5 design things to do June 8 - 14

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This week: Celebrate women artists of color with the Norton Collection; embrace the Soul of A Nation; re-create famous artworks, with found materials at home; consider the way forward for the built environment, post-Covid and in light of the George Floyd protests; and shop for design books in person!

Building Equity: Space, Place, and Race/Designing the Future

Right now our cities and the way we perceive them are being altered by two pandemics: Covid-19 and systemic racism. A panel of architects will discuss just how at two online programs coming up.

Building Equity: Space, Place, and Race

Eletrice Harris, NOMA/LA (National Organization of Minority Architects); Stephen Phillips,  Cal Poly L.A. Metro Program in Architecture and Urban Design and  DnA’s Frances Anderton will talk with architects Angela Brooks, Lance Collins, Alvin Huang, Roger Sherman and Lance Simon. Topics include the future of home and housing, office and urban form; and how to achieve a more equitable, healthful built environment for all. The event is hosted by Helms Design Center at Helms Bakery District, albeit it has moved online.

When: Jun 11, 2020; 4:00 pm

Where: Online, here.

Tickets: Free; click here for more information.

Designing the Future is for architects keen to learn how to adapt their skills and businesses to new demands. AIA|Los Angeles is offering a seven part series of ticketed, online panel discussions. It starts Thursday morning with a look at The Workplace, clearly one of the environments most upended by the massive rise in telecommuting. It continues through August 27 with explorations of schools, healthcare facilities, transit and mobility, parks and open space, multifamily buildings and hospitality. Read more about each discussion and the panelists here

COLLECTIVE CONSTELLATION: SELECTIONS FROM THE EILEEN HARRIS NORTON ... Amy Sherald,  When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be (Self-Imagined atlas) , 2018. Oil on canvas. 54 x 43 x 2 inches. © Amy Sherald. Courtesy of the artist and Hauser & Wirth. The Eileen Harris Norton Collection. Photo: Charles White.

2) Collective Constellation: Selections from The Eileen Harris Norton Collection

Art + Practice and the Hammer Museum presents a virtual tour of a planned exhibition that was derailed by the lockdown: Collective Constellation: Selections from The Eileen Harris Norton Collection. This selection of artworks by women of color  is drawn from the collection of Eileen Norton, philanthropist, art collector and Art + Practice co-founder. See trailblazing works in a range of media by an intergenerational, multi-ethnic group of artists including Shirin Neshat, Betye Saar, Doris Salcedo, Amy Sherald, Lorna Simpson, Carrie Mae Weems and Lynette Yiadom-Boakye.   M any of the themes in the exhibition circulate around the need for perseverance and imagination, making it particularly apt for the times.

When: Available online now

Where: Available online here.

Cost: Free

Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power  shines a light on the vital contribution of Black artists made over two decades, beginning in 1963 at the height of the civil rights movement.

2) Soul of A Nation: Art in the age of Black Power Gallery Talks

Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power 1963-1983, curated by Mark Godfrey and Zoe Whitley of the Tate Modern and recently exhibited at The Broad, shines a light on the vital contribution of Black artists made over two decades, beginning in 1963 at the height of the civil rights movement.  It features paintings, powerful sculptures, street photography and murals by more than 60 influential artists, including prominent Los Angeles-based artists, foregrounding the significant role of Los Angeles in the art and history of the civil rights movement and the subsequent activist era. 

You can watch videos of a series of gallery talks with local artists, activists and academics that took place during the 2019 exhibition. Contributors include: Yardenna Aaron; Eric Hanks; Kohshin Finley; Savannah Wood; Dale Brockman Davis; Dr. Todd Boyd, a.k.a. “Notorious Ph.D.”; Damien Sojoyner; Hasani Simons; Kamil Oshundara;  Phoebe Beasley; Kamil Oshundara; Texas Isaiah; and Janette Robinson Flint. Check out DnA's coverage and interviews with curators and artists, here.

When: Available now

Where: Available online here.

Cost: Free

The whole world is playing: this image is from a Russian post on Izoizolyatsia (Artistic Isolation), a Facebook group to fight lockdown blues.

4) Re-create a Famous Artwork  #Gettymuseumchallenge, 

Forget that school is out for summer and stay-at-home restrictions are lifting, this educational art project born from the quarantine is a keeper! Back in March, as museums closed amid social distancing requirements, the Getty Museum found a way to keep people engaged with their art: They challenged their social media followers to “recreate a work of art with objects (and people)” they found around their own homes. From near expert reproductions to more loosely inspired tableaux, homebound artists put their nascent MacGyver, set and costume designer skills to work, creatively positioning family members, pets, and household items - including lots of toilet paper - in homage to the Masters. It's not too late to take the challenge and join the fun online. You can find the Getty online art collection here to make your own, and see what others have done here

When: Anytime (but why wait?)

Where: Re-Creation images from around the world are available online here

Cost: Free

5) Arcana: Books on the Arts' Re-Opening

Arcana: Books on the Arts in the Helms Design Center at the Helms Bakery District re-opens its doors Friday at 50% capacity, face coverings required. Along with Hennessey + Ingalls' reopening last week, it represents the design community's desire to get back on with living in the times of COVID. Since 1984, Arcana has specialized in new, rare, and out of print books, catalogues, and ephemera on the visual arts and architecture, cinema and music, with a growing emphasis on the visual culture of the African diaspora in the Western hemisphere, 

When: Friday, June 12 Friday, 11 am

Where: Arcana: Books on the Arts, Helms Bakery District, 8675 Washington Blvd, Culver City 90232

Cost: Free