these tangible gifts of welcome to our newest neighbors.
Welcome Blanket makes its inaugural Los Angeles exhibit at Helms Bakery District and will continue at Skirball Cultural Center and LAX airport. A national initiative in partnership with other museums and cultural institutions will continue in the years to follow.
Exhibition Dates
August 4th through September 24th
Viewing Hours on Saturdays from 12:00 to 4:00 PM

ABOUT WELCOME BLANKET
Woven into the fabric of our country is the fundamental idea that our diversity and individual freedoms, together, allow for our personal stories that collectively make the United States a great nation. The diverse migration stories are human stories; yet the abstraction of immigration, from sweeping government policies to the use of language, particularly by the media, perpetuates “otherness,” removing us from these human stories, ones that we all have. Welcome Blanket is a platform for engagement that transforms this abstraction into a tangible, crowd-sourced, artistic action. Participants use their heads, hearts, hands, and histories to craft the country they wish to see.
Welcome Blanket was initially a response to the proposed 2000-mile border wall between Mexico and the United States. The project reimagined the 2000-mile length, one of exclusion, as 2000 miles of yarn to make individual welcome blankets for refugees coming to the United States. Handcraft makers who knit, sew, quilt, crochet, weave, felt, etc., use any textile to make 40 inch x 40 inch blankets that are easy to care for and hard to give away. They included stories important to their families about immigration, migration, or relocation, creating symbolic and practical gifts of welcome for new refugees coming to the United States. These gifts are collected, cataloged, and displayed at art and cultural institutions. During these exhibits, the message of welcome is amplified through hosting craft circles, performances, discussions, forums, and legal assistance for immigrants. Post-show, our 30+ partner refugee resettlement groups present these tangible gifts of welcome to our newest neighbors. Over 6500 have been made and distributed.
After reaching our initial goal of 2000 miles of yarn, resulting in 3400 blankets, the impact was clear. New immigrants felt the welcome; they felt seen as they were gifted these heartfelt, handmade blankets–a symbol of home, itself. And the makers reflected the diversity of this country: the youngest was 4 and the oldest 104; there were evangelical Christians, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists; and there were makers from a wide range of political leanings. Many participants had diverse migration stories, from being descendants of slaves to displaced Native Americans, from recent refugees to descendants of the Mayflower.
Welcome Blanket’s impact reflected a sense of inclusion and we set a new goal–to bring people together to develop a new American tradition of welcome. We aim to create an enduring project and build a community of connection, a network that creates thresholds of welcome that is a public visual pronouncement and a private and tactile experience. We are building a tapestry of American migration history, connecting the stories of past migrations with people coming to the United States right now, and creating a space to discuss the complex issues around immigration with humanity.
Make a Welcome Blanket, share your story, come together and craft. Join us.
For more information: Welcomeblanket.org and @welcomeblanket
Information about additional Welcome Blanket events will be posted shortly.
Previous Exhibitions
Museum of Design Atlanta (Atlanta, GA)
Smart Museum of Art (Chicago, IL)
Fuller Craft Museum (Boston, MA)
Build Peace Conference (San Diego and Tijuana)
Welcome Blanket Brookline
Upcoming Exhibitions
San Francisco International Airport (San Francisco, CA)
Heritage Winooski Mill Museum (Winooski, VT)
Revere History Museum (Revere, MA)

ABOUT JAYNA
Jayna Zweiman is an architecturally-trained multidisciplinary artist and designer. Her independent practice combines architecture, art, craft, and new media to focus on experiences that overlap physical, virtual, and conceptual spaces.
Perhaps best known as the co-creator and co-founder of Pussyhat Project, an international network and movement of women’s rights supporters, Zweiman has become a leading advocate of utilizing design innovation to enact social change. Pussyhat Project became a worldwide phenomenon at the 2017 Women’s Marches with one of the largest crowd-sourced art advocacy projects ever. She is also the creator and founder of Welcome Blanket, a reconceptualization of the 2000-mile length of the proposed border wall as 2000-mile length of yarn to make individual welcome blankets for new immigrants coming to the United States.
Zweiman’s work has been exhibited and published internationally. Her work has been nominated for the Beazley Design of the Year by the Design Museum in London, has been acquired by the Victoria & Albert Museum, and has been awarded the first ever Brand of the Year by the School of Visual Arts. Zweiman was awarded in 2017 as one of “The 25 People Who Defined Visual Culture” by Artsy.
Jayna earned her AB from Brown University with concentrations in visual arts and economics and her Master in Architecture from Harvard University Graduate School of Design. She lives and works in Los Angeles.
Special thanks to Welcome Blanket sponsors:

Join Arcana Books for a Celebration of the Launch of The Steve Keene Art Book
2022-07-30 16:00 - 18:00 | Arcana: Books on the Arts, 8675 Washington Blvd., Culver City, CA, 90232
Stop in Arcana: Books on the Arts this Saturday, July 30th between 4:00 and 6:00 PM to celebrate the launch of The Steve Keene Art Book, with special guests Steve Keene, Dan Efram and J.C. Gabel and co-published by their friends at Hat & Beard Press. If you cannot attend but would like to purchase a signed copy, please place your order here or call Arcana at 310-458-1499.
Steve Keene is the most prolific American painter of all time, producing more than 300,000 hand-painted works via his studio / chainlink fence cage where he paints more than fifty paintings at a time.
Lovingly known for making affordable art, as well as being the indie rock cover art maker to Pavement, The Apples in stereo, and Silver Jews, Keene has long been under-appreciated for his importance to the nineties indie art and music scenes. The Steve Keene Art Book – originally conceived during his sold out 2016 show at Shepard Fairey’s Subliminal Projects Gallery – is the first art book dedicated exclusively to his work.
The book features essays by musician Hilarie Bratset (The Apples in stereo), writer Sam Brumbaugh, Elle Chang, Daniel Efram, Shepard Fairey, journalist Karen Loew, and Christina Zafiris, along with comments from Starling Keene, curators Jonathan LeVine, Leo Fitzgerald and Talia Logan, alongside a dazzling two hundred and seventy-seven reproductions of Keene’s works. Efram takes readers into Keene’s utilitarian chainlink “painting cage” for an all-access pass for a peek into the artist’s fascinating systemic technique.
The Steve Keene Art Book is co-published by Hat & Beard Press and Tractor Beam and has been made possible through a crowdfunding campaign that included hundreds of supporters – from Keene’s former hometown of Charlottesville, Virginia, to fans from all over the world – who contributed pieces from their own personal collections. It is produced by Daniel Efram, edited by Gail O’Hara, editor-in-chief of the “legendary indie nerd bible” chickfactor, and designed by Grammy-nominated graphic designer Henry Owings.

Extract No More: Phasing Out Oil Drilling in Greater Los Angeles
2022-07-28 08:30 - 09:30 | Helms Design Center, 8745 Washington Boulevard, Culver City, CA, 90232
Helms Design Center
8745 Washington Boulevard | Doors Open at 7:45 for breakfast and mingling prior to the discussion.
On Thursday, July 28th, from 8:30 to 9:30 AM, please join Westside Urban Forum for a member networking and panel discussion that considers how Greater Los Angeles will transition away from fossil fuel extraction and how these brownfields may be reclaimed for regenerative new land uses.
RSVP REQUIRED – REGISTER HERE
Oil was first discovered in Los Angeles in 1892, and by the 1920s helped propel California to become the leading oil producer in the United States, accounting for one-quarter of the world’s petroleum output. Alongside real estate, aerospace, and film, the petroleum industry enabled the rapid growth and development of our region. To this day, visitors to Los Angeles International Airport are greeted by the pumpjacks of the Baldwin Hills Oil Field, with many others hidden behind illusory facades.
Oil and gas is no longer the regional economic megalith it once was, but it has straddled Los Angeles with a harmful and unintended consequence: the nation’s largest urban oil field. There are 68 active oil fields in the Los Angeles Basin, and more than 20,000 active, idle, or abandoned oil wells scattered throughout our densely populated urban fabric, many of them within close proximity of homes, schools, parks, and other sensitive land uses. They pose acute risks to human and environmental health via air pollution as well as water and soil contamination, and they disproportionately impact historically Black and Hispanic neighborhoods.
After ten years of community organizing and advocacy by environmental justice groups, including the STAND-L.A. coalition, the City of Los Angeles and County of Los Angeles have committed to phasing out urban oil wells. While it is relatively easy to prevent new wells through land use action, how to close, cap, and remediate the existing and abandoned wells – and how such efforts will be paid for – is a more complicated affair. Additionally, there is the consideration of the jobs that will be displaced and what opportunities exist in a “Just Transition” to a clean energy economy.
Confirmed Panelists:
Alison Hahm, Staff Attorney, Communities for a Better Environment
David McNeill, Executive Officer, Baldwin Hills Conservancy
Laura Muraida, Senior Deputy for Environmental Justice, Office of Supervisor Holly J. Mitchell
Nicole Levin, Beyond Dirty Fuels Campaign Representative, Sierra Club
Sean Hecht (Moderator), Co-Executive Director, UCLA Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment
Registration Fees
$50 Members
$65 Non-Members
$10 Student Members
$15 Student Non-Members
Pre-registration closes on Tuesday, July 26th, at 9:00 PM. After Tuesday, July 26th, onsite registration will be available at the cost of an additional $10. No refunds or credits will be provided after this day.
Photo Credit – Baldwin Hills Oil Field (Source: The Center for Land Use Interpretation, licensed under an Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Creative Commons License)

Arcana hosts a Book Signing with John Divola: SCAPES
2022-07-24 16:00 - 18:00 | Arcana: Books on the Arts, 8675 Washington Blvd., Culver City, CA, 90232
Please join us Sunday, July 24th, 4:00 – 6:00 PM for a book signing
John Divola: SCAPES
Please join us Sunday, July 24th between 4:00 and 6:00 PM to celebrate the arrival of Mr. Divola’s stunning new Skinnerboox publication. If you cannot attend but would like to purchase a signed copy, please place your order here or call Arcana at 310-458-1499.
“Cameras and their users are caught between the universal and the particular. Photography and photographs; humanity and whatever specific kind of human we happen to be. There is at least something existentially universal about John Divola’s photographic adventures. The lone observer moving through the world and reflecting upon it through various camera possibilities. But nobody is truly universal, or only universal. We each come wrapped in our particulars, just as each and every photograph belongs to the universe of photography precisely insofar as it is particular. Forever the two. When I look at Divola’s photographs, I sense something universal because I sense all the particulars. Yes, a white, male, middle class Southern Californian, post-conceptual artist of the kind that makes these kinds of photographs. But nobody makes photographs quite like Divola. He is one of a kind, and therein are the universal and the particular.” – David Campany from his text for “SCAPES”, which contains selections from three of the photographer’s most celebrated bodies of early black and white work, “Four Landscapes”, “As Far As I Could Get”, and “Dogs Chasing My Car in the Desert.”

Stop by Arcana Books for an In-Person "Show & Tell" Moderated by Jason E.C. Wright
2022-06-18 16:00 - 18:00 | Arcana: Books on the Arts, 8675 Washington Blvd., Culver City, CA, 90232
On Saturday, June 18th at 4:00 PM, join Arcana: Books on the Arts for an In-Person “Show & Tell” as we welcome back moderator Jason E.C. Wright of @burntsiennaresearchsociety. You are invited to pop into Arcana Books, wander through the stacks, gather up your selections of art books, design books, coffee table books and come nerd out with Jason.
Here’s how it works: Jason will also be live @arcanabooks sharing some of his faves. Those who are in-person or virtual may ask a question, chat about your most influential book or bookshop, enjoy the hour, meet some interesting people, and support your local bookstore. @arcanabooks is a great place to start, online or in person. Shop Local and Love Local. There’s nothing like a little book fun with Jason and our friends at Arcana!
ABOUT JASON
Jason E.C. Wright is the Founder of Burntsienna Research Society, a critical-thinking research consultancy for design histories, intangible culture, and reference materials. Jason is Indiana born and raised, who now considers Los Angeles home. Jason is an accomplished designer, researcher, writer, with 20+ years as a retail and fashion professional, who takes his love of books seriously, serving as librarian-in-residence at home in Treehouse Hollywood.

Closing Day for the Exhibition In Harmony with Nature: The Architectural Work of James Hubbell
2022-06-18 12:00 - 17:00 | Helms Design Center, 8745 Washington Boulevard, Culver City, CA, 90232
Helms Design Center
8745 Washington Boulevard, Culver City
Exhibition runs April 22 – June 18, 2022
Viewing hours: 12 PM – 5 PM
James Hubbell is a painter, sculptor and architectural designer who has spent 60 years designing and making buildings, artifacts and fine artworks that reflect a deep passion for the ocean and for earth’s gifts. From Ilan Lael, his self-made home, workshops and foundation in Julian near San Diego, Hubbell has created schools in concert with the community in Tijuana, an organic chapel at Sea Ranch, and parks that span the cultures of the Pacific Rim.
Hubbell’s vision is the antithesis of rational and industrial. “Most important is my infatuation with nature,” he says. “There is also my love of the primitive and naive, gothic architecture, the arts and craft movement, Frank Lloyd Wright, Gaudi, and the pleasure of working with the material of stone, wood, cement, clay, metal, glass, and mosaics.”
Now Angelenos can see his architectural work shown for the first time in L.A. at an exhibition opening on Earth Day at Helms Bakery District in Culver City. The installation brings to life Ilan-Lael, his Pacific Rim Park and schools in Tijuana, his chapel at Sea Ranch as well as stunning doors, windows and other decorative building elements including his extraordinary stained glass window for Findhorn, the spiritual retreat in Scotland.
Above: The Sea Ranch Chapel by James Hubbell | Photo © Craig Tooley, Ruffimage.com

Boys' House, Ilan-Lael, Julian, CA | Photo ©John Durant

James Hubbell | Photo ©Don Musial

Boys' House Interior, Ilan-Lael, Julian, CA | Photo ©John Durant

James Hubbell in his studio | Photo ©John Durant

Interior of The Sea Ranch Chapel | Photo ©Craig Tooley

James Hubbell's Firebird | Photo ©Laurel Costa

James Hubbell Exhibition | Photo ©Titano Cruz

James Hubbell Exhibition | Photo ©Titano Cruz

James Hubbell Exhibition | Photo ©Titano Cruz

James Hubbell Exhibition | Photo ©Titano Cruz

James Hubbell Exhibition - Art as Community | Photo ©Titano Cruz

James Hubbell Exhibition - Firebird Window | Photo ©Titano Cruz

James Hubbell Exhibition | Photo ©Titano Cruz

James Hubbell Exhibition - Sea Ranch Chapel | Photo ©Titano Cruz

James Hubbell Exhibition - Sea Ranch Chapel | Photo ©Titano Cruz

All artwork is copyrighted work of the artists. All rights reserved. Images not to be used without permission.

See what’s blooming at HD Buttercup!
2022-06-18 11:00 - 13:00 | H.D. Buttercup | Coco Republic, 3225 Helms Avenue, Los Angeles,, CA, 90034, United States
HD Buttercup
3225 Helms Avenue, Los Angeles, CA
Join HD Buttercup on Saturday, June 18th from 10:30 AM to 1:30 PM for a day of fresh flowers from FlowertruckLA.
FlowertruckLA is a farm-to-vase company that offers the freshest selection of flowers, including many seasonal assortments.

In Harmony with Nature: The Architectural Work of James Hubbell
2022-06-17 12:00 - 17:00, 2022-06-12 12:00 - 17:00, 2022-06-10 12:00 - 17:00, 2022-06-05 12:00 - 17:00, 2022-06-04 12:00 - 17:00, 2022-06-03 12:00 - 17:00 | Helms Design Center, 8745 Washington Boulevard, Culver City, CA, 90232
Helms Design Center
8745 Washington Boulevard, Culver City
Exhibition runs April 22 – June 18, 2022
Viewing hours: Friday-Sunday, 12 PM – 5 PM
James Hubbell is a painter, sculptor and architectural designer who has spent 60 years designing and making buildings, artifacts and fine artworks that reflect a deep passion for the ocean and for earth’s gifts. From Ilan Lael, his self-made home, workshops and foundation in Julian near San Diego, Hubbell has created schools in concert with the community in Tijuana, an organic chapel at Sea Ranch, and parks that span the cultures of the Pacific Rim.
Hubbell’s vision is the antithesis of rational and industrial. “Most important is my infatuation with nature,” he says. “There is also my love of the primitive and naive, gothic architecture, the arts and craft movement, Frank Lloyd Wright, Gaudi, and the pleasure of working with the material of stone, wood, cement, clay, metal, glass, and mosaics.”
Now Angelenos can see his architectural work shown for the first time in L.A. at an exhibition opening on Earth Day at Helms Bakery District in Culver City. The installation brings to life Ilan-Lael, his Pacific Rim Park and schools in Tijuana, his chapel at Sea Ranch as well as stunning doors, windows and other decorative building elements including his extraordinary stained glass window for Findhorn, the spiritual retreat in Scotland.
Above: The Sea Ranch Chapel by James Hubbell | Photo © Craig Tooley, Ruffimage.com

Boys' House, Ilan-Lael, Julian, CA | Photo ©John Durant

James Hubbell | Photo ©Don Musial

Boys' House Interior, Ilan-Lael, Julian, CA | Photo ©John Durant

James Hubbell in his studio | Photo ©John Durant

Interior of The Sea Ranch Chapel | Photo ©Craig Tooley

James Hubbell's Firebird | Photo ©Laurel Costa

James Hubbell Exhibition | Photo ©Titano Cruz

James Hubbell Exhibition | Photo ©Titano Cruz

James Hubbell Exhibition | Photo ©Titano Cruz

James Hubbell Exhibition | Photo ©Titano Cruz

James Hubbell Exhibition - Art as Community | Photo ©Titano Cruz

James Hubbell Exhibition - Firebird Window | Photo ©Titano Cruz

James Hubbell Exhibition | Photo ©Titano Cruz

James Hubbell Exhibition - Sea Ranch Chapel | Photo ©Titano Cruz

James Hubbell Exhibition - Sea Ranch Chapel | Photo ©Titano Cruz

All artwork is copyrighted work of the artists. All rights reserved. Images not to be used without permission.

Arcana hosts a Book Signing with Arthur Grace – Communism(s): A Cold War Album
2022-06-11 16:00 - 18:00 | Arcana: Books on the Arts, 8675 Washington Blvd., Culver City, CA, 90232
Please join us Saturday, June 11th, 4:00 – 6:00 PM for a book signing
Arthur Grace: Communism(s): A Cold War Album
For most people in the West, the realities of life behind the Iron Curtain have faded into caricatures of police state repression and bread lines. With the world seemingly again divided between democracies and authoritarian regimes, it is essential that we understand the reality of life in the Soviet Bloc. Noted American photojournalist Arthur Grace was uniquely placed to provide that context.
During the 1970s and 1980s Grace traveled extensively behind the Iron Curtain, working primarily for news magazines. One of only a small corps of Western photographers with ongoing access, he was able to delve into the most ordinary corners of people’s daily lives, while also covering significant events. Many of the photographs in this remarkable book are effectively psychological portraits that leave the viewer with a sense of the gamut of emotions in that era.
Illustrated with over one hundred and twenty black-and-white images – nearly all previously unpublished, Communism(s) gives an unprecedented glimpse behind the veil of a not-so-distant time filled with harsh realities unseen by nearly all but those that lived through it. Shot in the USSR, Poland, Romania, Yugoslavia and the German Democratic Republic, here are portraits of factory workers, farmers, churchgoers, vacationers and loitering teens juxtaposed with the GDR’s imposing Social Realist-designed apartment blocks, annual May Day Parades, Poland’s Solidarity movement (and the subsequent imposition of martial law) and the vastness of Moscow’s Red Square.
Beautifully printed in Italy by publisher Damiani Editore, Communism(s) was co-edited by Arthur Grace, Arcana’s own Lee Kaplan, and Deadbeat Club Press’ Clint Woodside, who also contributed the book’s striking design. Read some of its impressive advance reviews from The New York Times, Washington Post, and The Sunday London Times, and join us Saturday, June 11th to acquire your own copy of this timely document signed by photographer Arthur Grace
If you cannot attend, place an order here for your very own copy of Communism(s) signed by Arthur Grace to be picked up at the store or shipped to you after the event.

Talk + Demo With Architect and Ikebana Teacher Ravi GuneWardena
2022-06-11 14:00 - 15:30 | Helms Design Center, 8745 Washington Boulevard, Culver City, CA, 90232
Join us on Saturday, June 11 from 2:00 to 3:30 as we welcome architect and ikebana teacher Ravi GuneWardena of the Sogetsu School of Ikebana, Los Angeles who will talk about the history of the Sogetsu School in Tokyo and its collaborations with artists. The conversation will be followed by a demo of three arrangements (from a simple basic arrangement to an advanced freestyle arrangement) and a discussion with Frances Anderton on the relevance of the art form today.
The audience will also have an opportunity to view the completion of the large ikebana work made of unconventional materials (recycled construction scraps) with the addition of fresh plant material.
RSVP and TICKETS HERE
If you plan to pop into the L.A. GOAL art installation which takes place during the same time, L.A. GOAL is asking guests to please wear masks to protect their teachers and members. Thanks for keeping everyone safe!

In Harmony with Nature: The Architectural Work of James Hubbell
2022-06-11 12:00 - 17:00 | Helms Design Center, 8745 Washington Boulevard, Culver City, CA, 90232
Helms Design Center
8745 Washington Boulevard, Culver City
Exhibition runs April 22 – June 18, 2022
Viewing hours: Friday-Sunday, 12 PM – 5 PM
James Hubbell is a painter, sculptor and architectural designer who has spent 60 years designing and making buildings, artifacts and fine artworks that reflect a deep passion for the ocean and for earth’s gifts. From Ilan Lael, his self-made home, workshops and foundation in Julian near San Diego, Hubbell has created schools in concert with the community in Tijuana, an organic chapel at Sea Ranch, and parks that span the cultures of the Pacific Rim.
Hubbell’s vision is the antithesis of rational and industrial. “Most important is my infatuation with nature,” he says. “There is also my love of the primitive and naive, gothic architecture, the arts and craft movement, Frank Lloyd Wright, Gaudi, and the pleasure of working with the material of stone, wood, cement, clay, metal, glass, and mosaics.”
Now Angelenos can see his architectural work shown for the first time in L.A. at an exhibition opening on Earth Day at Helms Bakery District in Culver City. The installation brings to life Ilan-Lael, his Pacific Rim Park and schools in Tijuana, his chapel at Sea Ranch as well as stunning doors, windows and other decorative building elements including his extraordinary stained glass window for Findhorn, the spiritual retreat in Scotland.
We are fortunate to have special guests join us today at 3:00 pm: Drew Hubbell will lead a group of members from the Society of Architectural Historians, along with architect and historian, Alan Hess.
If you plan to pop into the L.A. GOAL art installation which takes place during the same time, L.A. GOAL is asking guests to please wear masks to protect their teachers and members. Thanks for keeping everyone safe!
Above: The Sea Ranch Chapel by James Hubbell | Photo © Craig Tooley, Ruffimage.com

Boys' House, Ilan-Lael, Julian, CA | Photo ©John Durant

James Hubbell | Photo ©Don Musial

Boys' House Interior, Ilan-Lael, Julian, CA | Photo ©John Durant

James Hubbell in his studio | Photo ©John Durant

Interior of The Sea Ranch Chapel | Photo ©Craig Tooley

James Hubbell's Firebird | Photo ©Laurel Costa

James Hubbell Exhibition | Photo ©Titano Cruz

James Hubbell Exhibition | Photo ©Titano Cruz

James Hubbell Exhibition | Photo ©Titano Cruz

James Hubbell Exhibition | Photo ©Titano Cruz

James Hubbell Exhibition - Art as Community | Photo ©Titano Cruz

James Hubbell Exhibition - Firebird Window | Photo ©Titano Cruz

James Hubbell Exhibition | Photo ©Titano Cruz

James Hubbell Exhibition - Sea Ranch Chapel | Photo ©Titano Cruz

James Hubbell Exhibition - Sea Ranch Chapel | Photo ©Titano Cruz

All artwork is copyrighted work of the artists. All rights reserved. Images not to be used without permission.

Join L.A. GOAL for "Mother Nature Survived It (and I Will Too)"
2022-06-11 11:00 - 16:00 | Helms Design Center, 8745 Washington Boulevard, Culver City, CA, 90232
On Saturday, June 11th from 11:00 am to 4:00 pm, please join L.A. GOAL in celebrating their show, Mother Nature Survived It (and I Will Too). As part of L.A. GOAL’s mission to foster a more inclusive society, there will also be artworks created by artists from the broader Los Angeles County community. A show by artists of all abilities!
L.A. GOAL is a non-profit organization that partners with adults with developmental disabilities and their support networks to assist them in living more fulfilling lives. Many of the artworks featured in this exhibition were created by artists with developmental disabilities. These artists are employed by L.A. GOAL’s professional art studio, Inside Out Productions.
This art exhibition aims to highlight the ways in which pandemic circumstances affect our relationship with nature and how that relationship affects our experience of healing, strength, and community. During this global pandemic, many people were traveling less, spending more time at home, and moving their gatherings to the outdoors. Since then, our relationship to nature has likely changed. Whether we are hiking or camping, taking a walk in the park, tending to a houseplant, or rendering images of landscapes, nature finds its way into our lives one way or another. It may find itself in our homes and our neighborhoods in small and perhaps overlooked ways.
To learn more about L.A. GOAL and Inside Out Productions, please visit our websites:
www.lagoal.org
www.insideoutproductions.com
Please note: Masks will be required at this event.

An Evening with AIA Gold Medal Winners Angela Brooks, FAIA, and Lawrence Scarpa, FAIA
2022-06-09 18:30 - 20:30 | Washington Corridor Gallery, 8723 Washington Boulevard, Culver City, CA, 90232, United States
Congratulations!
Helms Bakery District Presents An Evening with AIA Gold Medal Winners Angela Brooks, FAIA, and Lawrence Scarpa, FAIA
Thursday, June 9th | 6:30 PM
Reception and Celebration of Brooks + Scarpa
Private Invitation Only | RSVP Required
8723 Washington Boulevard | Culver City
After meeting at architecture school at the University of Florida, Lawrence Scarpa, raised in a family run restaurant, and Angela Brooks resolved to not work together. That changed and now Brooks + Scarpa has won the AIA Gold Medal for a partnership dedicated to creating buildings that advance the art and technology of architecture. Through citizen activism they have also disrupted codes, construction and the financing of buildings, demonstrating the breadth of ways an architect can shape space and place.
“Their efforts have fundamentally reshaped public policy initiatives that address critical issues and reforms that serve the public good, increase housing equity, and improve the built environment,” wrote Steve Dumez, FAIA, and Douglas A. Benson, FAIA, in a letter nominating Brooks and Scarpa for the Gold Medal.
Brooks + Scarpa has built on the foundations laid by Pugh + Scarpa, founded in 1991 by Gwynne Pugh and Larry Scarpa. The firm has designed single and multi-family dwellings, commercial, institutional, educational and governmental buildings. Most recently they won the commission to design a new Holocaust Memorial to be placed at the Florida State Capitol Building in Tallahassee. In Los Angeles they have made a deep imprint with affordable housing, designing formally powerful buildings that also nurture social connection in contemporary variants on the Southland’s courtyard housing. “Form is important but it is experience that matters,” say the duo, adding that their body of work is united not by a signature look but rather an approach. “It is a sequence of spaces and not a form. We design from the inside-out.”
Brooks and Scarpa also relish experimentation with texture and materials, and have incorporated ping-pong balls, crushed aluminum cans, Dixie cups, industrial brooms and glitter stucco into structures. “Architecture is most powerful when it is tactile. Many times people want to actually touch our buildings—walk up and feel the walls,” says Scarpa. That material exploration met innovative sustainable design when they sheathed a wall at the Colorado Court affordable housing project, for Community Corporation of Santa Monica, with solar panels, making the energy system into a decorative facade. Now they are pushing new limits with the NEST Toolkit, a prefab home building system developed in collaboration with Plant Prefab, that they hope will substantially cut construction costs. “That willingness to take risks has great rewards,” says Brooks. “We are calculated risk takers.”
Despite the seriousness with which they take their work, they have held onto the love of a good party that Scarpa experienced at his father’s restaurant.
Special thanks to the event sponsors:
AIA Los Angeles, Bulthaup, Labib Funk Engineers, and Plant Prefab.

A reception, lecture, and discussion with Lisa Iwamoto and Craig Scott
2022-06-02 18:30 - 20:30 | Helms Design Center, 8745 Washington Boulevard, Culver City, CA, 90232
Join us on Thursday, June 2nd, 6:30-8:30 pm, for a reception, lecture, and discussion with Lisa Iwamoto and Craig Scott
In collaboration with the Helms Bakery District and the Cal Poly SLO LA Metro Program in Architecture and Urban Design
Helms Design Center
8745 Washington Blvd., Culver City, CA 90232
Free Parking is available at the corner of Helms Ave. and Venice Blvd.
Lecture is Free and Open to the Public
RSVP

Lisa Iwamoto and Craig Scott
IwamotoScott Architecture, established in San Francisco in 2002, was co-founded by Lisa Iwamoto and Craig Scott. Committed to pursuing architecture as a form of applied design research, and guided by the belief that each project regardless of scope or scale can achieve a unique design synthesis, the firm has gained widespread recognition for innovation in design. IwamotoScott’s client list includes arts organizations, educational institutions, technology companies, commercial developers, and private clients. Our projects consist of work at all scales including urban design, buildings, interiors, digital fabrication projects, museum installations and exhibitions, and theoretical proposals.
Honors received by IwamotoScott include: the Cooper Hewitt National Design Award, induction into the Interior Design Hall of Fame, ACADIA’s Digital Practice Award of Excellence, Architectural Record’s Women in Architecture and Design Vanguard Awards, The Architectural League of New York’s Emerging Voices and League Prize awards, and over seventy five individual project design awards including a Progressive Architecture Award and over twenty AIA Design Awards at local, state and national levels. The work of Iwamoto and Scott has been widely exhibited and published nationally and internationally. The founding partners have lectured on the work of IwamotoScott at a wide range of institutions and venues worldwide.
Both partners continuously maintained academic careers alongside their professional practice – Lisa Iwamoto is Chair and Professor of Architecture at the College of Environmental Design at UC Berkeley, and Craig Scott is Professor of Architecture at California College of the Arts in San Francisco. Iwamoto and Scott have taught previously at University of Michigan, and as visiting faculty at Harvard University, Cornell University, Syracuse University, SCIArc, Yale University and Sydney University. Both partners received Master of Architecture with Distinction degrees from Harvard University Graduate School of Design, while Iwamoto earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Structural Engineering and Scott earned a Bachelor of Architecture from Syracuse University.
Introduced and moderated by Stephen Phillips, FAIA, 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).
Photos (Left to Right): Image of Pinterest HQ, 2016. Image of Lisa Iwamoto and Craig Scott. Image of Ivy Tech Columbus Indiana, 2020.
