Posts

  • Ricky Ostendi and Monica Pucciarelli, Art on the Vine January 7th

    Ricky Ostendi and Monica Pucciarelli, Art on the Vine January 7th

    Saturday January 7th, come experience the artwork of two talented artists from right here in Downey, Ricky Ostendi and Monica Pucciarelli.

    Visit the facebook event page to tell us you’re coming: https://www.facebook.com/events/348368495178962/

    Ricky Ostendi attended Warren High School and has his BA from the Art Institute of California. In addition to his painting, he is also a modeler for 3D graphics and a concept artist. His work has been shown as part of the Downey Art Vibe‘s events at the Taste of Downey and the Downey Civic Theatre.

    Monica Pucciarelli, originally from Argentina, is a self-taught artist who has been painting for over a decade. Her work is figurative, abstract, and mixed media is my preference both on canvas and paper. She has shown work at The Lankershim Arts Gallery in Hollywood, Gallery Expo in Long Beach, Downey Museum of Art, Cypress Art Faire Juried exhibition, as well as many other juried art shows and exhibit where her art has won numerous awards.

  • Hector Silva at Art on the Vine December 10th

    Hector Silva at Art on the Vine December 10th

    Saturday December 10th, Art on the Vine and Downey Arts Coalition is proud to present the work of Hector Silva at Mari’s Wine Bar for the month of December.  The evening begins at 6:30PM and continues until close at 1:30AM.  Come see the work in person to really get the full impact of his powerful images.

    Visit Hector’s website, www.artbyhector.com to see some previews of his work and read his bio, which we’ve republished below.

    Hector Silva is an artist based in Los Angeles who has been producing work for more than twenty years. Born in Ocotlan, Jalisco, Mexico, he moved to the US at the age of 17. He began drawing in his late 20’s when he discovered his own talent. He created his first portrait in 1982 of Lucille Ball. This drawing somehow reached her hands and she contacted Hector to acquire the original in 1984. This marked the beginning of his commercial career.

    As the recipient of both San Diego’s prestigious Sandie and Nicky Awards, Hector’s talent was immediately recognized in Southern California. His gift was clearly and instantly evident; especially when one considers the fact he is completely self-taught. In 1997, Hector received this First Prize in Single Figure form the Tom of Finland Foundation’s Erotic Art Contest.

    Hector has participated in the exhibitions at the Museum of Art in Balboa Park, the Tom of inland Gallery, and the Advocate Gallery at the Ed Gould Village. Some publications that have featured his artwork are the Paper/Golden Hill, The Eagle, and The Update. He also worked on films including “Back to the Future II” and “For the Boys.” He has been featured in several magazines such as Adelante, QV, and Tentaciones. He was also in the premiere issue of instigator.

    Recent exhibitions include Studio Avenue 50’s Frida on Paper, the I-5’s Just Happy to See You exhibit at the Brewery, and Hombre at Gallery 727. His one-man show SOLO EXHIBITION was held at Gallery 665 in West Hollywood 2004. He was an active participant in the Latino Pop Shop movement. His work is featured in the 2005 edition of Triumphs of Our Communities: 4 Decades of Mexican American Art, published by the Hispanic research of Center at Arizona State University. Hector’s piece La Vida no es… has qualified for LA City’s Cultural Affairs Department’s juried art completion in July 2005.

    Living in LA with its rich Chicano culture, Hector draws from the Latino tradition. Among his influences are Tom of Finland, Frida Kahlo, Chicano prison art, the works of M.C. Escher, and religious iconography. Hector explores themes of cultural identity, eroticism and beauty. Hector’s mastery of light and shadow on skin is captured on paper with pencil, but he is also experienced with other media, including oil and acrylic. He draws and paints from photographic stills.

  • Rick Smith featured poet at Wine+Words

    Friday night at 9PM is Poetry at Mari’s Wine Bar, this month featuring poet Rick Smith, who long worked in Downey at Rancho Los Amigos Hospital.

    20111117-165133.jpg

    The first kiss,

    two wrens on fire,

    blind with smoke and heat

    storming out of the underbrush

    of self-restraint

    into a trembling

    orgasmic future

    well above the starving dogs

    fast food chains,

    the quick fixes below.

    This flame will lick the wound

    This flame will light up like this.

    This flame will consume. from Hard Landings

    Lorine Parks is curating the evening, which will begin with an open mic for the first 10 sign-ups. She describes how she came to know Rick.

    “I first met Rick Smith thirty years ago when he was playing harmonica and piano in a band and composing such songs as “If it wasn’t for low class, we wouldn’t have no class at all.” Paris and Pennsylvania bred, he told me my Stonewood Travel business’s Music in Hold was crummy music, and proceeded to record a new tape for me. We have been friends and exchanging poems and critiques ever since.

    “Smith’s first chapbook was The Wren Notebook, one of Raindog’s Little Red Book Series. In it, his protagonist Wren decides to win the title of Highest Flying Bird by hitching a ride tucked under Eagle. When Wren pops up, at twelve thousand feet and then flies a few feet higher, he almost freezes to death on re-entry. Further, Eagle and the rest of the birds chase him to have their revenge.. . “I held the note/long and rich as I could./ So what if it’s the only note I know?/ It’s my note.”

    “All of Smith’s poems have a wry humor but they also have an intensely personal voice. He has an intimate quality to his work and a dead-flat realistic approach to what’s happening. Murder and revenge and a Buick LeSabre from Phoenix have equal place with delicate birds nesting in ruined upholstery in an abandoned mansion on an estate near Philadelphia.”

    Smith has a PhD in psychology and worked in Downey at Rancho Los Amigo as a psychologist therapist for head-injured patients. He later established a rehab center in Apple Valley called Back in the Saddle for brain injuries. Read him at your peril. An old wren with one good eye, six feet four inches tall, “measuring out time by that splendid chaos, commotion.”

    Live music by members of Downey’s folk band Willow Bend will perform at 8pm.  Learn more about their unique brand of music at http://www.willowbendmusic.com

     

  • Suburban Renaissance Thursday Nov 10th

    Suburban Renaissance Thursday Nov 10th

    The Downey Art Vibe is producing a first class arts event at the Downey Civic Theatre lobby, this Thursday November 10th at 8PM.

    Participating artists include:  Eddie Blanck, Jose Cervantes, Carolina Del Toro, Jorge Del Toro, Jordan Dunn, Gabe Enamorado, Valentin Flores, Don Lamkin, Monique Pucciarelli, Jamie Lennon Rowland, Roy Anthony Shabla, Jenny Vargas, Alina Wilson.

    DJ Dren, cash bar, photo booth, food, $5 at the box office.

    Here is the event page on facebook.  Click to say you’re attending, and invite your friends by pressing “Select Guests to Invite.”

    The Downey Art Vibe was co-founded by Valentin Flores and Gabe Enamorado, two photographers with a love for Downey that envisioned a cultural revolution here in the city.  A couple years ago, I attended an event featuring a friend and local artist Sergio Robleto, and was shocked to find that someone was taking an active role in bringing the arts to our community.  It was still awhile after that when I began to be inspired to get involved myself.  I’ve lived in Downey most all of my life, and the common knowledge is there’s nothing here for artists, so you focus your time elsewhere.  Taking the local arts movement seriously was not my idea, in the least.  These guys are the inspiration.

  • Downey Arts Meeting Saturday Oct 29th 12PM

    Downey Arts Meeting Saturday Oct 29th 12PM

    Hope you can make it to our next Downey Arts Coalition meeting at the Downey Civic Theatre, in the green room.  Enter through the office door right off the small street between the theatre and the library.  This Saturday October 29th at 12PM.

    We start out each meeting re-capping the current news and events happening in the Downey arts scene, so come prepared to report if you were involved.  Next we’ll go through some of our potential projects to see what we can push forward.  The coalition is here to help inspire you to take action on some of the ideas you’re passionate about, and find support from others who are interested in the same things.

    The main topic this month is considering what it would take to create a small venue theatrical space in Downey.   The Downey Civic Theatre has a sizable rehearsal room upstairs that will soon reopen after having asbestos abatement.  It’s a big empty room, but if you put on your vision goggles there could be a 90 seat theatre up there.  But it would basically have to be funded, furnished, and equiped from scratch.  Not to mention figuring out an operating model that balances all the needs of no-budget theatre production, city politics, and the realities of theatre management.  Then there’s the question of keeping that space busy with quality work and developing an audience for it.  All simple stuff.

    If theatre isn’t your thing, come for the first part at least.  For those theatre folk that sat patiently through the visual arts discussions, this is a good meeting to hit up.

  • Downey Symphony Photos from “Fiesta!” Concert

    Downey Symphony Photos from “Fiesta!” Concert

    The Downey Symphony Orchestra brought down the house on Saturday, with an excellent concert and excitement for the future.  The “Downey Overture” by Oscar Navarro was electric and vibrant,  “Noah’s Ark” soared with emotion, Tim Callobre’s solo guitar held the audience captive, who then were entranced by the beauty of “Bolero.”

    Here are photos from the evening.  Hopefully at some point we can get clearance to release video of the Downey Overture online.

    Mayor Luis Marquez and Mrs. Alma Marquez with Spanish composer Oscar Navarro during the world premier of the “Downey Overture” by the Downey Orchestra, and the American premier of “Noah’s Ark,” October 22, 2011.

     

  • Wine + Words Poetry Night Friday Oct 21

    Wine + Words Poetry Night Friday Oct 21

    October 21, 9PM at Mari’s Wine Bar, 8222 Firestone Blvd. Downey, CA

    I always thought poetry readings would be one of the later additions to a city’s push into arts and culture.  But now Downey will have its very own poetry reading series, which is a co-production with the San Gabriel Valley Literary Festival and the Downey Arts Coalition.  Through the hard work and literary efforts of John Brantingham, the vision and drive of artist/poet Roy Anthony Shabla, and support from other members of the DAC team this first evening presentation is Friday night at 9PM.  This month features poets  David Caddy and Ara Shirinyan.  There will be an open mic before the featured readings for the first 10 who sign up the night of the event.  If you miss this one (don’t), plan on the next one– it’ll be back the third Friday of each month.

  • Spanish Composer to Attend American Premier at Downey Concert

    Spanish Composer to Attend American Premier at Downey Concert

    Acclaimed Spanish composer and film orchestrator Oscar Navarro will be attending the American premier of his work “Noah’s Ark” at the Downey Theater, October 22, 2011, to hear it performed by the Downey Symphony Orchestra.

    According to Music Director Sharon Lavery, this first concert of the season, entitled ¡Fiesta!, was conceived as a celebration of California’s Latin heritage, and Navarro, who does film scoring as well as symphonic composition, was so moved that he wrote and dedicated a special overture for the orchestra.

    Preparation has been intense as the musicians rehearse to open the program with the world premier of this special dedication.

    Navarro, who makes his home in Madrid, describes the “Downey Overture” as a “Latin-American fusion that creates a link” between Spain and California “with its mixture of colors and rhythm in an ambiance of dance.”

    Navarro was a promising musician when he became interested in composing. His most recent film, Thunder Captain, is an action film about a 12th century knight fighting injustice. It was just released in Spain in early October.

    Also featured for the ¡Fiesta! concert is the renowned “Concierto de Aranjuez” by Joaquin Rodrigo. The soloist will be 18-year-old guitar prodigy Tim Callobre. “Danzon No. 2” by Mexican composer Arturo Marquez is also on the program, which will conclude with the popular “Bolero” by Ravel, based on the traditional Spanish dance.

  • Roy Anthony Shabla opens at “Art on the Vine”

    Roy Anthony Shabla opens at “Art on the Vine”

    Saturday night, October 8th, was the opening reception for “Art on the Vine” featuring the work of Roy Anthony Shabla.  The artwork and poetry will be on display until the end of the month at Mari’s Wine Bar, 8222 Firestone Blvd, Downey, CA 90241.

    Roy Anthony Shabla at "Art on the Vine"
    Roy Anthony Shabla at "Art on the Vine"

     

  • Art on the Vine presents Roy Anthony Shabla

    Saturday October 8th is the next Art on the Vine at Mari’s Wine Bar. This month features a solo show of painter/poet/guru Roy Anthony Shabla, a native of Downey.

    Featuring 18 large format paintings, poetry, and a little vandalism, the night will also have live music by local band Whit Fuzz.

    20111005-193517.jpg