Well, I am well on my way into yet another quarter of classes. They seem to go by faster than I can keep track of! There ‘s always a bit of a rough transition between the madness of final projects and the maneuvering of a new class’ routine, so I am especially grateful when I hit my stride. That finally happened last week, so the hubby and I took advantage of some long awaited free time l and went down to the LA Brewery Art Walk over the weekend.

I had never been to this art walk before, even though it happens twice a year. And I really had no expectations or preconceived ideas of what I was walking into. (I find that’s the BEST way to discover new things!) I was blown away not only by the abundance of creativity and extremely talented artists, but also by the community in which the art walk took place. So I’ll start by telling you haw totally awesome this place was!

The Brewery Art Walk takes place at a former Pabst beer brewery in downtown Los Angeles. But it is oh so much more than that. Since the 80’s, this complex has been home to an enormous community of artists. The buildings here have been converted into live/work loft spaces with a strict rule of only renting to artists. There seemed to be a huge variety of loft spaces; some were single story, some had an upstairs loft for living, but all were equipped with their only gallery spaces. Many of them included small private outdoor areas, porches, or patios. All of the open studios seemed to have a river of visitors in and out, all admiring the artists’ work. This catwalk led us from one building’s roof top to the other, and was also a great way to get a lay of the land in this huge former industrial complex. This loading dock has clearly become a place of gathering, and for one day it was fun to feel invited to play with such a creative group of people. They were sitting, chatting, drinking, grilling, and inviting everyone to join in. I like to imagine it’s like this on any typical weekend here at the Brewery Art Colony.  And I just love how the inside of the building has been transformed into a courtyard. There’s even a small park right in the center of the complex, which people were clearly taking advantage of.I know, I know. What you really want to know is “What goes on there, exactly?” Well, for one, this: These light sculptures were created by Sean Sobczak, whose gallery was a delightfully playful, and skillfully created dreamlike world that gave us our first taste of what the Brewery Art Colony has to offer. I could easily imagine these glowing creatures swimming off into a magical ocean.

I loved this ceramics gallery, called Me Like Clay. There are 3 ceramics artists that work together there, and the result is a wonderful collection of all sorts of goodies.

One of the things I loved about their work is the use of bright pops of color among some very natural, organic designs.  Most of their work on display was just as practical for use as it was unique and colorful. But the gallery was sprinkled with really interesting sculptural pieces as well. 

We were delighted to wander into this gallery as well. I can say with confidence that no photo could ever do this artwork justice. What you can see is Ann Gooding’s use of color and pattern. Each piece draws you right in like a magnet. What you can’t see is the incredible process to takes to create these. From what I could tell, each one was layerd with 4 or 5 paint colors (and left to dry. Then the patterns were scraped or scooped out all the way down to the wood base in some cases. So each speck has several colors showing in rings within each other, not unlike the rings of a tree’s core, or those in a slice of a geode. The colors and textures of each piece are totally unique. Many of the artists working at the Brewery are not afraid to play, and this metal shop was clearly a playground for Bruce Gray. We popped by Two Bit Circus, which invited people to come in and play in all sorts of ways. This is a bicycle powered dining table, which I’m certain I’ve seen pedaling through the streets of L.A. on some occasion. (Maybe it was at Ciclavia?) These 4 people were trying desperately to solve this labyrinth, talking to each other to try to coordinate the see-saw movements needed to tip the board at just the right angle to turn the ball in down the right path on the maze. There was no shortage of photographers’ work on display, but Kevin Break’s take on Los Angeles caught my particular attention. His shots of the L.A. River at sunset were my favorite. We happened into Gabe Leonard’s small gallery, and were instantly taken with his expert use of shadow and movement. Each piece felt like a scene from a movie, like we had interrupted some fantastical encounter between hero and villain.  A few of the galleries had these incredibly high ceilings and fantastic bright windows. These were my favorite galleries in terms of the way the spaces felt.This one was David McKenney’s gallery, and I just loved his work. Pretty much all of it. I love his use of color, shape, and pattern. Structured, but still informal. And I admire the variety within his body of work. One of the last galleries we wandered into belonged to Dave Lefner, whose focus is reduction linocuts. This was a new process to me, so I won’t try to sound like an expert and explain it in depth. But as I understand it, it has to do with a labor intensive serious of cutouts and layering of paint. In the case of Dave Lefner’s work, the result is incredibly clean, precise, and in some cases almost photo real. There were plenty more artists worthy of being featured on any website or blog, and I’m sure there were many that we didn’t even get to see in such an enormous complex of artists’ galleries. Needless to say, I’m very much looking forward to going back to the next artwork and discovering more. But don’t take my word for it, go see it for yourself next time!

Do you have a favorite art genre or medium?