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"Where art lives" in Los Angeles and the psycho-geographical connection between creatives and the spaces within which they create

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"Where art lives" in Los Angeles and the psycho-geographical connection between creatives and the spaces within which they create

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Content "Where Art Lives" in Los Angeles
and the Psycho-geographical Connection Between Creatives
and the Spaces Within Which They Create
By
Evangeline Barrosse
A Thesis Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC ANNENBERG SCHOOL FOR
COMMUNICATION AND JOURNALISM
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
MASTER OF ARTS
(SPECIALIZED JOURNALISM)
December 2022
Dedication
For my parents, Victoria Zielinski and Paul Barrosse:
the first artists I had the privilege to observe,
the critics I most revere, and my fiercest champions.
Thank you for the words, the wonder, the humor and the harmony.
Thank you for making our home a place where art lives.
ii
Acknowledgements
First, I would like to thank my professor Dan Birman. His steadfast support, guidance
and insight throughout the production process made this documentary possible. Being in his
class was a privilege — I admire his devotion to upholding the ethics and integrity of visual
storytelling and I aspire to do the same in my own work. I would also like to thank my
committee members, Josh Kun and Christopher Hawthorne, both leaders at the apex of their
fields, whose work has inspired my own and whose early encouragement instilled a valuable
confidence in me. I would like to thank Sasha Anawalt and my professor Willa Seidenberg for
championing “The Arts” program, advocating for our cohort and for reminding me that
having a broad and abiding curiosity is a strength not a set-back. Thank you as well to Victor
Figueroa, who since my very first day at Annenberg, has patiently and cheerfully walked me
through every technical land-mine I stumble on. Finally, thank you to my colleagues Ryan
Coleman and Jeremy Lindenfeld, for their camaraderie throughout my time in this program.
I would also like to acknowledge the many individuals who have generously trusted
me with their stories this past year. Among them, Bruce Dean, Susan Savory, Llyn Foulkes,
Cynthia Minet, Tania Rambaldo, Marco Rambaldo, Dave Lefner, Shyla Lefner, Kristin
Carlson, Ingrid Lilligren, Michael Rotondi, Kelly Reemtsen, Adam Davis, Kai Daniels,
Brittany Byrd, Alicia Adams, Kyle Wilkerson, and Jackie Castillo.
My sincerest thanks,
Evangeline Barrosse
iii
Table of Contents
Dedication…………………………………………………………………………………..…ii
Acknowledgments…………………………………………………………………………….iii
Abstract……………………………………………………………………….………………..v
Chapter 1: Documentary, “Art Lives Here: A Portrait of The Artists At The Brewery……….1
i. Process and Overview……………………………………………………….………1
ii. Bibliography………………………………………………………………………...6
iii. Documentary Script……………………………………………………….………..7
vi. Script Bibliography……………………………………………………………….24
Chapter 2: Written Works……………………………………………………………………
i. “Adam Davis’ Black Magic: A Summoning of Self and A Celebration of Black
Cultural Inheritance” ………………………………………………………………...26
a. Davis Bibliography…………………………………………………..…….35
ii. “Remembering the Bootleg Theater, With A Fresh Memory “………………...36
a. Bootleg Bibliography………………………………………………….…...45
iii. “Jackie Castillo: Gutting and the art of un-silencing”…………………………….46
a. Castillo Bibliography………………………………………………………52
iv
Abstract
“‘Where Art Lives’ in Los Angeles and the Psycho-geographical Connection Between
Creatives and the Spaces Within Which They Create” is a four part thesis comprising a
documentary and three long-form written articles. The documentary, “Art Lives Here: A
Portrait of The Artists At The Brewery" is a look inside the Lincoln Heights Brewery Art
Complex, a formerly industrial compound which has, for 40 years, been home to nearly 500
live-work artists. Focused on the stories of four tenants, the documentary explores the
psycho-geography of living in repurposed industrial infrastructure, and the realities of a life
dedicated to one's creative work. The three long-form articles explore the theme of "Where Art
Lives" in Los Angeles and the connection creatives have to the spaces within which they
create. The first piece is a profile of the artist Adam Davis, a photographer living and working
at the Black-owned artist colony in the mid-city neighborhood of Los Angeles, St. Elmo's
Village. In the process of creating his exhibition, “Black Magic”, Davis restored the darkroom
of colony founder Roderick Sykes. The darkroom became Davis' primary work space, and his
restoration of the space poetically coincided with the last year of Sykes' life. Davis' work
embodies the continuation of Sykes' legacy as well as the power and promise of Black cultural
inheritance made possible through the preservation of spaces like St. Elmo's Village. The
second is a profile and photo-series of the recently closed Bootleg Theater, a family owned
music and theater venue in the Historic Filipinotown neighborhood. Los Angeles has a
venerable tradition of live music. Over the years, certain venues in the entertainment capital
have become nearly as renowned as the iconic talents they’ve fostered and scenes they’ve
cultivated. The Bootleg was on its way to becoming one such venue, but, due to the Pandemic,
was forced to close in 2020. This piece is a look back at the final months of the theater, and at
v
the role the space played in championing alternative live music and theater on the East Side of
Los Angeles. Finally, the third piece is a profile of Los Angeles based multi-media artist
Jackie Castillo, whose exhibition “Gutting” at As-IS gallery employed multilayered visual
language to explore the historical contexts of the Pico-Union neighborhood, where the
exhibition was presented. Castillo is a site-specific artist whose work examines the silent yet
ever present story of buildings, and the complex relationships of the people who build them,
buy them, rent them and those who live in proximity to them.
vi
Chapter 1: Documentary
"Art Lives Here: A Portrait of The Artists At The Brewery”
Process and Overview
My interest in the Brewery Arts Complex first began in 2019 while working as the
studio manager to painter/print-maker Kelly Reemtsen, whose practice has been based at the
complex for the last 25 years. I became fascinated by the spectrum of artists who live and work
within the studios: the way they individually outfit their live/work spaces to reflect their artistic
aesthetics, the striking industrial facilities they choose to call home, and the complex’s relative
obscurity despite the notoriety of some of the artist/tenants who have lived there over the years.
As a musician born and raised in Los Angeles, I have become acutely aware of the many
challenges and benefits of forging a career in the arts. As access to affordable housing and studio
space becomes increasingly spare
1
, and in many neighborhoods non-existent, the 310 lofts on the
Brewery’s 16 acre campus seems to be a rare haven for working artists. I wanted to peel back
the cement walls of the Lincoln Heights fortress and examine what kinds of individuals choose
to live there and what their lives look like in order to understand what they’ve sacrificed in the
pursuit of their creativity, and whether or not they view their choices as a sacrifice. Additionally,
as a former history major, I was curious about the history of the buildings throughout the
Brewery’s campus and how, through the repurposing of formerly industrial buildings into
live-work spaces, the Brewery Arts Complex preserves this historical infrastructure.
1
Lupa, Irina,“The Decade in Housing Trends: High-Earning Renters, High-End Apartments and Thriving
Construction.” RentCafe Rental Blog, 13 Jan. 2020,
https://www.rentcafe.com/blog/rental-market/market-snapshots/renting-america-housing-changed-past-de
cade/.
1
To begin, I felt as though I needed to understand the century of historical foundation
upon which the complex is built. I looked through archives
2
, past coverage
3
, and spoke with
historian Hadley Meares, who had looked into the complex years prior for a written historical
profile in KCET
4
. The Brewery, as an artists’ complex, exists as a result of the
1981Artist-in-Residence (AIR) program, implemented by the city of Los Angeles which
legalized the residential use of formerly industrial buildings for artists
5
. In my research for this
project, I learned that the space has been owned and operated by a single family for its entire 40
years of existence
6
and that their commitment to supporting working artists and their separation
from corporate interests empowers them to keep rent below the soaring market.
The task of telling the story of a space home to more than 500 tenants at any given
time is ripe for misstep because of the broadness of the subject matter and individual
experiences, so I also knew I would need to cast a net of interviews far wider than the few main
characters I would eventually highlight. I first spoke with individuals highly-visible within the
Brewery community and online forums
7
, like artist and representative Kristine Shomaker and
complex manager and grand-daughter to the founder, Kristin Carlson. From there I sought to
meet a range of individuals currently living at the complex – whose financial success, celebrity,
interpersonal relationships and art practices varied. For instance, I interviewed the renowned
7
“Brewery Happenings.” Facebook. Accessed June 22, 2022.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/40389798852/?hoisted_section_header_type=recently_seen&multi_pe
rmalinks=10159280373418853.
6
Meares, Hadley. “The Brewery Art Colony: From Craft Beers to Arts and Crafts.” KCET.org, https://
www.kcet.org/history-society/the-brewery-art-colony-from-craft-beers-to-arts-and-crafts.
5
“The Arts District - Los Angeles Conservancy.” Los Angeles Conservancy,
https://www.laconservancy.org/sites/default/files/files/documents/ArtsDistrict_Booklet_LR.pdf.
4
Meares, Hadley. “The Brewery Art Colony: From Craft Beers to Arts and Crafts.” KCET.org,
https://www.kcet.org/history-society/the-brewery-art-colony-from-craft-beers-to-arts-and-crafts.
3
“Brewery Living Spaces Put Art in the Heart of the City.” Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 6
Nov. 2005, https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-nov-06-re-guide6-story.html.
2
Gerry. “The Brewery Arts Complex.” Stronghold Climbing Gym - Home. Accessed June 22, 2022.
https://strongholdclimb.com/beta8/about/3-the-brewery-art-complex.
2
architect and Sci-Arc founder, Michael Rotondi
8
, whose practice has been based at the Brewery
for the last 30 years. I also interviewed Sabrina Ortolano, a self-proclaimed “crafter” (opening up
the divisive complex conversation surrounding the distinction between “arts” and “crafts”) who
has lived with her partner, a massage therapist, on the grounds for the last 15 years, building an
urban farm in the vacant space between her unit and the rail yards. I also wanted to speak with
individuals who had been at the complex in its early years. For this, I contacted an Arts for LA
member (Amy Aquino) and through them, put out an email inquiry for Brewery “alumni”. I was
put into contact with Travis Preston, Dean of the School of Theater at California Institute of the
Arts who directed an all-female production of “King Lear” at the Brewery in 2002
9
. I was also
introduced to Ingrid Lilligren, an artist and ceramicist who lived at the complex in the late 1980s
and early 1990s. Over the course of the year, I spoke with dozens of individuals. Among them,
the psychologist Thomas Backer, Ph.D. who offered insights into the interpersonal connection of
individuals to urban environments, the effects of these geographical locations on human behavior
sand emotions, and implications of living in an artist colony
10
.
Through my interviews I met the characters who would become the center of my story
living in four different units, and each with different lives. The first is Llyn Foulkes
11
, perhaps
the most famous current tenants of the complex, an outsider”artist and musician whose work has
been collected by many of the great cultural institutions of the world, including iconic Los
11
“Llyn Foulkes.” Kent Fine Art, https://www.kentfineart.net/llyn-foulkes.
10
Backer, Thomas. “‘Balancing Work, Life and Creativity - Lessons from Artists.’” CSUN, Claremont
University, Feb. 2006, https://www.csun.edu/sites/default/files/wellbeingconf-sph.pdf.
9
“A King-Size Challenge in Experimental 'Lear'.” Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 17 June 2002,
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-jun-17-et-segal17-story.html.
8
Nichols, Chris “This Famous House in L.A. Is up for Sale for the First Time Ever Los Angeles
Magazine.” Los Angeles Magazine, February 16, 2017.
https://www.lamag.com/askchris/this-famous-house-in-l-a-is-up-for-sale-for-the-first-time-ever/.
3
Angeles museums, MoMA, LACMA, and MOCA, to name a few – and whose practice has
quietly remained in a corner loft of the Brewery for the last 20 years. Next is Cynthia Minet, a
sculptor and educator who, along with her musician husband, has raised her daughter for the last
18 years within the complex. Then, Dave Lefner, is a lino-cut printmaker who met his now-wife,
actress Shyla Lefner, when she saw his studio on a tour of the complex. And last is the painter
Bruce Dean and his wife, Susan Savory (a multimedia story-teller). After raising their families,
they have chosen to live at the Brewery in order to re-commit themselves to their art-practice in
lieu of retirement.
This having been my first time filming, producing, editing and directing a
documentary, there were many surprises along the way, and while many of these surprises were
challenging, others I found deeply fulfilling. From reaching out and developing a rapport with
individuals, to learning the delicate art of being a shadow as someone goes about their life, I
loved the process of gathering interviews. While I found it empowering to navigate the entire
visual and audio aspects of interviewing on my own, so too did I find that the process of being
entirely responsible for these components. Doing so added a level of distraction in my interviews
that I ultimately found challenging. I learned that being calm, confident and clear about the time
it takes to appropriately set-up interview shots, and then carrying this demeanor throughout the
interview process is crucial to obtaining strong and useful content. This same realization carried
over into the shooting of observational footage that would be used for actuality sequences. The
moments where I was flustered, or forced to abandon focus on either visual or audio functions in
order to cater to the energy of the moment, might have been avoided with a certain level of calm
confidence. As the shooting process progressed, I found I got better at asking subjects to repeat
an action or requesting the appropriate time to troubleshoot technical issues. As it relates to
4
interviewing, I also learned that it is best to archive and transcribe interviews soon after they are
conducted so as to more efficiently highlight relevant and engaging information while the
original interview is fresh in my memory. Interviews I waited to transcribe became more difficult
to navigate because they were no longer as fresh in my mind.
As I reflect on the film I’ve made and the process I undertook to make it, I am
motivated by all that I’ve learned and by all that I will do differently in the future. My first
adjustment would probably be the use of a tripod… I would use one, more often than not! The
handheld nature of much of my footage became a source of trouble in the editing process. I also
learned that drafting a more thorough script in advance of editing is imperative. As I entered the
editing process, my script was a shell of what it would later become. Swirling in infinite footage
options and storylines made for a challenging editing process. Ultimately, what came together is
a story I am proud of. The strength of the film lies in the captivating characters it documents and
their earnest commitment to creating art.
5
Bibliography
“The Arts District - Los Angeles Conservancy.” Los Angeles Conservancy. Accessed June 22,
2022.https://www.laconservancy.org/sites/default/files/files/documents/ArtsDistrict_Book
let_LR.pdf.
Backer, Thomas. “‘Balancing Work, Life and Creativity - Lessons from Artists.’” CSUN.
Claremont University, February 2006.
https://www.csun.edu/sites/default/files/wellbeingconf-sph.pdf.
“Brewery Happenings.” Facebook. Accessed June 22, 2022.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/40389798852/?hoisted_section_header_type=recently
_seen&multi_permalinks=10159280373418853.
“Brewery Living Spaces Put Art in the Heart of the City.” Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles
Times, November 6, 2005.
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-nov-06-re-guide6-story.html.
“A King-Size Challenge in Experimental 'Lear'.” Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, June
17, 2002. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-jun-17-et-segal17-story.html.
“Llyn Foulkes.” Kent Fine Art. Accessed June 21, 2022.
https://www.kentfineart.net/llyn-foulkes.
Lupa, Irina,“The Decade in Housing Trends: High-Earning Renters, High-End Apartments and
Thriving Construction.” RentCafe Rental Blog, 13 Jan. 2020,
https://www.rentcafe.com/blog/rental-market/market-snapshots/renting-america-housing-
changed-past-decade/.
Meares, Hadley. “The Brewery Art Colony: From Craft Beers to Arts and Crafts.” KCET.org, n.d.
https://www.kcet.org/history-society/the-brewery-art-colony-from-craft-beers-to-arts-and
-crafts.
Nichols, Chris. “This Famous House in L.A. Is up for Sale for the First Time Ever Los Angeles
Magazine.” Los Angeles Magazine, February 16, 2017.
https://www.lamag.com/askchris/this-famous-house-in-l-a-is-up-for-sale-for-the-first-tim
e-ever/.
6
Documentary Script
Fine Cut Script
Evangeline Barrosse
Draft #1 / Date 6/20/22
Art Lives Here: A Portrait of the Artists at
The Brewery Arts Complex
VO: Dave Lefner
Montage of the Brewery surrounding, Dave
working on linocut, intercut with images of
telephone lines outside the Brewery and
images of his telephone line print series
The artist's life is such a solitary life
unfortunately unless you find a community
like this.
In normal society, you know, you don't
necessarily have that people don't understand
what being an artist entails and how much
work goes into it
VO Tania Rambaldo:
Montage: Nat sound of Trash/Work Trash
trucks coming down industrial streets
Trash outside the brewery
Tents
Close shots of Minet’s hands sewing tents
together, close shot of plastic sculptures.
I think that's the nature of art itself to sort of
take this kind of darkness and turn it into art.
VO Bruce Dean
Hallways intercut with Dean Painting and
image reveal/
It's not the same as at some kinds of work. I
don't feel like I want to forget it, or feel like
getting away from it. I'm living it kind of all
the time.
VO Llyn Foulkes: I mean, what else would I do? You do what
7
Montage: Interview versus city skyline. your mind is telling you to do. Well, what else
would I do? [laughs]
Simple as that.
Nat Sound with establishing building
industrial sequence and Text.
Source: [planning.LACity.org]
Source: KCET
https://www.breweryartistlofts.com/
TEXT:
In 1982, Los Angeles’ “Artist In Residence
Program” legalized the use of formerly
industrial spaces as live-work spaces.
The Carlsons, A family of contractors, turned
16 acres of Industrial land into an artist
complex, preserving the historical
infrastructure.
For 40 years its 310 units have been occupied
by nearly 500 tenants.
This is a look inside four of those units.
ART LIVES HERE: A Portrait of the Artist at
The Brewery Arts Complex.
Bruce Dean VO I remember seeing the smokestack from the
five freeway and wondering what that place
is. And then learning Oh, there's an art
community down there and it's called the
brewery. I knew those things, just that there
were artists living here – that it used to be the
Pabst Brewery.
And before that the Eastside breweries I didn't
realize how big the community is.
In a way, it's like Los Angeles, people live in
Los Angeles and don't know Los Angeles
Shyla Lefner VO
[Archival]
Edison electric building
Railyards footage 1912 : contact for footage:
Leenke Ripmeester, Sales@eyefilm.nl
Lincoln Heights feels like… it's the first
suburb of Los Angeles. The building, the
Edison building, was where the power hubs
for the city were in that building here in the
brewery, so I feel like we are at the epicenter
of the growth of the city, very close to
8
downtown.
Dave Lefner VO
Exterior shot of motorcycles leaving the
Brewery.
One family has owned it for generations. “The
Carlsons,” and I have always been super
impressed, in the sense that I don't necessarily
think that they had art backgrounds per se, but
have kept it in the hands of artists. very
intentionally.
Bruce Dean SOT
Hallway of Dean’s house, cat walks through.
Bruce begins to paint.
I do expect it to stay an artist colony. I am
confident to some degree, because I used to
be worried about this, that the owners of this
place want it to be exactly what it is. They
don't judge the art at all. They don't say we
want good artists here or some level of artists,
they just say, “Are you making something?”
You know, when you move here, you just
have to say, well, here's my website, or here's
my resume or something. You show them the
work that you do and,” Okay, you're in.”
It's not so much the space itself or maybe it
is… Actually, the buildings here. The
hallways here, I think those have influenced
the interiors that I do. There's big, empty
spaces with high ceilings, and my paintings
have become something about that. So that's
been influential
I was looking for a place to live, having left
Woodland Hills, having raised my kids there.
I wanted to be around more artists. But to be
honest, when I first moved here, I didn't know
anybody except for the one artist who was
also repped by my rep. But we had a bar. I
began meeting people, people that were
9
artists, people whose work I learned about.
Imean, I could be here all day for a week for
weeks, and talk to people about my work
without really going anywhere. are going
across the parking lot. That's about it. It's…
it's pretty special here actually.
Bruce Dean VO So Lynn, I honestly didn't know his work
before I moved here. I should have. He was
very famous and had a remarkable body of
work. His work is just astonishing. His work
breaks all kinds of boundaries. Okay, so this
was a book from his retrospective at the
Hammer Museum.
And then Llyn being Llyn was nice enough to
sign it for me. I met him at a show here. And I
began a conversation with him at this show. I
happen to have a piece in that show. Then I
went to Lynn’s studio. And I saw for the first
time his one man band machine. That was a
really compelling show. And I started to get
familiar with his work. And then pretty soon
he and I were going to shows together. We'd
see other people's work. And oftentimes I
would drive him. He enjoyed my company. I
enjoyed his company. We were lucky. I felt
lucky to have that.
Llyn Foulkes V oicemail [Music] Just leave a message. And I'll get
back to you…
Bruce Dean SOT Hey, Lynn, it's Bruce. We're going to be
stopping by pretty soon. So be ready for us.
We'll see ya.
10
Bruce Dean VO He's getting older. He's a little older. He’s 85,
now. The machines a little bit harder for him
to play. I'm hoping that he gets back to it.
Now that people could come visit again so
we'll see how it goes .
Bruce Dean SOT
Dean walks up to Foulkes studio and sees
Foulkes sitting on the front-porch.
So this is his place ..Oh, there he is.
Llyn Foulkes VO I don't think I would like to be alone
someplace up in the woods. No sir. No, no
way. No, no. I met. I met people here that I
really liked and artists that I really liked. Like,
Bruce, you know, it's like it's it's a good
feeling because it's kind of like, well, it's
really weird. It's kind of like an extended
family. I don't know how else to say it.
Describe it.
Yeah, you can close. Okay, good, c’mon in.
Bruce Dean SOT Can I close the door , Llyn?
Llyn Foulkes SOT Yeah, you can close. Okay, good, c’mon in.
Llyn Foulkes VO About the work. It's strange because there are
certain things that I can't do anymore. I kind
of feel like– like Fred Astaire when he
couldn't dance anymore. And he was an old
man and he was all crumpled up like this.
Because he couldn't dance anymore.
11
Bruce Dean SOT Do you remember Jerry Lalo Martin used to
work for UPS? He still does But he used to
hang out at the bar.
Llyn Foulkes SOT I can't remember.
Bruce Dean SOT It doesn't matter. He loves your stuff and and I
mentioned to him you might be having a show
in Paris. He says, oh, please tell me when the
parish is because he wants to fly there and
see.
Llyn Foulkes SOT Yeah, that would be nice
Bruce Dean SOT Alright, so this is the first room that I saw in
Llyn’s place – the one we're about to enter
Llyn Foulkes VO
Llyn Foulkes SOT
When they first was writing the lease, I
remember putting in there and then as Cathy
said, I was the only one that was allowed to
play music – but it's a little it's harder now. I
mean, it's harder to do everything it’s harder
to play now.
Bruce Dean VO I talked to people about this. They always
think oh, that's quirky. That must be really
funny. It's actually really musical and he also
sings while he's doing it they expected a one
man band to be about “Oh just a little goofy,”
or something. No it's really astonishing
12
Llyn Foulkes SOT I forgot to put my microphone on, I was about
to sing and I couldn't sing.
Bruce Dean SOT okay, I should have invited everybody that's
been so long
Llyn Foulkes SOT
Sings at machine.
It’s been so what? It’s been so long.
It’s been so long.
I’m just an old honky
Doing time
Just an old honky
On the decline
Just an old honky
Walking to the finishing line
Dave Lefner
Dave in studio, approaches work bench and
begin to ink up a linoleum reduction cut print.
My name is Dave Lefner and I moved here in
1998, so 24 years ago
I’ve always been creating, and you know
definitely after highschool, in college I went
in for art, but I didn’t know what medium I
wanted to choose, but then finally took a print
making class and that kinda sealed what i
wanted to do
I mean growing up in LA I can’t believe I ahd
never heard of it until 1998, I had a cool little
place in miracle mile but it was
not conducive to doing work. I had one tiny
little press, it wasn’t right in that place.
I really don’t even remember how I heard of
it, but I think it was just that term , “Art Walk
open studios.” and thought thats something
I’d like to check out.
Art Walk 1991 Archival Footage by Gil TEXT: FOR 40 YEARS THE BREWERY
13
Gronowski. [12:00] ARTS COMPLEX HAS HOSTED A
BI-ANNUAL ART WALK. PARTICIPATING
RESIDENTS OPEN THEIR LIVE-WORK
STUDIOS TO THE PUBLIC AND EXHIBIT
THEIR WORK.
Dave Lefner VO Getting here and seeing this massive
industrial complex, I was just blown
away.These people live amongst their work
and they have working spaces and you can
leave your stuff up all the time and go to work
whenever you want to. I was just like, this
place… I gotta be here.
Shyla Lefner [12:48]
Dave makes Shyla coffee and brings it to her
on the couch before going to work.
Shyla Lefer [13:42]
I had lived in LA for a long time, I went to
valley schools and was living alone in
Pasadena, oh, man. I’ve lived all over this
city. But I had no idea the Brewery existed
until. It was, I took a hip cooks class, drove
into the Brewery and thought, “What is this
gorgeous collection of concrete and brick?”
And then went to an Art Walk and was able to
really go in and see a bunch of the spaces and
really fall in love with this place
in more ways than one…
Something really glorious ended up
happening at the Art Walk too, you get to
walk into eahc one of these peoples’ spaces.
You get an idea of their work but you also get
an idea of who this person it.
So I walked into this space, there was all this
gorgeous colorful neon signage and you just
look at this space an you go, “wow who is this
person that created this space, very
intriguing.”
14
And it ended up being Dave Lefner’s space…
so it’s funny that thats what ended up
happening, I ended up marrying that Dave
Lefner man, and I’m very happy I came to
that Art Walk.
Dave Lefner
Dave stacks his prints.
I don’t want to be that brooding typical artist.
Although, this can be fun, but it’s just a black
and white “fun.” You gotta take the good with
the bad, so fun doesn’t always have to be
super super colorful.
Shyla Lefner[15:00]
Two people, navigating the space. Wideshot.
I feel like I’ve moved around and this is
probably the longest place I’ve had as home. I
feel like we are the designated
artists in our family, really making that choice
to live it and breathe it, and a big part of that
is living here. At the Brewery.
Dave Lefner I think just the understanding of the people
around it. Theres an understanding that this
space is meant for creation. And again, just
knowing you’re on the same page,
automatically and right from the get-go,
makes it so much easier to have that
friendship and they understand, “Oh I can’t
make it tonight because I've got that show and
I’ve got to finish that piece.” And so that’s
kind of the bigges thing. Knowing that you
have this support group around you I guess
and the understanding of what it is to be an
artist.
15
Shyla Lefner Does it feel against the grain? Yea kind of, I
think when we go to Orange County it feels
against the grain.
Cynthia Minet [16:32] My name is Cynthia Minet and I moved here
in 1997.
I was living out in Lake Hughes in the
country working at Antelope Valley College
and I was working at an artist foundry and
one of the people working at the foundry lived
here at the Brewery, and he said, “Oh, you’ve
got to come to the Art Walk, you’ve got to
see.” And a live-in studio had always been my
dream. So I looked at a number of different
studio spaces in DTLA, and nothing felt quite
right and they were all pretty expensive.And
then this one just felt like the perfect kind of
thing because I needed to have an outdoor
space because I make sculptures . And this
one had light and whatever this just felt like
the perfect space, and I’ve stayed here since
then.
In terms of the American dream, we don’t
have the house and the sort of financial
security that we would have from that, and
that i think is a sacrifice because I’ve want to
have the studio, but beyond that I think it’s
really enriched our lives, and my daughters
life, I mean she’s like, “You can’t ever leave.”
And I like, “But don’t you want your own
room and shouldn’t we have a house?” And
she’s like, “ No, we shouldn’t ever leave the
Brewery.”
I met my husband, and I was like this guy
16
would be an amazing Dad. And I thought, i’ll
make a deal with him, where I’ll have the kid,
and he’ll look after the kid, and I can still do
my thing. and that’s been the arrangement
we’ve had
Cynthia Minet SOT
Marco sits at the piano
What are you going to play amore?
Cynthia Minet Being here at the Brewery, there were like
three of us who all got pregnant at the same
time and we all thought “ what's in the
water”.It's great to see that you know and still
have a career
Marco Rambaldo When you sign the lease, you're not supposed
to have one is an animal like this, but most
importantly you're not supposed to have an
instrument .What Happens is you need to pick
your battles with the neighbors so when I
practice I keep the soft pedal down. But when
I play, let's say with Tanya she plays the
violin, then we’re gunna have to play.
Tania Rambaldo[19:00] I was born and raised here and I mean I still
have some time to wake up and I'm like wow
this is crazy most of the time with the crazy
just blends in with the normal. I’ve grown
used to the reaction people have when they
come here. And I take pride it in, like yea, my
house is cool, no one else has a house like
this. For a really long time we had a life-size
elephant in the house and I would go to
school and I would say yeah you know I
17
tripped over the elephant the other day and the
camel like bumped into me and people would
be like, “What?!”. And I’d be like yea! I’m
not lying. I've never lived in a house we don't
have doors we don't have walls, so when I
was little if I got angry The only place I could
go would be I would run into the bathroom
and slam the door. And it’s definitely a
different way of living but it’s the only way of
living I’ve ever known.
Cynthia Minet [20:22]
Cynthia walks to her studio to work on a new
installation.
I grew up in Rome we lived in Rome until I
was ten and then we moved to London My
parents had friends with the American
community in the 60s. And it was a really
happening seen in Rome, and they were
friends with a well known sculptor. And I
remember we visited his Studio And he was
making this huge commission for some Plaza
and she was inside this giant plaster sculpture
. He had plaster dust all over himself and I
remember thinking wow how cool would this
be to do this so I think that's where some of
the inspiration came from .
Cynthia Minet [21:00]
Cynthia Minet Artwork Inserts:
Seconds To Last, 2021
Pack Dogs, 2014
Migrations, 2018
So the work I made for the past 10 years that
really I'm best known for Now is a series of
animals domesticated animals Made out of
recycled Plastics .End illuminated with LED
lights
You know these lawn ornaments are just the
epitome of What kind of consumer is a
Christmas time and everything so that's why I
want to continue working with it you know
and I just love like found shapes… I mean
just that this to me you know it reads like hair
18
but it's a teddy bear it's just hilarious to me
you know so I have collected work from the
dumpsters and that's how a lot of that work as
a small sore go to you know that I started
being specific about what I needed so I posted
it on Brewery Happenings for resources you
know, like, Sparkletts containers when I was
doing the birds and I had a neighbor right here
and, you know, every day he would leave me
his new fresh Sparkletts White gallon water
container and so it's been a great resource for
materials …
This is… quite possibly one of the weirdest
things… I’ve made
Bruce Dean [22:00] When people look at this space, Some people
like it because it's very homey some people
think that it's too homey it's not enough like a
studio it's not enough like a workspace it
doesn't feel like somebody is toiling in there
but we're happy with it. The space itself is
more about living it's like we live in this space
and we're happy in the space …
You know, It was hard bringing someone into
this space, it wasn't empty was pretty full with
a lot of things
Susan Savory [23:26]
Susan working at computer.
I got all that stuff here I realize that even
though it looks like a little bitty cube of things
when it was in the truck I got it here and we're
both grown people with families and history
and a lifetime full of stuff and he has it
attached to his things as I am to mine so
19
finding a way to put it all together took it was
hard to compromise you know I'm used to I
had been alone for so long that I was used to
just putting things where I want them to be
and where it made sense to me building my
space the way that I build my art and that
compromise of the person who feels exactly
the same way about his stuff and his space if I
do about mine that was… that was the
toughest hurdle, but we did it.
Bruce Dean [26”00] It’s not just that this space expresses who we
are in the past. This is our present this is who
we are in this moment.
Susan Savory I can't imagine going anywhere else, I mean
we're so fortunate for what we pay to live here
we could not have a comparable space in Los
Angeles for what we pay. I can’t imagine
living someplace else.
Bruce Dean [26:59] I mean we’ve made compromises, I mean we
don’t have a backyard, we don’t have a BBQ,
we don’t have a garden, well we have a small
garden, we can’t be out there on our knees
digging for a new plant.
I think that we like what we have and I don’t
see us moving. I mean I’m getting old.
Susan Savory Every so often I get curious and I do the
internet search, for this much money where
else could we live, could we have a garden?
and I always come away from that search
20
thinking no, we’re in the best spot we found
the right place.
I think we’re lifers.
Bruce Dean Ah, Barcelona
Susan Savory Eh, I think we’re lifers
Bruce Dean Yes, maybe we’ll just paint Spain.
Something like that.
Llyn Foulkes [27:04]
Llyn is being interviewed, there is a sound
interference.
Some artist friends of mine tried to convince
me to move to Santa Monica or Venice, to
stay on that side of town. But it was too much
work, to try and fix it up and I didn’t have
time I had to get on the road and make
paintings because that was my only income.
When I moved into the Brewery I had nothing
but boxes filled with stuff, imagine how long
it took me. this one case right here. That’s my
old raven, there’s his skull. And see those
tickets right here? The Beatles. We had good
seats too, right in the front.
I think I should’ve been more, Line closing
myself off from everybody I think I I wouldn't
be in the position that I'm in now which is Oh,
god, I think I’ve alienated a lot of people I
never a lot of people reached out to me that I I
never went to the show I just stayed inside
and once all the time and I think that hurt me
a lot as far as are the right people caring about
my work
21
Bruce Dean SOT I mean, Lynn, all his shows. Just sells it all.
How does that work? And and then a new
show, new work. It's kind of cool.
Llyn Foulkes SOT This is my last chance. My last show really?
Well, because my eyesight, It's getting worse
all the time.
Bruce Dean SOT Yea I know, yeah, I know. I know. We're
gonna walk tomorrow. You and I right?
Llyn Foulkes SOT Yeah. Okay.
Dave Lefner[ 31:00]
Dave Lefner working in his space intercut
with exteriors of the Brewery.
don't know I just having that ability from an
early age I always just felt like I have to do
something with that and you know hopefully I
can hopefully I can just do what I want to do
as far as creation and be able to do that for my
life
you know a lot of my things are oil-based so a
lot of people have gone away from oil based,
but you know if I risk my life being an artist
and using better materials are ones that work
better than so be it
I wake up every morning and I just think like
open these blinds and just you know you can
look you out over the 5 freeway it's been send
just the nice humm of the cars and stuff it's
like its again I'm just so blessed for this life
Eva (Interviewer) Do you mind the freeway and the railyard and
22
the helicopters?
Llyn Foulkes I just accept it.
Tania Rambaldo [32:48]
Driving down the 5, the view of the Brewery.
I read this book that describes roses growing
out of cement. It was this whole poetic thing.
But it’s really interesting, because you’re in
the heart of East Los Angeles, you’re
bordered by the freeway and the train tracks
and I think it’s just the nature of art itself to
take this kind of darkness and turn it into art.
I think it’s necessary to have the industrial
setting to really have the concrete rose, so to
speak.
Credits Music: Just an old honky.
23
Script Bibliography
1912 - Views of Los Angeles, California (Speed Corrected w/ Added Sound). Eye Film. YouTube,
2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch
v=z72rAKKenz4&feature=youtu.be&ab_channel=guyjones.
Brewery Artwalk 1991 Los Angeles Nov 3rd 1991 by Gil Gronowski. YouTube. YouTube, 2014.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mX0WIjsgKc&ab_channel=KristineSchomaker.
“The Arts District - Los Angeles Conservancy.” Los Angeles Conservancy. Accessed June 22,
2022.
https://www.laconservancy.org/sites/default/files/files/documents/ArtsDistrict_Booklet_L
R.pdf.
“A King-Size Challenge in Experimental 'Lear'.” Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, June
17, 2002. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-jun-17-et-segal17-story.html.
Backer, Thomas. “‘Balancing Work, Life and Creativity - Lessons from Artists.’” CSUN.
Claremont University, February 2006.
https://www.csun.edu/sites/default/files/wellbeingconf-sph.pdf.
Brewery Artwalk 1991 Los Angeles Nov 3rd 1991 by Gil Gronowski. YouTube. YouTube, 2014.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mX0WIjsgKc&ab_channel=KristineSchomaker.
“Brewery Happenings.” Facebook. Accessed June 22, 2022.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/40389798852/?hoisted_section_header_type=recently
_seen&multi_permalinks=10159280373418853.
“Brewery Living Spaces Put Art in the Heart of the City.” Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles
Times, November 6, 2005.
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-nov-06-re-guide6-story.html.
“Cynthiaminet.com.” CYNTHIAMINET.COM. Accessed June 22, 2022.
http://www.cynthiaminet.com/.
“Llyn Foulkes.” Kent Fine Art. Accessed June 21, 2022.
https://www.kentfineart.net/llyn-foulkes.
Lupa, Irina,“The Decade in Housing Trends: High-Earning Renters, High-End Apartments and
Thriving Construction.” RentCafe Rental Blog, 13 Jan. 2020,
https://www.rentcafe.com/blog/rental-market/market-snapshots/renting-america-housing-
changed-past-decade/.
24
Meares, Hadley. “The Brewery Art Colony: From Craft Beers to Arts and Crafts.” KCET.org, n.d.
https://www.kcet.org/history-society/the-brewery-art-colony-from-craft-beers-to-arts-and
-crafts.
Nichols, Chris. “This Famous House in L.A. Is up for Sale for the First Time Ever Los Angeles
Magazine.” Los Angeles Magazine, February 16, 2017.
https://www.lamag.com/askchris/this-famous-house-in-l-a-is-up-for-sale-for-the-first-tim
e-ever/.
25
Chapter 2: Written Works
Adam Davis’ Black Magic: A Summoning of Self and A Celebration of Black Cultural
Inheritance
“Black Magic” Self Portrait by Adam Davis
“When people would ask me, ‘What do you shoot?’ I used to say ‘Everything.’ And I
have, and I do, but now, I just tell them, ‘Black people, I mostly photograph Black people.’ And
they get tense.”
For Adam Davis’ second solo exhibition Black Magic
12
at Byrd Museum, the Los
Angeles based photographer and educator patiently crafted a world. Fifty-four wet plate
collodion portraits pinned to white walls capture the faces of Davis’ community, custom card
decks and skateboards with his images are for sale in the lobby gallery and curated events
featuring Davis’ network of creative collaborators line the month-long calendar of his exhibition.
“My last show was me asking ‘Where are the Black people?,’” he says, “Black Magic celebrates
the Black people.”
12
Black Magic Home Site. Accessed June 22, 2022. https://blackmagic.show/.
26
I met Adam Davis three years ago at a DIY show in Palms. His partner Kai Daniels, an
architect and activist, was a friend I’d made during undergrad at UCLA. Later, Davis and I got to
know each other between the clicks of his Mamiya C220—he had offered to take my portrait. In
the years that have followed, I’ve watched as Davis’ practice has grown, both as an artist and as
an educator. Today, he is director of the photography program at Venice Arts and a fiercely
independent artist. Like James VanDerZee, who once chronicled the people of Harlem
13
, Davis
takes a considered approach to documenting his Los Angeles contemporaries, posing individuals
for portraits that celebrate their intrinsic beauty. His work investigates concepts of
Afrofuturism—imagining a future which centers and celebrates Black individuals and culture,
employing the nostalgic and antiquated medium of tin-type to do so. The weathered emulsion of
development creates a vignette halo around his subjects.
Black Magic was on view at Byrd Museum for the month of November before traveling
to Miami for the New Art Dealers Association (NADA) Art Fair. December 10-11 it can be seen
at Photodom, a Black owned camera store in Brooklyn
14
, where Davis will also host a tin-type
photography workshop. When I ask who he’s working with to put it all together Davis
confidently responds, “Curator? It's me.” He stops himself to add, “I hope that I didn't come
across as arrogant.” Davis has a vision and it isn’t complete until the show is uninstalled.
In the week leading up to the opening of Black Magic, Davis and I met at the Mid-City
bungalow he shares with Daniels. A pond babbled outside the window, a garden of succulents
climbed up to claim the wooden exterior walls and Carmen, Davis’ rescue pit-mix, rolled on the
carpet between us. Davis and Daniels moved into St. Elmo’s Village, a 55-year-old Black owned
14
“Upcoming Events – Photodom NYC.” Photodom NYC - Camera Shop located in Brooklyn, New
York. Accessed June 22, 2022. https://photodom.nyc/events/.
13
Panadero, Laura, ed. “James Van Der Zee’s Photographs: A Portrait of Harlem.” James Van der Zee's
photographs: A portrait of harlem. National Gallery of Art, February 22, 2022.
https://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/2021/james-van-der-zee-photographs-portrait-harlem.html.
27
and operated community arts colony in Mid-City, just two weeks before the Covid-19 pandemic.
They resolved to treat the uncertain months that followed like a residency.
Davis retreated to the dark room that sits just outside his front door and down the colorful
muraled driveway. The darkroom and the grounds of the colony were the realized vision of
photographer and muralist
Roderick Sykes
15
, who, in 1969
at the age of 18, moved in with
the mission to create a thriving
creative enclave in a forgotten
section of urban sprawl. By
2020, at the age of 75, Sykes was
in the twilight of his life, quietly
waning into Alzheimer’s a few
cottages over. Daniels had
grown up adjacent to the St. Elmo community—Sykes and his wife, artist and administrator
Jacqueline Alexander-Sykes, were a sort of extended family for her.
But Davis was new to the neighborhood and because Sykes was no longer able to
communicate, Davis instead came to understand the gravity of Skyes’ legacy through the work
he left behind—prints and sketches tucked into darkroom desk drawers. Davis explained,“In my
head I thought, when I die, this is the bar. If I don't have this amount of work and have impacted
this amount of people...” He trails off for a moment, shaking his head lightly, “Yeah, like I'm
sitting in this guy's greatest art piece. It’s gonna make me fucking cry.”
15
St Elmo Village, May 26, 2022. https://stelmovillage.org/.
28
Growing up, Davis split his time between his family home on Long Island and his
father’s parish in Brooklyn. He giggled as he recited the nondenominational church’s mission
statement, “‘...building people through the word of God’ that is like etched in there,” he said,
gesturing to his heart. His father was a
preacher and photographed Davis and
their church family: “He was a
working professional photographer for
a couple years and I asked him a
couple of times, like ‘What made you
quit?’ He's like, ‘That shit’s
expensive.’” Davis’ mother was a
teacher, “she’d be like ‘Oh you want to go to the library? Okay, we’re leaving now.’ I knew all
the librarians names,” he remembered with a smile. He attributes his career in art and education
to his early access to creativity.
In 2016, Davis moved to Los Angeles to be with his then girlfriend. He’d left New York
without too many parting words, and found himself in a new city with little community. “I knew
nothing but [my girlfriend’s] world as I’m trying to figure out my own, and in the process. I was
wondering, ‘Where are the Black people?’ I didn’t know any Black people, I didn’t know
anybody that looked like me.” He began crafting a photo series of Black individuals holding
birds-of-paradise, and from these images, his first DIY exhibition in Los Angeles was born.
“That’s where People of Paradise came from.”
29
“People Of Paradise” by Adam Davis
During the Pandemic, in Sykes’ darkroom, Davis taught himself how to develop film. He
grew interested in the 1820’s method of image making called wet plate collodion photography or
tin-type: “I saw a photo by Driely Viera, she is a nutjob. I love her work so much. She made a
tin-type of Aaron Paul and I was like, ‘How the hell did you do that?’” He tested and later
executed concepts for his next exhibition — inviting friends and community members over to the
complex to capture their portraits on tin-type. Ultimately, 100 people would end up sitting for
portraits.
Above all, the darkroom became a sanctuary for Davis, within which he weathered the
upheaval of Covid-19. During that year, Davis lost six loved ones. “That room means a lot, I
would go in there and just peak depression, peak suicidal thought like screaming top of my lungs
and no one could hear me.I could just go in there and disappear,” he said.
Following the sudden death of two intimate family members, Davis and Daniels escaped
to Oaxaca, Mexico. “Everything stops, then grieving happens and there's a newness to being in a
30
new place. Then there's figuring out what to do with ourselves. We found a really good groove to
be in for a while—breaking down and building each other back up. But in that period that's when
the thinking happened because I couldn't make more tin-types.” Locked down in Oaxaca,
Daniels virtually attended her masters courses at Sci-Arc architectural school. She took a course
by Kahlil Joseph centered around the concept of Black town ownership and what that can look
like from a cultural, architectural and anthropological perspective. “You can’t talk about art and
culture in Los Angeles without mentioning Kahlil Joseph,” Davis explained. “He taught [the
class] how to make my favorite piece of art (BLKNWS) and I was like, ‘Babe, I got to know
how he does this shit.’” Daniels began forwarding Davis recordings of her class sessions.
When Davis returned to Los Angeles, the months of idle thinking had shifted the focus of
his show. Initially, Davis imagined he would create a tin-type pop up in Leimert Park, capturing
portraits of families in their Halloween costumes. “I love Leimert. It’s a hub for Blackness, but
it’s also a place that vehemently tries to push out people on the margins of Blackness. It's just
traditions of oppression. But I want to be in those spaces to learn. I want to understand so I can
learn how to not do that,” he said. However, time away allowed him to look at the tin-type
portraits he had taken of his community throughout the pandemic with a renewed interest. He
began imagining a future world, and the tin-types began to look to him like “futuristic ID cards.”
31
“Black Magic” by Adam Davis
“Some of the prompts from the class were just about imagining the future and
documenting movement. Capturing places through Blackness. It really forced my thinking
outside of my box that I've been in. I put myself in the shoes of someone who makes films,” he
explained. In tandem with the exhibition, he created a series of promotional videos, paying
homage to Joseph’s signature two-channel video format
16
.
In April of 2021, Roderick Sykes would succumb to his years-long battle with
Alzheimer’s. Sykes once described his approach to art making in a video interview
17
at the
village: “Don’t wait for validation from them and they… This is what you can do with what you
have, today is the best day. Yesterday’s gone and tomorrow ain’t got here yet…” Davis found
himself channeling Sykes’ resourceful resolve as he set out to find a venue for his vision. When
17
A Interview with Roderick Sykes, Co-Founder/Co-Creator of St Elmo Village. REALMVPS. YouTube,
2010. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1f_T7XR8FSA&ab_channel=REALMVPS.
16
Als, Hilton. “The Black Excellence of Kahlil Joseph.” The New Yorker, November 6, 2017.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/11/06/the-black-excellence-of-kahlil-joseph.
32
plans to exhibit at a dream space fell through, he turned to friends who rallied behind his him.
One suggested he contact Brittany Byrd, a young artist, stylist, influencer, and the owner of Byrd
Museum, a new art space in Mid-City Byrd is a recent graduate of Parsons and, like Davis, had
experienced setbacks in the pursuit of her vision. “When I was told, ‘You’re not Black enough to
do the things you want to do in art,’ that’s when I stopped looking for validation,” she says.
Though she had found early success in New York, notably working on the Rei
Kawakubo-inspired set design at the 2017 Met Gala, she returned to her hometown of Los
Angeles resolved to create a cultural center for the art she believes in. When Davis approached
her with the deck for Black Magic, she knew it was right for the space. She and Davis “share the
same visions” and she describes their working together on this exhibition as “beautiful
alignment, almost kismet.”
For Black Magic, Davis imagines a future which centers and celebrates Black individuals
and culture. To do so, he says, he had to unravel his own experiences and critique areas he
perceives as regressive within the community. “You can't mention Afrofuturism without talking
about queerness,” he explained, “ Ideas of a future of dismantling cis hetero normativity,
traditional relationship models... thinking about snapping the binary code in half, all these
different things, that's queerness...” Davis began contemplating his own relationship to
queerness, and while making the portraits for Black Magic, he realized a majority of his subjects
were LGBTQ+. “It'd be a disservice (not to talk about it) and realistically it'd be a lie.”
On one Friday night in November, I made my way to Byrd Museum to see Black Magic.
Visitors filled the intimate store-front and Davis greeted us as we walked through the door, then
dashed around throughout the night with his camera, documenting every moment. The
installation was modest and direct, portrait prints hanging in a continuous loop around the
33
perimeter of the gallery and lit votive candles lining the floor. The space was warm and
transportive, filled with incense and a piercing soundscape of live ambient electronic music. The
musician, Clarion, sat in a dimly lit corner, neon projections dancing over him as he performed.
Later, Clarion would tell me it was his first live performance. He and Davis collaborated on a
book of collages in conjunction with the exhibition, and Davis urged him to perform. Clarion’s
hypnotic life-affirming music had been a source of comfort for Davis over the turbulent year. For
Clarion, Davis has been the inspiration, “He really gets it done. I think it was more of a challenge
to myself because Adam presented these ideas to me, and they pushed me, they helped me push
myself to limits I've never thought I would be able to reach artistically. It was just a blessing to
work with him, on all levels.”
The year weathered Davis — and he emerged resilient. “I think the biggest thing that I
relearned about myself is that I'm not giving myself any other options of what to do with life. I
just keep doing this one thing and so in the process of putting this show together there's been
refreshing conflict resolution with myself,” he says. Black Magic is Davis’ vision, made manifest
through his own resilience, the resilience of his community, and the resilience of the generation
that came before. He inherits the tools they have left behind, and with them, he crafts a new
future.
34
Bibliography
Als, Hilton. “The Black Excellence of Kahlil Joseph.” The New Yorker, November 6, 2017.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/11/06/the-black-excellence-of-kahlil-joseph.
Black Magic Home Site. Accessed June 22, 2022. https://blackmagic.show/.
Davis, Adam. Black Magic. Photograph. Los Angeles, 2021. Adam Davis.
Davis, Adam. People of Paradise. Photograph. Los Angeles, 2018. Adam Davis.
Panadero, Laura, ed. “James Van Der Zee’s Photographs: A Portrait of Harlem.” James Van der
Zee's photographs: A portrait of harlem. National Gallery of Art, February 22, 2022.
https://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/2021/james-van-der-zee-photographs-portrait-harlem.ht
ml.
St Elmo Village, May 26, 2022. https://stelmovillage.org/.
“Upcoming Events – Photodom NYC.” Photodom NYC - Camera Shop located in Brooklyn,
New York. Accessed June 22, 2022. https://photodom.nyc/events/.
A Interview with Roderick Sykes, Co-Founder/Co-Creator of St Elmo Village. REALMVPS.
YouTube, 2010.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1f_T7XR8FSA&ab_channel=REALMVPS.
35
Remembering the Bootleg Theater, With A Fresh Memory
Photos by Evangeline Barrosse
Lauren Ruth Ward performs at Temme Scott’s Residency, February 2020
When visiting an ancient ruin, it’s hard not to wonder what the period just before its
demise looked like. When the King of Sigiriya died, was the capitol abandoned overnight? Did
the inhabitants of Teotihuacan in late 700 AC sense their metropolis was winding down? Did the
last spectators in the stone bleachers of Delphi know they would not return? In real time, do
these things feel slow or all at once?
“There’s a feeling of, ‘Wait, did that ever happen? Did we achieve anything there?’ Because… it
disappeared,” Alicia Adams tells me over the phone one autumn afternoon, a timbre of sadness
in her voice. Adams and her husband Jason were the founders and owners of the Bootleg
Theater, a sanctuary for performers on the Eastside of Los Angeles. In February and early March
of 2020, their venue was as alive as ever. In fact, when the pandemic shuttered venues around
Los Angeles, few thought to question the fate of the Bootleg — they left their quarter inch cables
36
in the green room, they pushed their shows back a month… maybe two. Then spring turned into
summer, and soon 16 months of silence came to pass. With the future of performing arts
suspended in uncertainty, the Adams reached an
impasse with their partner in the real estate. Unable to
purchase their partner’s shares and unwilling to sell to
a corporate conglomerate, the Adams were forced to
say farewell to their Theater.
The end felt sudden. For many, the closure
didn’t become real until Monday September 13, 2021,
when jazz pianist Jason Moran took the stage at the
opening of 2220 Arts + Archives, a community
cultural center which now claims the address of 2220
Beverly Boulevard. After 20 years, the memory of the
Bootleg settles like sediment in the cultural
stratigraphy of concert venues. This is not a new
phenomenon; as generations turn over, so too do the
places they frequent. In “10 Songs for 12 Sunsets,” cultural historian Josh Kun scoured the
archival photographs of Sunset Blvd. taken by Ed Ruscha in the late 20th century, unearthing
long gone venues across the city like The Crescendo in West Hollywood and ON Club in
Silverlake. These rooms that once bustled with the likes of Ella Fitzgerald and The Impossibles
are today retail shops and unassuming store-fronts. However, for places like the Bootleg, the
pandemic forced the hand of time, as if lifting the tone arm on a record player before the LP
could play through.
37
The Bootleg Theater had become the kind of venue where, even if you didn’t recognize
the name on the marquee, you might still be wise enough to drop in to the show. It was often the
inaugural step for artists on the precipice of massive careers — the place to find art before it
became “it”.
In 2012, Roger Guenveur Smith developed his one man show “Rodney King” on the
Bootleg’s stage, years before Spike Lee directed a filmed performance of it. In 2010, a young
Childish Gambino, aka Donald Glover, freestyled at the bar stage. A secret show debuted the
collaboration between Danger Mouse and James Mercer of The Shins, Broken Bells. Then, in
2012, an unsigned HAIM celebrated the release of their debut EP Forever and Charli XCX
played her first LA show. It was where acts like Phoebe Bridgers, Big Thief, Moses Sumney,
Jessie Ware, and Courtney Barnett played their first headlining live sets in town.
Just as well as it could host emerging artists, it could attract even the most notorious acts,
like the Russian feminist punk rock performance art group Pussy Riot, who in 2017, played the
unassuming theater on their first US tour.
The space that would become the Bootleg Theater was purchased in 1999. Actors Jason
and Alicia Adams, along with a business partner, imagined the formerly industrial building in the
Rampart section of historic FilipinoTown could serve as a home base for The Evidence Room, an
emerging theater company they were a part of. “It’s a big space, so you have to kind of think
bigger, right? When we first moved in there,” Adams explains, “it was just a huge empty,
colorless, lifeless, terrifying space… we had to think differently.” As artists entering into the
word of entrepreneurship, “differently” meant resourcefully, “Those seats we got donated from a
film company that was going out of business, the lights, my husband built. It was all DIY,” she
says. They also rented out half the space to a sunglasses company to help subsidize their rent. In
38
the late 1990’s, the city was on the heels of the
Rampart Scandal, and Los Angeles was eager to
support anyone interested in bringing businesses
to the area. Previously, the building had been a
storage facility boasting little more than it’s
bones — exposed brick walls, cement floors and
high ceilings with wooden beams. As the theater
emerged, these industrial characteristics remained
and the artists whose works transformed the space
would explore the unusual theatrical potential of
these elements.
Though the Bootleg would eventually
evolve beyond live theater, later embracing live
music, immersive, avant-garde, and innovative
productions would remain a central tenet of the
programming. Adams, along with co-founder and managing director Jessica Hanna, resolved,
above all, to champion exciting performing arts in Los Angeles. Sean T. Calweti is the Artist
Director for Rogue Artists Ensemble, a “hyper-theater” company known for creating immersive
multi-dimensional theater with storylines that often reflect and celebrate the complexity of Los
Angeles. For years their productions transformed the Bootleg Theater. “I’m very emotional about
it actually,” he tells me, “I don’t think I would be the artist I am today without The Bootleg. And
I don’t think that Rogue would be what Rogue is today without the Bootleg.” Calweti found
creative camaraderie in Bootleg Directors Jason and Alicia Adams, “they wanted the space to be
39
a home
18
for theater that were exploring new modalities of storytelling that was experimental,
that was not necessarily neat and tidy. They were speaking my love language,” he says, “they
had a real gift for curating with a light touch in the sense that … the art was able to be the art and
it might not always have been successful, but it was always successful in being an expression of
itself.”
Alicia Adams sighs as she recalls the productions that transformed the Bootleg, “Well, once you
get me started…I mean, they were the best of the best.”
Ken Roht’s 99 Cent Only Show became a
modern-classic yearly holiday tradition, an interactive
R&B spectacle featuring ornate sets and costumes by
Ann Closs-Farley sourced entirely from the 99 cent
store. BlackTinx Dance Festival became a celebrated
annual event, showcasing the dance work of Black and
Latinx choreographers. On some Sundays, Obie award
winner, ChrisWells, would lead The Secret City’s
church for artists
19
on the main stage: a haven for artists
to celebrate the pure joy and power of art and
community. At the Bootleg, anything was
possible — the incredible could be immediate and the
intimate could be art.
19
Najera, Marcos. “Not Religious? This Sunday Service in Silver Lake Worships Theater and the Arts.”
LAist, October 12, 2018. https://laist.com/news/entertainment/the-secret-city.
18
Nichols, David C. “Review: 'Ken Roht's 99-Cent Only Calendar Girl Competition' @ Bootleg Theater.”
Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, December 16, 2008.
https://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2008/12/ken-rohts-99-ce.html.
40
For all of its legend as a dynamic home to live theater, in its last decade, the Bootleg
became one of the paramount independent music venues in Los Angeles. In June of 2015, Kyle
Wilkerson, known as Sid The Cat, (the name of the booking company he founded with partner
Brandon Gonzalez) had just begun building a reputation in town through his work booking
dynamic acts at venues like the Echoplex, along with DIY spaces like Peerspace and All Star
Lanes. He was brought on to revamp the music program at the theater. “ I wanted to put my own
stamp on it with the music I liked that was happening in LA but that I thought was not getting the
full attention,” he says. “That was songwriters, singer/songwriters in particular. My mission with
the space was, ‘How do I highlight these voices that don’t really have a venue in LA anymore?’”
Sid the Cat championed rising artists like Soccer Mommy and Carseat Headrest, while still
pulling acclaimed global acts like Bright Eyes’ Conor Oberst and Fiona Apple.
The music programming at the Bootleg focused on talent over genre or exposure. As a
result, a swath of artists at varying levels of ticket-selling abilities were welcome.
Singer/songwriter Christian Lee Hutson was a regular on both stages and recalls the way the
Theater’s unorthodox layout contributed to its allure. “One of the things that was really
remarkable about it is it didn’t really have a private Green Room. Being out on like the patio in
the back, while Dave Rawlings (Gillian Welch) like changed the strings on his guitar, or
whatever and being like woah this is fucking crazy. This is just where everyone is,” he says. In a
city like Los Angeles, in which sometimes it feels even the supermarket has a VIP section, this
lack of social zoning was refreshing and invigorating, cultivating a true culture of art and
community. Additionally, playing a show at Bootleg Theater had developed a reputation among
emerging artists as a career milestone. Unlike all the clubs and bars in town, the Bootleg was the
rare synthesis of an underground indie venue and a performing arts center.
41
At the Bootleg, the artists weren’t only on stage,
they were also in the audience. Heck, even the
bartenders were artists. Musician, and Bootleg
regular, Sharon Silva (Wild Reeds) likened the
energy to Cheers. It was a place that artists gathered
to support and inspire one another. Hutson
concurred, “You would go there just because you
knew somebody who was playing or it was gonna
be good…I don’t know what exists in that way
now.”
By 2020, Sid the Cat and The Bootleg were
just hitting their stride, “We had the Mandy Moore
residency, we had the secret Halloween show with
Phoebe (Bridgers) and Conor (Oberst) you on
Halloween night, we had Cold War kids doing a pretty big under play. Jonathan Richmond for
three nights I mean, he’s, he’s a legend, and I’ve been trying to work with him I think for five
years.” For all its legend in the 21 years of operation, to know its power was to have witnessed
the last months of its existence. “I think the lasting legacy with the space is going to be the
performers that came through there. And that’s what the hardest part for me was, looking back
the last six months that I had there. It was pretty unbelievable,” Wilkerson remembers. “ I
remember being at the Moses Sumney residency and being like, wow, this is the beginning of the
year. Like, I can’t imagine what we’re gonna be when we get to the end of 2020,” Wilkerson
says. The venue regularly hosted Monday and Wednesday night residencies. In February and
42
early March, the Monday residency was hosted by local singer/songwriter Temme Scott in
conjunction with the release of her debut album Trust you, Trust you, and the Wednesday
residency was hosted by artist Moses Sumney, in conjunction with the release of his album græ.
For many, including myself, these February residency shows would remain a fresh
memory, accessed throughout the Pandemic and tethering us to a recent but ever-drifting reality.
“I was holding on to the obviously the memories and relationships and the shows that happened
right before the pandemic and especially thinking about that Moses residency. His latest record
græ was about isolation. And it’s almost like he had a crystal ball,” Wilkerson says.
Temme Scott and Trousdale perform, February 2020
If writing about music is like dancing about architecture, summing up the influence of the
Bootleg Theater’s twenty years is like predicting a Pandemic — nearly impossible. More than two
stages and a bar, the Bootleg felt personal. For Alicia Adams, it wasn’t just a business
transaction, it was where she raised her children, putting them down for naps on the stage. For
Cawelti, it wasn’t just a place to put up a show, it was where he married his husband: “We did a
play at the Bootleg. And that was our wedding. A one time only performance, with, you know
43
my flying grandmother singing accompanied by a pianist. It had numbers, puppetry, our actual
wedding vows existed as a shadow puppet performance before puppeteers, and that was how we
represented our love for each other. And it was a no brainer like ‘oh, we have to obviously have
it at the Bootleg.’”
The last show Adams would produce at the theater was the annual Mardi Gras Bal. “It
was packed, but more than that, Aloe Black was the featured singer John C. Reilly was the
emcee, he’d done it for many years. The whole dance team, everybody was in costume. It was
my fantasy,” she remembers with pride. “In retrospect, of course, I had no idea that would be the
last show that I would produce at the space that we created, but I remember thinking that night,
‘There’s no better. It doesn’t get better than this.’”
44
Bibliography
Najera, Marcos. “Not Religious? This Sunday Service in Silver Lake Worships Theater and the
Arts.” LAist, October 12, 2018. https://laist.com/news/entertainment/the-secret-city.
Nichols, David C. “Review: 'Ken Roht's 99-Cent Only Calendar Girl Competition' @ Bootleg
Theater.” Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, December 16, 2008.
https://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2008/12/ken-rohts-99-ce.html.
45
“Jackie Castillo: Gutting” and the art of un-silencing
Jackie Castillo and I sit cross-legged on the floor of her postage stamp-sized studio at
USC’s Roski School of Art in
Downtown Los Angeles. Castillo,
dressed in a scale of layered grey
fabrics—cotton, linen, wool—is
camouflaged with the slate walls of
her concrete studio. She is preparing
for her first solo exhibition “Jackie
Castillo: Gutting” at As-Is, a modern
and contemporary art gallery in the
Pico Union neighborhood of Los
Angeles. Her images, installations
and prints surround us: Black and
white film photographs drape the length of the walls and delicate intaglio prints lay propped up
on wooden benches. Her work documents physical spaces, sights observed from the sidewalk, as
if through the lens of a memory. A lens liberal enough to capture the truths obstructed by the
immediate moment. Though Castillo stands out of view in her photographs and installations, she
is nevertheless present, both in the spaces they document and in the deafening silence they
amplify. “It’s not autobiographical work,” she reminds me. She pauses, then giggles, “or maybe
it is... It’s on my mind.”
46
Castillo grew up in Santa Ana, California. Her parents immigrated from Guadlajara,
Mexico with her four oldest siblings in the late eighties. At a young age, Castillo, the youngest of
six, came to know borders as not just physical barriers, but mental ones. Her mother was a
domestic worker, and took a position working as a live-in caretaker for families in Newport
Beach so that Castillo and her older sister could attend the prestigious public high school in the
district. She describes the transition from the comfort of her diverse and working class childhood
community to the alienating, manicured mansions of Newport Beach as “culture shock.” In these
homes, she learned how to become invisible: “a lot of silencing,” she explains, “hiding our
voices, moving around very quietly.” This silence was so deeply impressed upon her, that she is
still finding her way out of the shadows a decade later, reflecting them back onto the canvases of
her work. “I always come back to it… trying to make these silent moments be just as important
as… where the mark is, or the building is,” she says.
In “Gutting,” two Polyptychs of black and white photographs are stitched together and
hung horizontally parallel to one another in juxtaposition. The bottom series shows interior white
walls in a working-class home. Aside from the door frames and the closet door, the room is
vacant. The series placed above documents the tornadoed insides of a home renovated to be
flipped, tossed on a lawn in Pico-Union. Castillo mirrors the layout of the room from below,
interrupting the images with cut outs of the door frames and closet. Castillo’s choice of angle
also provides an alternative perspective to the scene, she explains: “a displaced window shutter
becomes a ladder of ascension, a warped awning transforms into a road forward, and kitchen
cabinet voids lead to unexplored possibilities.” She processes the film with reticulation, a method
by which hot water is used to shock film after it’s been developed at a cooler temperature,
creating a break in the surface of the image that resembles a heavy grain. “You have all these
47
wooden sharp edges, remnants and detritus of this house being flipped,” she says describing her
reasoning, “and I think it was enhanced with this texture. Always going back to: this is a
material. This is a material photograph. These are parts of homes.” The scene she captures is the
silent story that takes place before the Zillow ad—the quiet and violent shifting of a
neighborhood.
The subjects of Castillo’s installations are often pre-informed by the spaces she knows
they will be presented in. She is a site-specific artist, but unlike many who have come to define
the field (Richard Serra, Robert Smithson, and Patricia Johanson), she cares that her work is in
harmony with the history and contexts of the spaces in which they will be viewed. She is
providing commentary and excavating buried narratives rather than owning the space herself.
She investigates the silent yet ever present story of buildings, and the complex relationships of
the people who build them, buy them, rent them and those who live in proximity to them. She
explains, “Site specificity matters to me, it matters to me what building I’m showing in, what
city I’m showing in… the history of those places.” For “Gutting,” the images she includes were
all taken in As Is Gallery’s neighborhood of Pico-Union, a neighborhood she herself has called
home since she received her BFA at UCLA in 2016, and still today, as she manages USC’s photo
lab and completes her MFA at Roski.
In her work, Castillo uses multilayered visual language to explore the historical contexts
of the spaces that she exhibits in. For “Nomad,” a group exhibition at Torrance’s Financial
Center, she affixed transparent adhesive photographs to the windows of the gallery, creating
natural light boxes. On one window, a photograph taken by Castillo of a small home in suburban
Torrance; on the other, an archival document outlining the aspirations of Torrance developers.
On the wall between the windows is an archival ad from the 1950s promoting the development
48
of these affordable cookie cutter family homes. Just below sits a step stool with print-outs of the
house’s current Zillow ad
(a nearly million dollar
price tag). Through the
transparent photographs in
the window, you can see
outside onto the street and
on the floor beneath the
window, the sunlight casts
a warped projection of the
images onto the ground.
Castillo has considered this
spectrum of experience and each layer is an intrinsic facet of the piece. Again, while the physical
installations and her photographs are immediate, she is deliberate in her consideration and
uncovering of the silent, transparent, and transient images that exist within the space.
Growing up, Castillo didn’t have easy access to cameras, and believed because she lacked
a gift for rendering, she wasn’t destined for art-making. In 2011, Castillo attended Orange Coast
College as a literature major. To fulfill her undergraduate art elective, she enrolled in an
introductory photography class: “In some ways, [art] was a requirement. Then it just became a
passion.” At community college she received a technical education in film photography under
the tutelage of influential professors like Rick Steadry, Eve Luckring, Walter Urie, and Lesie
McCall. In subsequent years, when she wasn’t working various jobs to support herself, she was
49
walking through the suburbs of Orange County, documenting the landscape. Just as Ed Ruscha
studied Sunset Boulevard
20
, or Bill Owens cataloged Suburbia
21
, Castillo amassed an archive of
Orange County.
She finished her degree at UCLA, where art history and theory began to help her
synthesize thoughts she had long mused on. She latched onto the psycho-geography of French
artists of the sixties, and ruminated on the way architecture and built environments affect human
emotion. For Castilllo, the scenes of suburban Southern California she had been capturing over
the years —front lawns and sidewalks—became an investigation into the relationship between
infrastructure, urban development, and collective memory, particularly with regards to the
psyche of the working class. “ I feel like the choices that people make, on the exteriors of what
they can control sort of reveal different levels of struggle or alienation that kind of manifests in
that way sometimes,” she says, glancing over a pile of her black and white images.
Her professors at UCLA also encouraged her to look at her own archives with a renewed
interest: “I spent a few quarters with Barbara Kruger
22
and her ability to edit down work, it
stayed with me…I learned to isolate what I did, what I’m really trying to say with this piece and
how to communicate that.” She also expanded her practice to include installation, influenced by
her professor Catherine Opie
23
. “I really started thinking about scale, and what scale does to the
image and the visceral, the somatic experience that scale can provoke, really trying to activate
23
“Catherine Opie.” The Guggenheim Museums and Foundation. Accessed June 22, 2022.
https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/artist/catherine-opie.
22
“Barbara Kruger.” Barbara Kruger - Bio | The Broad. Accessed June 22, 2022.
https://www.thebroad.org/art/barbara-kruger.
21
“Bill Owens: Suburbia.” SMoCA. Accessed June 22, 2022.
https://smoca.org/exhibition/bill-owens-suburbia/.
20
“Every Building on the Sunset Strip (1997-90).” Princeton University. The Trustees of Princeton
University. Accessed June 22, 2022. https://artmuseum.princeton.edu/collections/objects/13606.
50
the three dimensional space,” she says, standing to adjust the tape that adheres an eight-foot
working print to her studio wall.
Importantly, Castillo’s art education made her aware of art movements she could relate to
both culturally and thematically. “It wasn’t until I was at UCLA and was reading a lot of
Chicano/a literature and seeing a lot of these experiences being reflected back at me that I was
like, wow, this is something I need to be thinking about and working with.” Just as the process of
storing a memory informs its function, Castillo’s personal and technical processes imbue her
work.
Hours into our conversation, I realize, it’s hard to wrap up. Castillo is warm and
generous, and despite the coarse and striking textures of her work, she exudes a kind and easy
joy. She attributes this joy to her art practice: “ There's the physical act of it. I think there's a kind
of presence that happens in the act of photography, that always reconnects you to yourself, to that
very particular moment, for really taking the photograph, that you are there in that moment, this
body is there. And to me, that is invigorating… when I am doing that, it's like I woke up
again.” Through her practice, Castillo radically reclaims her voice. A voice that was once
silenced and now, is never deaf to the silencing of others.
51
Bibliography
“Barbara Kruger.” Barbara Kruger - Bio | The Broad. Accessed June 22, 2022.
https://www.thebroad.org/art/barbara-kruger.
“Bill Owens: Suburbia.” SMoCA. Accessed June 22, 2022.
https://smoca.org/exhibition/bill-owens-suburbia/.
Castillo, Jackie. Gutting. Photograph. Los Angeles, CA, 2021. As-is Gallery.
Castillo, Jackie. Untitled. Photograph. Torrance, CA, 2021. Torrance Financial Center.
“Every Building on the Sunset Strip (1997-90).” Princeton University. The Trustees of Princeton
University. Accessed June 22, 2022.
https://artmuseum.princeton.edu/collections/objects/13606.
52

Abstract (if available)

Abstract “‘Where Art Lives’ in Los Angeles and the Psycho-Geographical Connection Between Creatives and the Spaces Within Which They Create” is a four part thesis comprising a documentary and three long-form written articles. The documentary, “Art Lives Here: A Portrait of The Artists At The Brewery" is a look inside the Lincoln Heights Brewery Art Complex, a formerly industrial compound which has, for 40 years, been home to nearly 500 live-work artists. Focused on the stories of four tenants, the documentary explores the psycho-geography of living in repurposed industrial infrastructure, and the realities of a life dedicated to one's creative work. The three long-form articles explore the theme of "Where Art Lives" in Los Angeles and the connection creatives have to the spaces within which they create. The first piece is a profile of the artist Adam Davis, a photographer living and working at the Black-owned artist colony in the mid-city neighborhood of Los Angeles, St. Elmo's Village. In the process of creating his exhibition, “Black Magic”, Davis restored the darkroom of colony founder Roderick Sykes. The darkroom became Davis' primary work space, and his restoration of the space poetically coincided with the last year of Sykes' life. Davis' work embodies the continuation of Sykes' legacy as well as the power and promise of Black cultural inheritance made possible through the preservation of spaces like St. Elmo's Village. The second is a profile and photo-series of the recently closed Bootleg Theater, a family owned music and theater venue in the Historic Filipinotown neighborhood. Los Angeles has a venerable tradition of live music. Over the years, certain venues in the entertainment capital have become nearly as renowned as the iconic talents they’ve fostered and scenes they’ve cultivated. The Bootleg was on its way to becoming one such venue, but, due to the Pandemic, was forced to close in 2020. This piece is a look back at the final months of the theater, and at the role the space played in championing alternative live music and theater on the East Side of Los Angeles. Finally, the third piece is a profile of Los Angeles based multi-media artist Jackie Castillo, whose exhibition “Gutting” at As-IS gallery employed multilayered visual language to explore the historical contexts of the Pico-Union neighborhood, where the exhibition was presented. Castillo is a site-specific artist whose work examines the silent yet ever present story of buildings, and the complex relationships of the people who build them, buy them, rent them and those who live in proximity to them.

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Creator Barrosse, Evangeline Christina (author)

Core Title "Where art lives" in Los Angeles and the psycho-geographical connection between creatives and the spaces within which they create

School Annenberg School for Communication

Degree Master of Arts

Degree Program Specialized Journalism (The Arts)

Degree Conferral Date 2022-12

Publication Date 10/19/2022

Defense Date 10/18/2022

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag Art,art spaces,Cultural history,Los Angeles,OAI-PMH Harvest,psycho-geography

Format theses (aat)

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Birman, Dan (committee chair), Hawthorne, Christopher (committee member), Kun, Josh (committee member)

Creator Email barrosse@usc.edu,evangelinebarrosse@gmail.com

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