Laguna Art Museum taps Ana Teresa Fernández to highlight Art and Nature
Fernández, a Mexican-born, San Francisco-based artist, will produce a project to be titled 'SOS,' or, in this case, 'Save Our Seas.'
The multi-phased activation will include a structural element called 'An Ocean in a Drop,' as well as a photography station, 'We Are Water,' to be displayed with the work. A collection of 800 circular mirrors will be incorporated into the featured exhibit.
'Selecting the commissioned artist for Art and Nature is always a meaningful challenge,' Laguna Art Museum Executive Director Julie Perlin Lee said in a statement accompanying the announcement. 'It is a moment to invite audiences to engage deeply with pressing global issues through the lens of creativity.
'Ana Teresa Fernández's work is bold, poetic and urgent. 'SOS' will create space for contemplation while reminding us that change begins with individual and collective action.'
Art and Nature, which has coupled artistic expression with environmental awareness for a dozen years, returns to take over the museum from Nov. 1 through Nov. 10.
The museum will continue to bring temporary art installations to the beach. On Sunday, Nov. 9, the museum is planning to have 800 volunteers participate in the use of Fernández's mirrored artwork to form shapes at Main Beach, which has become a trendy spot to bring art into public view.
The beach served as a prime location to have hundreds take in 'Ocean Ions,' an interpretative dance collaboration between commissioned artist Christian Sampson and the Volta Collective.
In 2023, Cristopher Cichocki brought 'Rising Inversion' to the sand along the hillside at Main Beach Park. The biomorphic light painting flashed a light across a phosphorescent surface, offering up a turquoise glow not unlike the phenomenon of bioluminescence.
Museum officials have also decided to bring back the upcycled couture fashion show, which debuted last year. It will serve as a kick-off event to Art and Nature on Saturday, Nov. 1. There will also be a community block party the following day.
After Orange County Supervisor Katrina Foley secured a $50,000 grant for the museum, the local art institution will offer free admission for the entire month of November.
Foley, who is the vice chair of the Board of Supervisors and represents the Fifth District, called artistic expression 'the name of the game' in Laguna Beach.
'The grant, in part, funds the museum's 13th annual Art and Nature program, … connecting more than 20,000 members of the public with thought-provoking art installations along Main Beach,' Foley said. 'I look forward to thousands of residents and visitors enjoying this one-of-a-kind — and free — visual experience.'
The Art and Nature programming will continue into the new year with two indoor exhibitions. 'Silence and Solitude: Conrad Buff and the Landscapes of the American Southwest' will display the work of Buff, a modernist painter, from Sept. 20 through Jan. 20.
'Eternal Construction: Photographic Perspectives on Southern California's Built Environment' will bring together artwork from the museum's permanent collection that, in part, will foster conversations around development, land use and urbanization. Those pieces will be part of an exhibit that will be on view at the museum through Jan. 5.
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Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Yahoo
Inside the Luigi Mangione musical that's playing to sellout crowds
Inside the Luigi Mangione musical that's playing to sellout crowds SAN FRANCISCO - Backstage before Monday's performance of 'Luigi: The Musical,' actor Caleb Zeringue cracked a joke about how his castmate who plays the title role has to skip the show's European debut because such a trip could cost him his health insurance. The barb strikes at one of the key themes in the show about alleged murderer Luigi Mangione: The whims of the U.S. health care system can drive people to do drastic things with fatal outcomes. Subscribe to The Post Most newsletter for the most important and interesting stories from The Washington Post. The lead actor, Jonny Stein, gets his health coverage through his day job teaching high school math in San Francisco. He said his principal denied his request to skip the first week of school so that he could perform at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival starting Tuesday, so another actor will be stepping in. 'Just because something's funny, doesn't mean it's not serious,' said Zeringue, dressed as a prison guard, before Stein ducked out of the green room to slip into his bright orange jumpsuit. Six months before this musical debuted in June, Mangione hit a nerve with the American public. Immediately after the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in December, merchandise like pint glasses and baseball caps popped up carrying the phrase 'Deny, Defend, Depose,' the words emblazoned on ammunition casings found near where he was shot in Midtown Manhattan. After the then-26-year-old Mangione was arrested came the uncomfortable memes on social media with commentary on his appearance. Now he's become a lightning rod for thinkpieces, viral TikToks, cult fandom and hand-wringing about the state of American medicine and making light of a murder case. And part of the debate over what Mangione represents is playing out in a scrappy musical. When Nova Bradford, the show's 31-year-old director who also wrote it with a group of fellow Bay Area comedians, read that Mangione was being held in the same Brooklyn jail as disgraced crypto CEO Sam Bankman-Fried and music mogul Sean 'Diddy' Combs, she thought the situation was ripe for satire. 'It's such a strange group of people to be in the same place at the same time. They're all high profile but from completely different worlds,' Bradford said in a phone interview. 'It's hard to imagine them being in the same room other than a prison cell.' Their worlds of tech and finance, entertainment and health care have all suffered a loss of public trust, Bradford said, through the Great Recession, Facebook's Cambridge Analytica scandal, the #MeToo era, the opioid crisis and more. When people see institutions failing, Bradford said, they're drawn to alternatives like new age healers on Instagram or biohacker bros in Silicon Valley - maybe even a vigilante. 'But ultimately these people don't provide real answers, just like the institutions that are failing,' said Bradford. That disenchantment was evident at Monday night's sold-out 'Luigi' show at the Independent, where an attendee was spotted in a Luigi T-shirt and the audience of around 200 roared in laughter as Bankman-Fried (André Margatini) sang about being a 'Bay Area baby,' growing up where it's normal to fake it till you make it and about how 'you gotta have a little fraud in your company.' Before the show, a 31-year-old accountant in the audience proclaimed the show was made for people like her, a former theater kid and self-described 'Hamilton liberal' who now considers herself a 'Luigi leftist.' 'It's not that I believe in violence against the individual,' Kathleen Koomen said. 'But I do believe that a state that monopolizes violence begets violence, and I think Luigi represents that.' Stephanie Allen, a 50-year-old mortgage broker who'd traveled from Napa to see the show, was intrigued by the satirical take on a serious subject. The United States 'is one of the richest countries in the world,' Allen noted. She dropped an expletive when describing how she feels about the lack of affordable health care, adding: 'Why is this happening?' The San Francisco Chronicle's review says the production is 'the most talked-about play in S.F. It's also terrible.' The writer is among several who've suggested it might be too soon to tackle Mangione's case onstage, earnestly asking: 'How do you explore, honestly and with depth, what's made an accused killer a folk hero to some while neither glorifying nor trivializing his alleged crime?' The show opens with disclaimer reminding attendees not to take what is about to unfold too seriously. It's satire and such speech is protected by the First Amendment, a disembodied voice says, spurring anxious chuckles from the crowd. The characters' varied worlds is played for laughs, conflict and, ultimately, a few notes of harmony. The show points out that Bankman-Fried and Diddy (Janeé Lucas) are both businessmen who love money and the spotlight. Luigi, the relative nobody, becomes a kind of peacemaker between the two famous men. He's also the only one getting fan mail while in prison, with fictional yet relatable tales of sickness, pain and denied health-care claims. Sure, the actors' voices and dance moves aren't the smoothest. The between-act set changes are a little clumsy. Every show, a different actor fumbles a handful of lines, Zeringue admitted. But the production's amateur nature is also the source of its charm. The bumbling feels appropriate when lampooning these men in various stages of felony cases. With such messy muses, why not lean into the improv of it all? Bradford cited 'Chicago' as one of her influences, as it's another true-crime satire set in a prison, as well as 'Avenue Q' and 'Book of Mormon,' two boundary-pushing musicals that were formative in her upbringing as a theater kid in Colorado. The show joins a long line of musicals about controversial real-life characters, ranging from more serious, like 'Hamilton' and 'Evita,' to the more gimmicky, like 'Gwyneth Goes Skiing' and TV's 'Prince Andrew: The Musical.' Bradford finds her show draws younger crowds than the typical musical. And by building a production around three very different characters, 'we're able to have jokes … that appeal to audiences who have different media they're familiar with, and different comedy preferences,' said Bradford, who's in talks to bring 'Luigi' to Los Angeles and New York after Edinburgh. Eve Hroziencik is one of those young theatergoers. The 23-year-old brought her dad along as a birthday gift. Her father, Mike, who works as a criminal defense lawyer in nearby Burlingame, said he thought the show was 'hilarious and ridiculous.' Hroziencik said 'Luigi' made her 'hopeful' about the future because the show's 'humor and absurdity makes all the misery of the world a little more bearable.' Related Content Ukraine scrambles to roll back Russian eastern advance as summit takes place Her dogs kept dying, and she got cancer. Then they tested her water. D.C.'s homeless begin to see the effects of Trump's crackdown Solve the daily Crossword
Los Angeles Times
a day ago
- Los Angeles Times
Find a hidden weekend-only bar and tasting menu at one of the Valley's favorite restaurants
If you can't find Jeff Strauss in his Highland Park deli, Jeff's Table, or inside his Studio City bar-restaurant, Oy Bar, you should probably check the parking lot of the latter. The ex-television writer — now chef and restaurateur — is channeling more of his creative energy into a new, weekend-only bar and tasting menu called Vey, Oy Bar's new alfresco space built in the back parking lot. 'I wanted to do something that had as much delight and surprise without being the same experience,' Strauss said. 'We're sitting in a parking lot in Studio City, in the Valley in the summer. It was 92 degrees back here today! So I said, 'How do we celebrate that space, the night sky?'... The other idea, since we're on effectively asphalt, we're on the street, is to pay tribute to street food both here and all over the world.' He fashioned new walls from his storage unit behind Oy Bar, while artist Nick 'Sick' Fisher painted them as a kind of home interior in surreal, almost cartoon-like fashion. At one corner, Strauss and sous chef Esteban Palacios grill crisp-edged onigiri, yakitori-style chicken liver with egg and hot honey, and scallops dripping with gochujang butter over binchotan charcoal, while a pizza oven warms whole heads of mushroom in soy and butter in cast-iron skillets. Sometimes they offer small plates, other times, like this weekend, a reservation-only, six-course tasting menu for what Strauss likens to 'a casual, rolling omakase.' On Friday and Saturday nights, guests fill the tandem concept while waiting for indoor tables, or use Vey as their meal and cocktail destination for the evening. The experience, like Vey's culinary inspirations, is meant to be flexible and fluid. 'People have taken to that very nicely,' Strauss said. 'It feels fun to me. I hope it feels fun to them.' Vey is accessed through the back of Oy Bar, and is open Friday and Saturday beginning at 6:30 p.m., with variable hours. Strauss hopes to expand its days of operation in the future. 12446 Moorpark St., Studio City, They call it a California bistro, but really, chef Miles Thompson said, it's 'an Angeleno bistro.' The new 36-seat restaurant from Thompson and his sommelier business partner, Andy Schwartz, debuted earlier this year in Victor Heights with hyper-local sourcing and a wide-ranging menu that draws on Japanese, Korean, Italian, Mexican, French and more flavors. 'I think the food is really defined by the cultures of Los Angeles,' Thompson said. 'If you already eat at any of the regional or international restaurants in this city, you'll find inspiring foods that go into this menu.' It began as a pop-up, which debuted at the base of Koreatown's Hotel Normandie in June 2023. Thompson, a former Michael's and Konbi chef, teamed up with Schwartz, formerly of Lolo Wine Bar, to serve a tight menu of seasonal dishes by candlelight. Now in its permanent home, the duo are leaning into their creativity and finding their footing. Thompson ages wild-caught squid for five days before slicing it and tossing it in a cucumber and yuzu kosho salad. His ginger-marinated prawns come plancha-seared and served over a puttanesca-leaning sauce, then garnished with Hot Cheetos-inspired fried enoki mushrooms. He drapes burnt eggplant over house-made chicken sausage with fish sauce, Hungarian wax peppers and chile de arbol. Even Thompson's signature planks of lightly fermented, fluffy house bread update with local produce. The dough is packed with sweet caramelized onions; in one iteration it's topped with Liptauer cheese and more marinated onions, and in another, it's Franklin's Teleme cheese and marinated squash. The three compact rooms in a converted bungalow — part of the reimagined courtyard that also houses Perilla, Bakers Bench and Cassell's — offer the soft glow of candlelight with a view of the open kitchen. On the patio, take in the small grove of century-old banana trees. Baby Bistro's à la carte menu is designed to share between two people, and many customers order it all. 'If you're looking to really experience the beating heart of the restaurant,' Schwartz said, 'it's in the menu.' Daily specials might involve items more flexible to the whims of the farmers market, either in small plates or a larger meat dish. The intimate new setting also allows for Schwartz to rotate his wine offerings frequently. His list spotlights natural wines, often small producers making esoteric flavors or blends. He's enjoying creating pairings for Thompson's cuisine, which he characterizes as 'classically challenging to pair with': unique concentrations of flavors, attention paid largely to acidity. The challenge is part of the fun. 'That speaks to the connection between the wines that I like, and the ones that we serve at the restaurant, which can taste different every day,' Schwartz said. 'That's sort of the nature of real cooking and real wine.' Baby Bistro is open Tuesday to Saturday from 5:30 p.m., with its last seating at 9:30 p.m. 1027 Alpine St., Los Angeles, With laminated egg tarts, whimsical pastries, lines out the door and plenty of cute puppies, a prolific China bakery chain has touched down in Beverly Hills. Hi Bake, founded in Hong Kong, has expanded to more than 60 shops in China over the last 12 years, and thanks to a new partnership with Chubby Group (Niku X, Chubby Cattle), it just landed in the U.S. Its first American location takes over the former home of Sur Le Vert and Bouchon, and offers a number of the signature items found overseas: Tokyo banana rolls, thousand-layer cakes, meat floss rolls and egg tarts. Loaded toasts, flattened croissants, Dubai-chocolate tarts and fluffy matcha rolls all line the pastry case, while a separate pickup counter for cream-top matchas, pistachio lattes and other caffeinated beverages can be found next door. Hi Bake is extremely pet-friendly, hosting adoption events for cats and dogs around the world; the bakery's own emblem is a drawing of Dà Mài, the founder's own rescue dog. In Beverly Hills, expect house-made pet treats in the near future. Hi Bake is open Monday and Wednesday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. 235 N. Canon Drive, Beverly Hills, It's not every day that Evan Funke opens a new concept, let alone a dedicated cocktail bar, but the celebrated pasta-focused chef recently launched Bar Avoja, a new semi-hidden cocktail lounge inside his Hollywood restaurant, Mother Wolf. Much like the restaurant, Bar Avoja is a partnership with co-owner Giancarlo Pagani, and it's accessed only by walking through the lounge area of Mother Wolf. It fills the former Mars bar space (which was also owned by Pagani), and features separate food and cocktail menus in a setting inspired by a Roman villa: jewel-tone curtains and pillows meant for lounging, while a disco ball reflects off the walls and gold-gilded mirrors. On Thursdays, find vinyl DJ sets, but every night of service find spuntini informed by Roman street food, including an oxtail-meatball sandwich on pizza dough; fried carbonara bites; flatbreads piled with salad, salmon or sugo; and grilled octopus skewers. Bar Avoja — slang for 'hell yeah' — is open Thursday to Saturday from 6 to 11 p.m. 1545 Wilcox Ave., Los Angeles, This popular Bay Area bagel outfit made its L.A. debut earlier this year, and it's already expanding. Boichik Bagels, from former engineer Emily Winston, serves the New York-style bagels she enjoyed throughout her childhood in the Northeast. Now it serves them at the base of one of L.A.'s most iconic buildings, downtown's Bradbury Building. The new bagel shop offers the same range of bagels found in the Los Feliz location — including bagel sandwiches, more than a dozen bagel flavors, and schmear in options like hatch chile, chive or lox — with its own unique menu of daily specials. Look for whitefish-salad sandwiches, kippered salmon, frozen take-home bagels, coffee and more. Boichik Bagels is open downtown daily from 7:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. 304 S. Broadway, Los Angeles,
Chicago Tribune
a day ago
- Chicago Tribune
Blind models work the runway at fashion show for the visually impaired
Brenda Nicholson waited in the Nordstrom fitting room, listening intently as the staff described the colors, textures and cut of the outfits hanging on a rack. She typically gravitates toward clothing with pops of color, but this time Nicholson selected a gold, mesh-embroidered dress that cut down to her ankles. She chose the outfit based on the staff's vivid description and the way it felt when she touched the material. When a partially blind model's eyes can't help, she must rely on her other senses — touch and hearing, in this case — to help ready her for the runway. Nicholson was one of 10 visually impaired models who walked in the Beautiful Lives Fashion Show earlier this month at the CD Peacock Mansion in Oak Brook. The inaugural event celebrated the idea that everyone can enjoy clothing — even if they experience it in a different way than most. 'Good fashion feels like the textures that send tingling sensations through your fingers,' said Beautiful Lives Project co-founder Bryce Weiler, who has been blind since birth. 'Textures mean something.' The show's models were students at the Chicago-based Illinois Center of Rehabilitation and Education-Wood, which offers vocational and life skills training for blind and visually impaired adults. Students can receive instruction on everything from cooking and computers to reading braille and crossing eight-lane streets. The event gave many participants their first exposure to modeling — something several said they had never considered. 'Is the runway ready for me?' model Monty Rogers, who lost his sight more than three years ago, asked his fellow models. Rogers said he has always had a sense of style. Prior to selecting his runway outfit, he wore a patterned kilt with 'pride colors' and knee-high socks. A former telephone engineer and photographer, Rogers motioned to his outfit: 'I still have aesthetics,' he said. Rogers, who feels almost all his clothes before buying, selected jeans and a striped, navy blue sweater with a soft jacket. The sweater's collar, lifted and distinct from the sweater's main material, framed his neck, which was accessorized with a thin chain. 'I'm blind as hell and I'm still a fashionista,' he said. In a 'vacation vibe' salmon shirt with khaki pants, Lawrence Lacy made his runway debut alongside experienced model Jennifer Cruz, the reigning Mrs. Illinois International 2025. Moments before walking, Lacy, who's blind, gave Cruz tips on one aspect of runway modeling that she had never encountered: how to be his guide. On a daily basis, Lacy said he uses the application 'Be My Eyes,' to assist in planning outfits. The app helps users who are blind or have low vision by providing visual descriptions of daily tasks such as navigating unfamiliar surroundings and explaining the color of an object. From his clothing needs, Lacy uses the 'Be My Eyes' to match outfits to a hanger, including specifics, 'like the color (patches) on his socks,' he said. Prior to the show, runway walkers filled out surveys, describing the styles, textures, feelings and colors they wanted to showcase most. The show's organizer, 16–year-old Aria Holtzman, then worked with the Nordstrom staff to select outfits that matched the model's personal style. 'A lot of models wanted patterns,' Holtzman said. Holtzman also accessorized the outfits with shoes and jewelry, borrowed from CD Peacock, to complete the looks. The Hinsdale teen, who is beginning her junior year at Culver Academies in Indiana, came up with the idea for the show after attending a summer camp at Vogue's New York office. She came home inspired to make fashion accessible for everyone regardless of their abilities or medical conditions. With the support of her father — CD Peacock Chairman Steven Holtzman — she teamed up with Weiler and the Beautiful Lives Project. Along with Beautiful Lives Project co-founders Weiler and Michael Gudino, Holtzman worked with CD Peacock interior designers to make sure the event space resembled a runway and was clear of obstacles that could prove difficult for models and spectators as they moved around the mansion's first floor. She also ensured the 6-foot-wide runway was wide enough for both the models and their escorts. With just 39 days to put on the show, Holtzman wrote the script and served as the evening's emcee. She also encouraged the models to make their own personalized introductions before they headed down the runway. After Holtzman introduced Lacy, he took the microphone and offered a short message of appreciation. He thanked the ICRE-W program and the Beautiful Lives Project for 'transforming me into the person you see before you.' 'Just know that anything that you love, that gets a little help, you can be a part of,' he told the audience. Rogers, during his runway walk, sang a rendition of 'Feeling Good' to the spectators' delight. 'Monty lives his life knowing that the only thing he can't do is see, ' Holtzman told the audience. But Roger wasn't the only model with a talent to display. Nicholson, who lives in downstate Bellview, was the night's last model, concluding her walk with a dance to Rebirth Brass Band's 'Do Whatcha Wanna.' Before her stepping onto the runway, organizers reminded her of the song's six-minute duration, 'I can do it,' she said without hesitation. Nicholson substituted her white cane for a translucent umbrella as the music played. The audience rhythmically clapped to keep the beat. Although the music was cut off by applause before the full song could end, Nicholson said she 'was born dancing to this.' She could do it in her sleep, she said. The models kept their Nordstrom clothing, which had been purchased for them by the Holtzman family. Although this is the first fashion show the Beautiful Lives Project participated in, Weiler said he hopes for other opportunities like it. 'We are surrounded by people who want to help (others) live out their dreams,' he said. 'To help you to find employment, and to say that there are no barriers that can hold someone back with a disability.'
