“And as the morning steals upon the night, melting the darkness, so their rising senses begin to chase the ignorant fumes that mantle their clearer reason.”
― William Shakespeare, The Tempest
Hosts: Downey Arts Coalition and Downey Symphony
Location: Downey Civic Theater, 8435 Firestone Blvd., Downey, CA 90241
Opening: Saturday, January 23, 2016 – 6:30 p.m.
On Display: Thru Tuesday, February 23, 2016
Theme: Tempest
Types: All Medias, Mixed Medias, All Sizes, Self‐ Contained. Artwork must be regarding theme.
Fee: $5 per selected art piece
Submission Deadline: Sunday, January 10, 2016, Midnight
Tempest exhibit, together with the Downey Symphony Concert, “Strings Stravaganza” will be Saturday, January 23, 2016. Doors will open at 6:30 p.m.
Imagine storms of life, nature and the human condition. Imagine a blizzard of color, a whirlwind of images, a rainstorm of objects, a disturbance of the mind, all that pandemonium ensuing clarity ‐ ‐ for after the Tempest, the calm will come!
Selected artists will be featured in the Symphony concert program, with your contact information, will be publicly recognized from the stage, and will have the opportunity to purchase discounted tickets to the evening’s performance.
For consideration, please submit images, with a one sentence description, of your artwork via email to Eloisa Ball at ej@www.downeyarts.org.
Those chosen will be sent an artist’s information packet explaining details about delivery and retrieval.
A new composition for orchestra and multimedia by Bryan Curt Kostors to debut with the Downey Symphony Orchestra, January 23.
To Dust combines live orchestral music, visual projections, film, photography and design. As the orchestra performs, the visual elements of the piece will be projected live in the Downey Civic Theatre. It tells the story of an important part of the California Water Wars: the draining of Owens Lake by the city of Los Angeles after the construction of the Los Angeles Aqueduct in 1913. Where there was once a large, shallow lake that supported boating, ferries, birds, natural vegetation, and people, there now sits an expansive scar of dried dirt, dust, and salt.
The Kickstarter funding campaign for a new musical multimedia project To Dust has surpassed its goal of $14,000. Donations will be accepted until November 18 at midnight if you would like to help bring to life this exciting project that will make its world premiere here in Downey with the Downey Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sharon Lavery.
The money being raised will go to support the costs of filming on location in the Owens Valley and editing and finishing the multimedia presentation. For more information, visit the Kickstarter page by clicking here.
The work curated by Carolina del Toro and installed for the 3rd Annual Dia de los Muertos Art Festival on November 1, will be displayed until the end of the month. Downey Civic Theatre hosts the exhibit in the upstairs balcony of the lobby. The work is available to view during theatre business hours and theatre events, including the Mixteco East LA performance on November 21 and 22.
Prepare for the next show!
Our next group exhibit at the Downey Theatre opens January 23 with the Downey Symphony Orchestra concert, Strings Stravaganza. EJ Ball is curating the show, and can be reached at EJ@www.downeyarts.org. Deadline for submissions will be in early January, stay tuned for more information.
We are very excited to be hosting a new huge group art show in the lobby of the Downey Theatre, about Dance and Movement. Steve Clay is the featured artist, with 25 others on display curated by DAC’s Liz Moran. The Downey Symphony concert begins at 8PM Saturday October 24th at the Downey Theatre, 8435 Firestone Blvd, but the doors open for the art show at 6:30PM.
The other exciting part of the show is the huge artwork on-stage created by abstract painter Roy Anthony Shabla. Shabla, a Downey native, created this 36-foot wide work of art Water Music in two pieces, which will be displayed on the side-stages during the concert. The Downey Symphony will perform “Swan Lake” with ballet dancers from the Luminario Ballet of Los Angeles.
Roy Anthony Shabla in front of one half of his new work “Water Music”
The Downey Patriot published a great article summarizing the artists involved, so follow the link below to read more about this event:
Stay Gallery has invited the local artist (and DAC board member) Don Lamkin to display his collection of works in celebration of their 3rd anniversary. The opening reception will be held on Friday, October 23rd at 7PM, and will include live music, food and drink. Stay Gallery is located at 11140 Downey Ave, north of Firestone Blvd.
Don Lamkin was one of the earliest arts advocates to jump into Downey’s recent resurgence of arts and culture. In 2010, both Downey Art Vibe and the Downey Arts Coalition began ramping up efforts to bring new events and activities for artists and art lovers in the city. As a founding board member of the Downey Arts Coalition, Don Lamkin spear-headed the creation of the monthly art show “Art on the Vine” that ran for 18th months at the now-shuttered Mari’s Wine Bar on Firestone Blvd. It was this experiment that would lead Lamkin on an unexpected journey as an accidental artist in the town he grew up in.
Lamkin’s work at the first Art on the Vine
DAC’s “Art on the Vine” began in 2011, and was the only regularly scheduled rotating art exhibit in the city, since the Downey Museum of Art closed its doors. On it’s debut opening, Lamkin and co-curators Carolina Del Toro, Jorge Del Toro and Claudia Hernandez displayed their own works of art to kick off the series. The team of curators, which included Pat Gil as well, encouraged Lamkin to pull out some paintings that he had done years before. Lamkin more closely identified with the 70’s Downey music scene made popular by his friends Phil and Dave Alvin. He had mostly forgotten about the paintings that he did when he was younger, which featured illustrated portraits of blues musicians painted on found wooden objects. At the opening, the pieces were an immediate hit, though not offered for sale.
Lamkin collects raffle tickets at the 2012 Street Faire
At the Downey Street Faire the next spring, Lamkin came up with a plan to raise money to help the Downey Museum of Art reorganize itself. He created an image he called “Downey Doodle-icious,” a montage of current and historical landmarks and unique things about Downey, drawn in a cartoon style. He had specially printed 10 first-run originals for sale, and raffled off one of them to a lucky winner at the Street Faire. The other prints sold out immediately, causing Lamkin to run a 2nd-run of prints for sale to the public. The image hit social networking sites, and quickly became a must-have for both current residents, as well as former residents of Downey now scattered throughout the world. Prints of the piece showed up on the wall of businesses across the city.
Lamkin at a Stay Gallery field trip
Lamkin was also an advisor and early advocate for the organization behind Stay Gallery, a project put together by Valentin Flores, Gabriel Enamorado and Joe Manacmul. Along with helping them get their space set up, his “Downey Doodle-icious” piece was prominently featured in many student programs put together by the gallery. They used the image as inspiration for students to tell their own story about Downey and explore their artistic side. Lamkin was a frequent contributor to these visits from various Downey schools. To read more about that side of his story, visit the Stay Gallery journal.
One of the 10 original owners, then Downey Mayor Mario Guerra, hatched a plan to bring “Downey Doodle-icious” to downtown Downey in the form of a large mural, welcoming visitors to the flavors that make our city special.
Mario Guerra adds his piece to the mural
The mural was begun at the end of 2014 and dedicated in February, 2015. That mural then spawned plans for a second mural in neighboring city South Gate, where Lamkin was commissioned to create a similar work celebrating the Hollydale area. That mural is scheduled to be painted later this year.
Downey Arts Coalition is proud and thankful for Don’s contributions to our work, and the impact he’s had on this community. The exhibit runs October 23 to October 31st.
Downey Arts Coalition is proud to present a free community event, with the opening of our new group art show at the Downey Civic Theater, themed “Dance and Movement,” as well as a screening of the upcoming documentary film “Landfill Harmonic.” The theater opens at 2PM, with the screening beginning at 3PM.
To support the event DAC applied and was accepted into the City of Downey’s financial aid program for use of the Downey Civic Theater, which reduces rental fees to make it more affordable for non-profit groups to hold events there.
We are excited to bring, for free, a presentation of the new documentary film Landfill-harmonic, a co-presentation with the GlennFest Film Festival, which is running right now in downtown Downey. The film is described at its website as follows:
Landfill harmonic follows the Recycled Orchestra of Cateura, a paraguayan musical youth group of kids that live next to one of South America’s largest landfills. This unlikely orchestra plays music from instruments made entirely out of garbage. When their story goes viral, the orchestra is catapulted into the global spotlight. With the guidance of their music director, they must navigate this new world of arenas and sold out concerts. However, when a natural disaster devastates their community, the orchestra provides a source of hope for the town. The film is a testament to the transformative power of music and the resilience of the human spirit.
One of Downey’s long-time artists and teachers, Elsa Van Leuven, will demonstrate for the Paramount Traditional Artists Guild on September 12th. The public is welcome. The demonstration begins at 2PM at Progress Park Plaza in Paramount, at 15530 Downey Ave.
Elsa Van Leuven
Born in Oklahoma, moving to California in her mid-teens. Her artistic talents first developed along the musical line, majoring in Music at Los Angeles City College, singing with the Hollywood Bowl Chorus and appearing as soloist with the Los Angeles Opera and Downey Symphony Orchestra. She became intensely interested in oil paintings and began her studies with Nona Taylor plus taking workshops under such well-known artists as Joyce Pike, Don Foster, Gilee Barton, Sandy Bergeron, Tom Anderson and Hal Reed. Her paintings hang throughout the U.S., Canada, and England and more locally have hung in Flavia Gallery, Huntington Beach, Virginia’s Gift Shop at Knott’s Berry Farm, Old Town Gallery, Seal Beach and in Solvang and Palm Springs. Also at Lindsey Gallery, S.R. Brennan, Moreton Gallery, Haggenmaker Gallery, Lu Martin Gallery, Anenberg Gallery in various locations here in California. More recently she has enjoyed working in an impressionistic style of the Romantic period. These works convey a sense of tranquility and beauty of times past.
The Downey Arts Coalition is proud to have presented her work as part of our art shows at the Downey Civic Theater.
Downey Arts Coalition is gearing up for our Fall show, “Dance & Movement” which opens October 4th at the Downey Civic Theatre. This show coincides with the Downey Symphony Orchestra’s October 24th concert, “From Russia With Love,” featuring the Swan Lake Suite by Tchaikovsky.
Submissions are requested by September 25, email previews to curator Liz Moran, liz@www.downeyarts.org, or contact Liz to arrange other means of viewing the work.
Jpeg image of the artwork
Name, medium and size
A brief description of the theme and meaning
Read the description in the image below for more details.
July Open House for Artists and Art Lovers
The Downey Arts Coalition will host an Open House on Tuesday, July 28th, at 7:00 PM, at the Epic Lounge at 8239 2nd Street. The event is FREE to the public and offers an opportunity to connect with others who have an interest in supporting and participating in local art events.
We are very excited to have Kristine Augustyn as our feature artist. She will remind you of Monet and a little of Van Gogh, she is absolutely amazing. Please treat yourself, and come see her work in person.
We will also be treated to a performance by the Epic Lounge Improv team, starring our very own Forrest Hartl.
There will be music, art, improv, food, drinks, and great conversation with other art lovers.
Some info on Downey Arts Coalition –
The Downey Arts Coalition is also celebrating its fourth anniversary this year. Since its founding in 2011, the group has sponsored art exhibits, monthly poetry readings, and produced two Broadway plays and two free music festivals. Art shows for the Dia de los Muertos celebrations, the City of Downey rooftop events, and the Downey symphony concerts are curated by members of DAC.
The non-profit organization has also hosted movie screenings by local filmmakers, and recently assisted with publicity for the Glenfest Movie Festival that was free to the public at the Downey Krikorian Theater.
Art curator Pat Gil explains, “Whatever someone’s passion is – music, film, theatre, dance, poetry – we can work together to help you express it in our local community.”
Gil describes DAC as umbrella organization that provides “a place for local artists, arts organization, and community leaders to share and collaborate.” Reflecting its commitment to the community, the DAC website offers a calendar promoting city concerts, art shows, and music events.
Everyone, no matter what their interest, is invited to come for an evening of networking and stimulating conversation.
STEAM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, ARTS, and Mathematics. Join the Stay Gallery team in a new event to celebrate student creativity on May 23rd from 10-1pm at Downey Federal Credit Union. They are partnering with Downey High School Engineering Department and Columbia Memorial Space Center to host a variety of fun science and art activities for the entire family to enjoy. This event represents Stay Gallery’s partnership with Downey Unified School District and our efforts to integrate the arts into modern day education. Thanks to program sponsors like Downey Federal Credit Union, we are making this a reality! #steamcity #stayyoung #staygallery
