May 20, 2010
On 5/30 LAVA flows in Downtown LA with cultural salon conversations about vintage cosmetics packaging and unexplained phenomenon
WHAT: On Sunday, May 30, LAVA (The Los Angeles Visionaries Association) presents an afternoon of free cultural exploration in Downtown L.A. with the third monthly Sunday Salon gathering at Clifton's Cafeteria at 648 South Broadway (noon-2pm)
SALON INFO: http://lavatransforms.org/salon510
LOS ANGELES- Launched in February by Richard Schave and Kim Cooper--the founding Director and Curator of the Downtown L.A. Art Walk non-profit--the creative consortium LAVA (The Los Angeles Visionaries Association) is already making a splash with a calendar packed with compelling, offbeat urban events and a growing list of Visionary contributors.
In March, the new LAVA community came together in the first monthly Sunday Salon at historic Clifton's Cafeteria in Downtown L.A. for the first showing anywhere of Visionary Gene Sculatti's outsider art scroll drawings of imaginary cities, a smash hit for the nearly 100 cultural explorers in attendance, and now under development as a documentary film produced by folks who discovered the work at the LAVA Salon! Photos from the first Salon are here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/richardschave/sets/72157623729484726/
LAVA's Sunday Salon is fast becoming one of the hottest (free) tickets for urban explorers seeking intelligent conversation, connection and inspiration—not to mention Clifton's famous home cooking. The Sunday Salon returns to Clifton's Cafeteria on Sunday, May 30, and all are welcome to dine together and socialize, or attend two different curated talks by LAVA Visionaries.
PRESENTATION #1) Starting at 12:30pm, social historian JOAN RENNER presents PANDORA'S BOXES, a curated conversation inspired by her collection of vintage cosmetics ephemera spanning the Victorian era through the 1950s. In Greek mythology, when Pandora opened the box that Zeus had warned her never to open, all of the world’s evils escaped and only one thing remained inside -- hope. This concept of hope is a fitting metaphor for cosmetics. Each container of face powder or jar of cold cream represents the dreams and desires of a woman seeking a magic potion to make her beautiful. The exquisite and fragile packages used to market these dreams became the Pandora’s boxes of the early 20th century. Joan Renner has been collecting vintage cosmetics ephemera for over fifteen years. She has an extensive collection of commercial face powder boxes, rouge tins, advertisements, hair net packages and bobby pin cards. Please join her for a discussion of topics ranging from the design of the packaging to the use of arsenic-laden face powder by women in 17th Century Italy to “accidentally” poison their unwanted husbands. Once gracing women’s dressing tables, various unique and beautiful items from Joan’s collection will be also be on display. These include items featured in her blog Vintage Powder Room and some never before exhibited.
PANDORA'S BOXES IMAGE LINKS: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jenoir07/sets/72157624101254616
VINTAGE POWDER ROOM BLOG LINK:
http://vintagepowderroom.com/
PRESENTATION #2) Startling at 1pm, gonzo journalist SKYLAIRE ALFVEGREN presents CHARLES FORT, THE LEAGUE OF WESTERN FORTEAN INTERMEDIATISTS, AND A LITTLE TOWN CALLED LOS ANGELES. Phenomenologist Charles Fort (1874-1932) spent 27 years of his life humorously shredding orthodox science by collating thousands of accounts of unexplained phenomena which it couldn’t -- and still can’t -- explain away. The world has only gotten more phenomenal since Fort’s time, and the League of Western Fortean Intermediatists (L.O.W.F.I.) ensures that his spirit lives on: neither cranks nor skeptics, Forteans are characterized by their objectivity, good humor and lust for supernormal adventure. Based in Los Angeles, L.O.W.F.I.'s focus is on the long, strange life of the American southwest, gathering to discuss its enigmas, peculiarities and unexplainable events. L.O.W.F.I. founder Skylaire Alfvegren has spent a lifetime researching the weird, wacky and unexplainable history of her hometown of Los Angeles. Join her as she explains Fort's importance and the objectives of L.O.W.F.I., while detailing some of her favorite local cases of unexplainable phenomena.
ADDITIONAL L.O.W.F.I. INFORMATION LINK:
http://forteanswest.com/wordpress-mu/?p=348
ABOUT LAVA: Through participation in LAVA, a select group of creative professionals come together to promote cultural programming that speaks to the urban experience while promoting positive public space. LAVA's creative partners share a love for L.A. and unique ideas for exploring it in their work. Formed by social historians RICHARD SCHAVE and KIM COOPER -- proprietors of Esotouric bus adventures and until recently the Director and Curator of the Downtown Los Angeles Art Walk -- LAVA brings together L.A.'s most visionary promoters, artists, writers and thinkers. The first crop of Visionaries in the growing curated community includes cultural chronicler ADRIENNE CREW, Cacophony Society co-founder AL RIDENOUR, avant-garde costumer A. LAURA BRODY, poet and publisher ALEIDA RODRIGUEZ, back-to-nature pioneer ALICIA BAY LAUREL, filmmaker and festival organizer ALLISON ANDERS, former Metropolitan Museum curator ALLON SCHOENER, designer/mom of Chicken Boy AMY INOUYE, custom tours maven ANNE BLOCK, documentarian and radio producer ANTHEA RAYMOND, pop culture historian BECKY EBENKAMP, ethnomusicologist BETO GONZALEZ, master puppeteer BOB BAKER, producer and promoter CHRISTIAN VOLTAIRE MEOLI, 826LA's CHRISTINA GALANTE, performance artist CRIMEBO THE CLOWN, the NEA's outgoing Director of Literature DAVID KIPEN, author and educator DOROTHY RANDALL GRAY, documentarian and exploitation film historian ELIJAH DRENNER, musician and performance artist FEATHERBEARD, pop critic and outsider artist GENE SCULATTI, songsmith HARVEY SID FISHER, no-longer-Teenage Glutster food blogger JAVIER CABRAL, horror film director JEREMY KASTEN, social historian JOAN RENNER, historian of noir-era Los Angeles JOHN BUNTIN, Musso & Frank co-owner JORDAN JONES, performance artist JULES ROCHIELLE, curator and activist JULIE RICO, "Kristin's List" cultural chronicler KRISTIN BEDFORD, esoteric scholar and lecturer MAJA D'AOUST, poet and dancer MONA JEAN CEDAR, L.A. Historic Theater Foundation rep NICK MATONAK, music producer and impresario NO'A WINTER LAZERUS, musician OCTAVIUS, peace activist PAUL NUGENT of the Aetherius Society, historic ghost seeker RICHARD CARRADINE, filmmaker and preservationist ROSS LIPMAN, SARAH TROOP of the Boyle Heights Paranormal Project, social networking mistress SHAWNA DAWSON, L.O.W.F.I. founder SKYLAIRE ALFVEGREN, Warhol star and writer TERE TEREBA, metal artist TOM WALKER, and hat designer and multi-media artist YASMIN DIXON. Applications from prospective LAVA members are being taken at http://lavatransforms.org/apply
To learn more about LAVA, please visit http://www.lavatransforms.org
LAVA founders Kim Cooper and Richard Schave, Salon discussion hosts Skylaire Alfvegren and Joan Renner, and most of LAVA's Visionary members are available for interviews. Contact Kim at amscrayATgmailDOTcom, 323-223-2767.
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