Giant Jenga

Evidently giant Jenga is a "thing."

And, in addition to the pumpkin carving this weekend at the Stay Gallery, there was also a wild game of giant Jenga going on. He oh-so-carefully pulled out one of the wooden pieces...but he was not careful enough and the tower collapsed. I have to admit, I was impressed at how quickly he jumped up and out of the way!

This might be a game I need to buy.

"We don't stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing!" 
~ George Bernard Shaw

Four years old

Stay Gallery is 4 years old! Today they had a pumpkin carving day that I almost missed. By the time I arrived, there was only one person left carving. But it was still fun to watch.

And, in celebration of being four years old, there is a new wall-to-wall mural inside the gallery. A fun celebration of many hands, some who designed, some who painted and gave it life.

Gaucho style

I don't always make it to opening night for a Stay Gallery exhibit. In fact, I probably miss more of them than I attend. So when I walked past the gallery one evening last week and noticed the photographs (my favorite type of exhibit!), I was intrigued. The building was nearly empty, and it was obvious the few people meeting at a table in the back weren't really "open." But the door was unlocked, and they kindly let me wander about.

The exhibit is called Gaucho Style—a one-night fundraiser for the gallery's Stay Young 2016 Art Education Initiative. It featured the photography of Executive Director Valentin Flores. It is also the first group exhibition of Stay Gallery’s creative team: Gabriel Enamorado, Ana Godinez, and Matthew Ward.

I don't often get an unobstructed view of the artwork at Stay Gallery. Thanks, Gabe, for letting me wander.

Catch 22

Don Lamkin's solo art exhibit did not disappoint. Don has such a down to earth approach to his art. It is fun and reflects his casual style.

I'm not sure why his exhibit was called Catch 22. I forgot to ask him. I'm gonna guess it is because he is an non-artist type of artist. So, in this case, Don is the Catch 22.

"Art washes away from the soul, the dust of everyday life."
~ Pablo Picasso

The Doodle-icious style

The Stay Gallery is celebrating its third anniversary with a solo show of Don Lamkin's art works. Don has been a great supporter of the gallery, and the arts in Downey in general, for many years now.

Don is best known for his Downey Doodle-icious painting. The Doodle-icious style was something he happened upon accidentally. He writes, "It was never intended to be more than a simple doodle. [It] was created while watching TV on a 6"x12" canvas given to me by a friend because 'it was too small to do anything meaningful on.'" When a friend liked the painting, he made another one in the same style, but filled it with the things that were meaningful to her. As you can see in the picture to the right, you can look a long time and still not see it all.

The Downey Doodle-icious painting was created as a raffle item for the annual Downey street fair, to raise money for the Downey Museum of Art. After it was recreated as the mural in downtown Downey, other cities came calling, looking for someone to create a mural to celebrate their own history and landmarks.

Don doesn't consider himself an artist. He says he doesn't have the typical artist personality. "I'm on time. I'm not sensitive." But, he says, "I find it very interesting and fun to research, design, compose, and execute these doodle-icious art pieces."

The crowd

Even though I arrived fairly late, there was still quite a crowd at the opening of the Madestuff exhibit at Stay Gallery.

Crowd-watching is fun, whether it's family or friends posing with the artist (right), or just the general public enjoying the art (above).

Made on exhibit

Made (pronounced Mah-dee) Rindu has been drawing all of his life. Some of his art sketchbooks were on display in tonight's opening night of the Made Stuff solo exhibit at Stay Gallery. "These sketchbooks contain hours and hours of my life," says the description next to the sketchbooks.

Made, a Downey native, "was introduced to the style and art form of graffiti which allowed him to experiment with lettering, proportions, compositions, style, and color combinations. This introduction interested him so much that it is still prominent in his work today."

I enjoyed this exhibit, with its strong, colorful images. If you have time, see for yourself at the Stay Gallery. The exhibit will be there through September 26.

Pizza box art

Bianca Herrera, a student at Old River Elementary School, is proudly posing for a picture next to her pizza box mosaic.

Her mosaic of McDonald's is, according to the Stay Gallery where they were on display, one of "70 student mosaics on display today for the opening of our 2nd Annual Pizza Box Exhibition. Using old magazines and newspapers and donated pizza boxes as their canvases, elementary school students interpreted their favorite Downey icons."

When I commented to Valentin Flores, the Stay Gallery director, that these mosaics were really good, he replied, "We have a lot of talent in our Downey kids."

The exhibition was a hit with parents and students alike, and it was rare to see only a couple of kids in front of a section of the display.

This Normal Life

Tonight's exhibit at the Stay Gallery was of photographer Steven Clouse.  His "normal life" is quite different from most of us. As his story tells, Steven doesn't stay.... He has no permanent residence. He explained to us that he actually lives out of his Subaru Outback.

His odyssey began as a two-month adventure to experience and photograph the beauty of the US. Now, almost three years later, he is still on the move. As he described it, he has visited the "lower 48" in his travels. Alaska and Hawaii have so far eluded him. He invites you to follow him on his continuing quest through his blog or Instagram.

His photos were interesting glimpses into his adventures. One of my favorites was the photo below that shows what looks like a wharf through a chain-link fence. I like the framing of the fence and that you don't really see where the "path" is going. Kind of like Steven's path. It could lead him anywhere.



I find it inspiring that he has such an amazing ability to just pack up and go. He is a brave soul.

"Remember what Bilbo used to say: It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to.”
~ J.R.R. Tolkien

Poetry matters to Downey

Tonight, my wife and I went to the Stay Gallery for this month's meeting of Poetry Matters. This is Lorine Parks on the left, the curator of Poetry Matters, introducing Rosalie Sciortino, the featured speaker of the evening.

According to Stay Gallery, Sciortino is a virtual native of Downey, having arrived here with her family when she was just twenty days old. Her parents, who met and married in Colorado after immigrating separately from Sicily, settled into a farmhouse with acreage at the corner of what is now Paramount and Florence where the Chase Bank sits. At that time Paramount Blvd, known then as College, dead-ended at Florence, and vehicles were only able to turn east or west. 

Sciortino read several poems from her book, "The Gift." You can see several of her 22 paintings that are on display for the next week at the Stay Gallery.



It was standing room only for the presentation. I know because I was one of the standees. The audience was definitely enjoying all of the poetry presented this evening.



This is Stacey and Don enjoying the presentation. Stacey is meditating on some interesting poetry being presented.

...
Scented breezes and Sinatra
The road stretches before me
flat and inviting
I sing along with him
These are my songs and
This is my road
~ excerpt from "On the Road" by Rosalie Sciortino

The Downey art scene - A fine Saturday morning part 3

Just down the street from the farmer's market (see part 2), my walk took me by the Downey Doodle-icious mural and gave me a chance to see how it is progressing. The biggest change I noticed (and the most tedious part of the project, one would think) was the addition of the lines on the sun, which gave it a bright, finished look.

Update: I happened to stop by the mural this past weekend to check in again with artist Don Lamkin and his helpers. Of course there's still a lot of work to be done, but it's amazing how quickly the project is progressing.



And finally, just across the street, I poked my head in at the Stay Gallery, which was hosting selected works from The Art of Rancho, a program at Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center in Downey. The program provides patients with training by world-renowned artists in adaptive drawing, painting, and photography.

"The Avenue"...follow the signs

I made it to the Stay Gallery for the last few minutes of the historical photo exhibit. This photo is zoomed in on a sign that was once found on the corner of Crawford and Firestone Blvd.

The sign gives the distance to a number of cities and landmarks nearby. It lists the LA county farm (which used to be the poor farm, located on the south campus of Rancho Los Amigos) as well as a place called Clearwater. While it listed Clearwater as only 4 miles away, I was unable to identify where this could be. I wonder if anyone knows what Clearwater used to be.

The Avenue

History. Photography. Downey.

What's not to love about tonight's historical exhibit at Stay Gallery, featuring photographs of downtown Downey ("The Avenue") from 1866 through the 1960s.

One of the photographs that had my friends and me puzzling was the one above. From 1961, it's "recent" enough that I should be able to remember some of the details. That's Downey Avenue heading south up the center of the picture. But that big open field beyond the train tracks is a complete mystery to my friends and me.

And the upper right corner should be showing the northeast corner of Warren High School. But Warren High, built in 1955, hadn't yet spread to the size it is today.

The train station, a short walk from downtown Downey, was still there in 1961. Today, the original building has been torn down and replaced by the Downey Depot Transportation Center where you can catch the DowneyLINK bus.

Bob Thompson, president of the Downey Historical Society and life-long Downey resident, was on hand to answer any questions about the pictures and Downey's history. The picture behind him shows Downey Avenue back in 1911, when it was called Crawford Street. Crawford Street was named after Matson Duke Crawford, agent for John G. Downey and attorney for the Downey Land & Improvement Association.

Pizza box art

A recent display at the Stay Gallery featured this one-day exhibit made by 4th and 5th graders using paper mosaics on pizza boxes. The images represent iconic places in Downey, many of which we have photographed for Downey Daily Photos.

I like this version. Wouldn't these make a great set of Downey postcards or kitchen magnets?

And the winners are...

First place winner at the 3rd Annual Downey & Warren Photography Exhibition is this up-close-and-personal shot by Cristina Contreras. This is one of those pictures where you're tempted to say, "Lucky shot—right time, right place." But luck like that doesn't just happen, and this is a great example of a photographer taking advantage of one of those lucky moments and turning it into a great picture.

Second place winner, and my personal favorite, goes to this portrait by Nathaniel Alvarez. This shot proves the saying that a picture is worth a thousand words. Look closely, and you'll understand the sadness in those eyes. 

It's hard to resist taking pictures of what you enjoy looking at, even when you look at them every day. This is George Redfox, photography teacher at Warren High School. He is admiring the third place winner (whose name, I apologize, I didn't get), whose fun shot of an old-fashioned Coca Cola bottle shows that even everyday objects make good subjects.

Photography on exhibit

Friday night was the opening night of the 3rd Annual Downey & Warren Photography Exhibition at the Stay Gallery. There was quite a crowd there, mostly young people, when I stopped by just after the exhibit opened.

This mom and daughter closely examined each photograph. I think there were some lessons going on there. I hope she's a budding photographer!

Tomorrow I'll show you my favorites.

Stay for the music

Tonight my wife and I went to another concert here in Downey. This time the concert was at the Stay Gallery on Downey Ave. The band in the above picture is a group called "New American," a local Downey band. Another band was to follow but I needed to get home to write this post and then get to bed. The other group is called "Fathers & Suns" and you can see their video on the Stay Gallery website here.



The audience seemed to be enjoying themselves.

Date night in downtown Downey

I stopped in tonight at the opening of "The Hyperpresent," this month's art exhibit at the Stay Gallery featuring artist David Layton. I enjoyed this exhibit. The paintings are photo-realistic, bold, and colorful. The pictures in the scenes above are from a series entitled "Cinema," and they will be on display through March 30.

It looks a little like date night at the gallery. Some couples are content to just stand and gaze. Others feel the need to animatedly discuss, and perhaps explain, what they're seeing.

"The earth without art is just eh."

Dia de los Muertos

Today, the Stay Gallery in downtown Downey celebrated Dia de los Muertos, their second exhibit for this traditional Mexican holiday.

The holiday focuses on gatherings of family and friends to pray for and remember friends and family members who have died. Traditions include building private altars called ofrendas  honoring the deceased, using sugar skulls, marigolds, and the favorite foods and beverages of the departed, and visiting graves with these as gifts. (Wikipedia)There was also much face-painting at the gallery, for both children and adults.

In addition to the Dia de los Muertos displays, the Bones of Steel exhibit is winding up soon. Bones of Steel is an industrial sculpture exhibit by Cristian Castro, featuring sculptures made of metal objects.

Under construction

The front window of the Stay Gallery in downtown Downey reflects the bustle both inside and out. The reflection shows the busy new Downey Gateway food court across the street.

And the words give a hint of the bustle on the inside, where construction is progressing, including a custom-made spiral staircase that leads to the new loft.