MOCA Art in Streets and ART on the Streets in Little Tokyo, LA

On April 23, 2011 I went to go see the exhibition at MOCA: Art in the Streets in Little Tokyo in Los Angeles. I was really excited to see the exhibition. It had been getting a lot of press from The New York Times and the Huffington Post. It seemed it brewed up the age old controversy and debate of folks perceptions on what is ART and what is not ART!
The coolest thing was Little Tokyo was a mad house of people. The Sushi houses and stores were filled to the brim with folks either waiting to see the exhibition or who had just finished. Studies have shown that at art events individual people spend around $27 each. And who said Arts bring nothing to our economy? I think that was the Republicans. 
The exhibition was provocative. At times it seemed like you were in a fun house or in a quirky museum in the outskirts of America. Some of the work was refined and some of it was really violent. Overall it is was a successful show. It was packed to the brim with a very diverse group of people, from all walks of life, who were really enthralled with the ART! 
Here are some images from inside the walls of the museum and outside on the streets!

MOCA Art in Streets and ART on the Streets in Little Tokyo, LA, a set on Flickr.

ARTcart LA @The Wake Up California Arts Advocacy Rally

On May 24th, I had the amazing experience of launching, the new and expanded ARTcart in LA at an Arts Advocacy Rally in downtown, Los Angeles. I arrived at around 2:30 p.m. set up my SoCal mobile ARTcart and then I offered the activists at the Wake Up California Arts Advocacy Rally, which was at the stunning Central High school,The School of Visual and Performing  in Arts. to make ART signs for free. It was an fantastic success as folks were creating such amazing and powerful signs to carry on the march with them.

The architecture at this high school is extraordinary. 
It opened 2009 and was designed by the firm Coop Himmelbau. 
I would be so cool to be a teacher and a student at 

this amazing creative hub. 

The Wake Up California Arts Advocacy Rally had several hundred lively people show up. There was two youth bands and speakers. The action gathering was to bring much needed attention to the looming governmental cuts in the State of California school funding. Sadly and ignorantly, Arts are the first to be cut. It is so short sighted and so counter productive to kill Arts programs in schools. All governmental officials should be required to take a course with Sir Ken Robinson  As I am a true believer in the intrinsic power of ART and its expansive benefits, I was very happy to be at the Rally. I was invited to collaborate by the arts advocacy group Arts for LA and The ARTcart was a total success!! I feel ARTcarts need to be at every rally in the world! Creating ART adds such a different dimension to the traditional rally.
Below are some images from the Rally @ the ARTcart LA. I have a feeling we will be invited to more rally's! Art and activism are perfect partners in the shifting of the old paradigm.

The ARTcart at the WakeUp LA Rally, a set on Flickr.

10 for Tuesday: The Hands of Creation!!

Tamoni, Age 6

The Hands of Creation series manifested from my teaching transformative art to vulnerable, emotionally and physically traumatized children at a mental health agency in the Bay Area. At this institution I developed a thriving transformative art program. Children were empowered by their own creative process. The Hands of Creation portraits was a way of me honoring their courage, freedom, transformation, and healing through the process of creating art.

The portraits that I took could not be of my students' faces as many of these children were protected by the Department of Health and Human Service.

Everyone who donates this week will be entered into a raffle. 
The prize is a HANDS OF CREATION 8" x 10" print.

Donate today for a wonderful cause and for a chance to win!

This week's giveaway will end Sunday, May 29th and the winner will be announced on Monday's blog post!

"I believe that art is intrinsic to the nurturance of the human spirit and that art’s true essence is transformative. Ideally, in my work, I seek to honor that state of the soul where the artist/child experiences the ultimate liberation, which is the personal act of creation itself."

Lisa Rasmussen M.F.A.

ART=EMPOWERMENT