Islamic Ceramic Tile Collection
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
I was cruising around on the LACMA website and came upon the online Islamic Ceramic Tile Collection. There are 91 tiles which you can enlarge in the viewer for close inspection. 11th Century to 19th Century. Of course, LACMA has other online collections you can look at. I'll be checking out other museum websites to seek out more tiles.

Friday in the Poppies

One of my latest tiles, this was inspired by a trip to the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve spring of 2005 to view the poppy fields. You can see this tile and the photo that inspired it, by clicking here.

Second Annual Culver City Art Walk
Although I had participated in the Culver City Art Group expedition of the Culver City galleries on Washington and La Cienega some weeks previously, I decided to go with a couple of friends on the Culver City Art Walk June 2 in the hopes of finding something new, different and exhilarating.
We met at MODAA (The Museum of Design Art and Architecture) which I had not visited before... a nice, large, open space, ideal for fairly large pieces. I liked the Brad Howe exhibit which reminded me of colorful beach towels.
Showing across the street at Lab 101 was my favorite artist of the day, Joshua Krause. All the time I was looking at the mixed media pieces I felt a very strong feminine vibe, quite a surprise when I discovered the artist was male. I really enjoyed the strong curves, curls and swirls he uses in his work, along with the connect-the-dots trails. His work would translate well to ceramic tiles... I was inspired. As Picasso said, Good artists copy but Great artists steal. Hmmmm.
I can't say there was any other artwork on Washington that appealed to me. But it was interesting to see the different sizes, shapes and styles of the galleries themselves, some just little holes in the wall, some quite spacious.
On La Cienega, at the George Billis Gallery, I fell in love with Josh Dorman's paintings on antique maps. What a brilliant concept. Obviously he has a love of maps and follows their contours and grids to give them new life with his designs.
We made it all the way to the end of the galleries at Venice Blvd. If you read my blog about the art group walk, you know the last time I did this trek was right after surgery. Thinking back on that, it was pretty stupid to do the walk so soon and I was in a lot of pain as the combination of drugs had affected my kidney area. So this trip was much more enjoyable.
I generally don't like to be in the midst of crowds of people. It was pretty much elbow to elbow out there on the street and we skipped a couple of galleries because they were jammed even at the doorway. But it was great to see so many people had turned out for this event. I doubt this is the kind of thing that generates revenue for the galleries as I imagine most of the walkers either couldn't or wouldn't buy artwork (I didn't see Donald Trump in the crowds...but then, I don't know if he buys artwork anyway), however, it does prove that the art scene is alive and well in LA, and for that the galleries must be happy.

Ballona Wetlands Artists WalkI am really behind with writing this blog, too many things going on, both unexpected and planned. It always seems like the less I try to do, the busier I get. Unfortunately, the opposite is not true!
Tuesday afternoon, May 29, a group of artists and environmental leaders met at Titmouse Park in Playa del Rey for a walkabout in the Saltwater Ballona Wetlands. I have previously walked through the Freshwater Marsh at Culver and Lincoln (including the areas behind the fence that the general public does not get to see) so I was curious to see what the Saltwater counterpart looked like. This area is pretty much "au naturel" in comparison to the Freshwater, part of which has been landscaped and planted.
I was able to get some good shots of cottonwood trees, lupins and other bushes and plants which I'll use for future tile designs in my Ballona Wetlands Series. As we walked around to the Ballona Creek side, we could see many White Egrets and Great Blue Herons in their habitat. There is nothing like seeing these graceful five-foot birds swoop through the air. I got a couple of good heron shots as they were wading and dipping in the water.
Like the bus trip I took a few weeks ago through the auspices of the Ballona Network, this was another attempt to motivate artists to contribute to the auction September 9. If you are an artist, and would like to use your creative talents to help with the "greening" of Los Angeles, contact Jeanette Vosburg at jeanette.vosburg@ballonanetwork.org. You can also take a look at the art gallery from last year's auction. Happy creating!