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Los Angeles Times
3 days ago
- General
- Los Angeles Times
John Outterbridge's daughter salvages found art from Altadena ruins — with help from his friends
Before sunup on Jan. 8, as the Eaton fire roared across the San Gabriel Mountains, a blaze of texts and calls lit up my phone with a ferocity of their own. I'm used to being a switchboard of sorts — as a journalist, inevitably, word travels to and through me. In those chaotic, early hours, as I haphazardly prepared my own go-bag in my North Pasadena home, I monitored the rising alarm: The major share, I noted, were from a cadre of artists, musicians and writers parsing the news, speculating that the Altadena home and studio of late artist-activist John Outterbridge's family would have, most certainly, been in the path of those fast flames. I grew up on the edges of Outterbridge's remarkable orbit of influence in Southern California's Black Arts Movement; the potential loss was a staggering thought to process. For now, we were in a vestibule of hope: It was rumor, not fact, I told them and myself. As an internationally acclaimed artist and educator, Outterbridge, who died in 2020, was one of those community lions, deeply rooted — ubiquitous, it seemed — always with a generous ear and hand to help. I met him taking art classes at the Watts Towers Arts Center, when it was still located in a whimsical, paint-bombed bungalow. It's where, as a child, I took my first lessons with 'Mr. Tann' — the ceramicist Curtis Tann — also a key player in the movement, and then later sat with Outterbridge himself, watching his hands, observing his patient example. His work, particularly his multilayered assemblage pieces, pierced something in me, especially as a young Black Angeleno, in the wake of 1965's Watts uprising and its glowing fury. I was developing my own powers of observation; what's precious, Outterbridge's work emphasized, resided in the eye of the beholder. He was gathering bits and pieces considered to be 'throwaway,' pulling from a 'disaster' but shaping them into something vital and new. It was both reclamation and addendum, metaphors I carried into my future. That Altadena property would contain a bounty of that work — of correspondence to young artists and colleagues, of photographs, of the echoes of all the lively gatherings he and his wife hosted. It was beyond heartbreak to even think of its demise. Three days later, from my own evacuation perch, I opened Facebook to find that his daughter, Tami, had posted a sobering confirmation, which read in part: Hello, FB Family & Friends! By God's Grace, my mother Beverly Outterbridge and I are safe! However we have lost our homes! There was no time to grab much, so everything is lost. But, we are here! WE are not lost ... In the weeks following the fire, the Outterbridges didn't leave my mind: my memories of spotting Outterbridge — or 'Bridge,' as he was called — around the city, at art shows or community gatherings I was covering as a staff writer for The Times. He'd cheer me on, sometimes ringing my desk on Spring Street: 'Just checking in to see how they're treating you ...' In early summer, I glimpsed a portrait of Outterbridge hanging in an exhibition I was writing about — his eyes staring, it seemed, through me. A like-old-times nudge I couldn't ignore. I found a bench just outside the gallery, called Tami to see how she was managing. Her voice was disarmingly vibrant; her words tumbled out in vivid colors, textures. She was assembling a vision. A project had presented itself to her, a way to salvage the archive — or, more precisely, create something altogether new. In truth, she says, when a neighbor left a message in the early hours of Jan. 8, just hearing his words — 'You have lost everything' — knocked the wind out of her. 'I sat there in the hotel parking lot with my mother thinking, 'What does that even mean?'' she says. It would be several weeks before they could access the property, as the National Guard had restricted access. One of Outterbridge's oldest friends, the artist and co-founder of the former Brockman Gallery, Dale Davis, promised his support. 'He told me, 'I consider it my responsibility to escort you and your mother back,'' Tami says. He kept his word: 'It was beautiful and true to form.' As painful as it was for Tami to absorb firsthand 'all the black, gray and blanch-white,' a germ of an idea took root in those ashes. Watching Davis travel through the site, gathering pieces of metal, shards of ceramics and glass — there were things to salvage, just as her father always had. There was possibility. Not long after, while she was working in her corner of the lot, the idea of 'Diggin' Bridge' and its various prongs and phases — from archive-building to a documentary production to exhibition — took hold. The name came first and the rest followed. That image of Davis trawling the wreckage came back: 'It occurred to me that I could invite artists who were in the direct line of contact with my father to come to the property and to excavate with me,' she recalls. 'Not only would they help me find things, but also they create a piece with what they found that could be a reflection upon ... this man that we called 'Bridge.'' In the 'digging' she stitches together the physical work of excavation, the '60s and '70s colloquial meaning of 'dig' as to 'understand' and, lastly, its nod to DJ/crate-digging culture that remixes and reimagines. (Support already locked in: Plain Sight Archive has partnered with them to assist with the creation of the community-sourced archive.) To date, she calculates, 'I have about 25 artists rockin' with me.' Among them: Dominique Moody, John and Connie Trevino, Betye Saar, Charles Dickson, La Monte Westmoreland, Stanley C. Wilson, George Evans and Ben Caldwell, working in shifts, shoulder to shoulder. In the blade-sharp heat of July, I drive north toward the still-visible burn scar, up to the site, replaying Tami's description of what she'd endured that night: an alarming orange glow filling her entire back window, the neighborhood's streets full of fire and not one fire truck in sight. Now, six months later, many of the parcels have been cleared. The Outterbridge lot is still a moonscape. I pull on PPE and head toward the devastating pile, that acrid post-fire odor still evident. Wading in, I instantly encounter a familiar face, painter Michael Massenburg. Also present are Michael B. Garnes, a photographer and Bridge mentee who has been meticulously documenting the process, and Altadena-based artist Sam Pace, whose Pasadena/Altadena roots reach back to the 1800s. Pace and Massenburg are threading through the tight spaces within the shattered remains of the front house. 'This might be the room where we used to eat dinner,' Massenburg wonders aloud. Sorting through debris, he fishes out rusted metal pieces — some circular, some straight, though bent by heat. 'They already look like sculptures on the ground,' he confers with Pace, then pauses, cautioning himself: 'Don't overthink.' He hears him, Bridge: the maxims, the strategies. 'He was organic and authentic,' he remembers, 'From John, I always got a sense of family.' So, in gathering in this way and trusting what makes itself known, 'we are not celebrating the art of the artist, but the spirit of the artist.' Even the rubble will soon vanish; the Army Corps of Engineers has scheduled a firm date for Thursday. Tami has held them off for as long as she can. In this quickly closing window, the artists have worked miracles, unearthing treasures: ceramic pieces by Davis, a metal scrap and bolts from one of her father's pieces, her mother's wedding ring, her father's trademark wire-rimmed spectacles — and miraculously, a remnant of a thought-to-be-long-lost piece by my teacher, Curtis Tann. There's peace in laboring together, Garnes tells me: 'It feels safe, even joyful to be in community on the property.' Gratitude has begun to edge in where only grief had claimed space. 'I feel like Dad is saying: 'I have taught you this language. Now speak it,'' Tami reflects, his cadences sounding in her voice. 'There's this language of the discarded thing. The language of transformation and redemption. This all feels very redemptive to me.'
Los Angeles Times
20-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
‘Ode to 'Dena' at CAAM explores the legacy of Black artists in Altadena: L.A. arts and culture this weekend
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is in its final month of debris removal in Altadena. It has already cleared thousands of properties destroyed in January's devastating Eaton fire and is working on the toxic ash and refuse that remains. Once the immediacy of that task fades, years of accounting for the neighborhood's many losses lie ahead, as does the ongoing rebuilding. The California African American Museum is contributing to that work with 'Ode to 'Dena: Black Artistic Legacies of Altadena,' an exhibition on view through Oct. 12. The exhibition — organized in just three months in response to the fire — is curated by Dominique Gallery founder Dominique Clayton. It seeks to illustrate the importance of the unincorporated foothill community to Black artists including midcentury figures like Charles White, as well as contemporary practitioners including Martine Syms and Kenturah Davis. Between 1910 and 1970, approximately 6 million Black Americans migrated from the South to other parts of the U.S.. In Southern California, Altadena became an attractive place for Black families to settle. The area didn't participate in the redlining practices of other neighborhoods, making it a relatively welcoming place. Many of those residents were artists and musicians, including the famed assemblage artist and former director of the Watts Towers Arts Center, John Outterbridge, whose home and studio burned in the fire. (Outterbridge died in 2020.) In an online description of the 'Ode to 'Dena' exhibition, CAAM notes that Altadena was 'hailed as the epicenter of Black arts activity in Los Angeles County,' during the 1950s and '60s, although that artistic center of gravity later shifted toward Watts after the 1965 Watts Rebellion. Nonetheless, CAAM notes, 'Altadena continued to develop as a vibrant and creative haven with a distinctive Black cultural imprint. Since then, Altadena and the adjacent city of Pasadena have served as home to an extraordinary array of Black artists, educators, musicians, intellectuals, entrepreneurs, and activists.' In addition to Outterbridge, White, Syms and Davis, the CAAM exhibit includes work by Betye Saar, Richmond Barthé, Mark Steven Greenfield, Nikki High, Bennie Maupin, Marcus Leslie Singleton, La Monte Westmoreland and Keni 'Arts' Davis. The Times' Noah Goldberg wrote a feature on Davis after the Eaton fire — highlighting how the retired 75-year-old Hollywood set painter spent 40 years creating watercolors of his beloved neighborhood. After the destruction, he began painting the wreckage. For more information on CAAM and the exhibition, click here. I'm arts and culture writer Jessica Gelt here with an important Essential Arts update: From today forward, this newsletter will now run on Friday only — rather than Monday and Friday. Here's this week's slew of arts news. The Euterpides & SerenadeIt's the last two weekends to catch young composer Alma Deutscher's debut ballet, 'The Euterpides,' a world-premiere collaboration with American Contemporary Ballet Director Lincoln Jones. The work is paired with George Balanchine's 'Serenade,' set to music by Tchaikovsky.8 p.m. Friday and Saturday; June 26-28. Television City, 200 N. Fairfax Ave., Stage 33. KCRW and CAAM Summer NightsWhat better way to kick off summer than an all-ages dance party? In between live sets from guest DJ Damar Davis and KCRW DJ Novena Carmel cool your heels in California African American Museum's galleries, currently featuring solo exhibitions by Awol Erizku, Darol Olu Kae, Nellie Mae Rowe and Tatyana Fazlalizadeh, plus the aforementioned 'Ode to 'Dena' and a group exhibition of artists inspired by the concept of reparations. There will also be food trucks, a beer garden and crafts. Best of all? It's free with an RSVP.7-11 p.m. Friday. California African American Museum, 600 State Drive, Exposition Park. Sing the Story: Celebrating Black Artistry From Gospel To SoulPatrick Dailey and the W. Crimm Singers, an ensemble devoted to the Black experience and its expression through music, take to the BroadStage for a genre-blending evening featuring spiritual medleys, soul classics and more. Part of a series of blues rhythms curated by the Reverend Shawn Amos.8 p.m. Saturday. The Plaza, 1310 11th St. Santa Monica. Before You Now: Capturing the Self in PortraitureThe Vincent Price Museum hosts a selection of photographs, prints, drawings, videos and installation art from LACMA's collections that explores how American artists see and present themselves in their work. Laura Aguilar, Kwame Brathwaite, Kalli Arte Collective, Jennifer Moon, Wendy Red Star, Roger Shimomura, Cindy Sherman, Rodrigo Valenzuela and June Wayne are among the more than 50 artists redefining and expanding the concept of through Aug. 30. Vincent Price Art Museum, East Los Angeles College, 1301 Avenida Cesar Chavez, Monterey Park. 2025 California Biennial: Desperate, Scared, But SocialThe latest edition of the large-scale, Golden State-focused exhibition explores the 'richness of late adolescence, a stage of life full of hope and potential yet fraught with awkwardness, anxiety, and myriad pressures.' The show's 12 featured artists include well-established veterans and some who are still teenagers: Seth Bogart; punk rock band Emily's Sassy Lime (Emily Ryan, Amy Yao, Wendy Yao); rock band the Linda Lindas (Lucia de la Garza, Mila de la Garza, Eloise Won and Bela Salazar); Miranda July; Stanya Kahn; Heesoo Kwon; Woody De Othello; Laura Owens; Brontez Purnell; Griselda Rosas; Deanna Templeton; and Joey Terrill. The Biennial also features a presentation of paintings from the Gardena High School Art Collection, an assemblage of California Impressionism that began in 1919, and a program curated by present-day teenagers of works drawn from the Orange County Museum of Art through Jan. 4. Orange County Museum of Art, 3333 Avenue of the Arts, Costa Mesa. When the ViolinChoreographer/dancer Yamini Kalluri joins violinist Vijay Gupta for an evening of music by JS Bach and Reena Esmail. The program combines poetry, music and a combination of modern and traditional Kuchipudi dance.7:30 p.m. Saturday. Sierra Madre Playhouse, 87 W. Sierra Madre Blvd., Sierra Madre. Georgia O'Keeffe: The Brightness of LightA new documentary on the iconic American artist from Academy Award-winning director Paul Wagner ('The Stone Carver'). The film covers O'Keeffe's life from Jazz Age New York to the New Mexico desert and features music by Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch and narration by Hugh Dancy, with Claire Danes as the voice of O'Keeffe.7 p.m. Tuesday. Laemmle Royal, 11523 Santa Monica Blvd.; Aug. 2, Laemmle Newhall, Laemmle Glendale, Laemmle Town Center 5, Encino, Laemmle Monica Film Center and Laemmle Claremont 5. The drama surrounding President Trump's purported firing of National Portrait Gallery Director Kim Sajet reached a conclusion last week when Sajet decided to step down on her own terms. 'It has been the honor of a lifetime to lead the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery. This was not an easy decision, but I believe it is the right one,' Sajet wrote in a note to staff shared in an email by the Smithsonian Institution's leader, Lonnie Bunch. Sajet's announcement came two weeks after Trump claimed to have fired her for being, 'a highly partisan person, and a strong supporter of DEI.' About a week later, the Smithsonian Institution released a statement asserting its independence in the face of Trump's order, but that seems to not have been enough to persuade Sajet to stay. The work of Seattle-born, L.A.-based artist Noah Davis — who died of a rare form of liposarcoma at the the age of 32 — is the subject of Times art critic Christopher Knight's latest review. The Hammer Museum is staging a retrospective of Davis' paintings. It's only composed of about three dozen pieces, but Knight says it's more than enough to show that 'when Davis was good, he was very good indeed.' It is clear, Knight notes, that had his life not been cut tragically short, Davis was well on his way to further accomplishment. 'The show affirms his gift for what it was: Davis was a painter's painter, a deeply thoughtful and idiosyncratic Black voice heard by other artists and aficionados, even as his work was in invigorating development,' Knight writes. The 2025 Ojai Music Festival was one of the best, writes Times classical music critic Mark Swed, of the annual event in the bucolic Ventura County town. Founded nearly 80 years ago by an East Coast music lover named John Leopold Jergens Bauer, the event was originally meant to be California's answer to the Salzburg Festival. That aspiration never quite came to pass, but over the years the progressive gathering staged mostly at the Libbey Bowl has come to embody a groundbreaking ideal of new music. This year's music director was the flutist Claire Chase, who, according to Swed, 'collected concerned composers on a quest for a kind of eco-sonics capable of conjuring up the pleasure of nature and, in the process, saving our sanity.' Last Saturday, Esa-Pekka Salonen, 'conducted his San Francisco Symphony in a staggering performance of Mahler's Symphony No. 2, known as the 'Resurrection.' It was a ferocious performance and an exalted one of gripping intensity,' Swed wrote in a glowing review of the legendary conductor's final show with the troubled orchestra he opted to leave when he decided not to renew his contact after five years of serving as its music director. 'The audience responded with a stunned and tumultuous standing ovation,' Swed notes. Times reporter Kailyn Brown headed to the Music Center on Sunday — a day after the city's massive 'No Kings' protests — to talk to audience members who attended L.A. Opera's 'Rigoletto' and Center Theater Group's 'Hamlet' despite the recent tumult and nighttime curfew in downtown L.A. In a series of interviews, accompanied by smiling photos, Brown's reporting shows what many Angelenos have been trying to tell friends and family outside of the city: It's not as bad as it may seem on your social media feeds. Downtown L.A. is more or less back to normal. And besides: It's never a bad idea to show up in support of the arts. CAP UCLA announced its 2025-26 season — its second under its new Executive and Artistic Director Edgar Miramontes. This season's offerings include 30 performances featuring more than 100 international artists. 'As borders become more intensified, Miramontes is committed to continued international exchange of ideas and learnings to encourage more empathy, connection, and shared understanding through presentations by acclaimed artists from around the world, spanning genre-defying jazz, Afro-Latin fusion, 21st-century classical music, and exciting new works in dance and theater,' the season release explains. Shows include: the Mexican collective Lagartijas Tiradas al Sol; basoonist and composer Joy Guidry; the jazz singer Lucía; trumpeter and composer Milena Casado; and Cuban musicians Alfredo Rodriguez and Pedrito Martínez, along with many others. 'This season is more than a series of performances — it is a call to community,' Miramontes wrote in a note to patrons. 'Exciting new theater, revolutionary music, and dance remind us that unity is not an ideal — it is an act. The stage becomes our platform, our laboratory, our refuge. Here, we witness. We reckon. We rejoice.' For tickets and the full schedule, click here. Playwright Michael Shayan has released a new Audible Original play titled 'Cruising.' It's directed by Robert O'Hara, who was nominated for a Tony Award for directing 'Slave Play' and is also in the midst of presenting his world-premiere adaptation of 'Hamlet' at the Mark Taper Forum. The comedy follows an aspiring gay playwright who — suffering from a summer of writer's block and apathy in his Encino apartment — embarks on a flamboyant cruise in his imagination, only to discover that his real life is falling apart around him. 'Cruising' features the voices of Christine Baranski, Tituss Burgess, Cecily Strong, André de Shields and Andrew Rannells, and can be streamed here. Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra announced its 2025-26 season, which continues this year at the Wallis in the Bram Goldsmith Theater. Offerings include a concert of classics led by Music Director Jaime Martín, featuring the German French cellist Nicolas Altstaedt; guest conductor Dinis Sousa with German violinist Isabelle Faust; violinist Anthony Marwood; pianist Richard Goode playing Mozart; a Brahms concert; a Baroque salon featuring harpsichordist Pierre Hantaï; and a performance by soprano Amanda Forsythe. For tickets and more info, click here. — Jessica Gelt What? You say you'd like a good beef roll for lunch? Me too! Here's a list for where to find the best eight in the city by Times Food columnist Jenn Harris.
