Her Art Helps Others Back NEA Funding at Photo Studies Center

FACES

“When I heard that between 20% and 40% (of letters written to members of the Reauthorization Committee of the National Endowment for the Arts) are against the NEA, I just freaked and decided, hey, this is really important. If we don’t do something now, it will be too late,” said artist and independent curator Karen Atkinson, who has taken the current NEA debate to heart by creating a pro-reauthorization installation in the Los Angeles Center for Photographic Studies.

Atkinson’s installation, “Art Protection Services, Karen Atkinson and Associates, ARTtorneys for Art,” is certainly not your typical art exhibition. In fact, a newcomer walking into LACPS might not even know he was entering an art space. That’s because, thanks to Atkinson, the gallery has become a mock lawyer’s office set up to fight censorship and other First Amendment issues.

Included in Atkinson’s office are her extensive files of clippings on NEA issues, a bookshelf filled with red, white and blue books on “all the things an ARTtorney would need to know to defend art,” and Atkinson’s “degrees” from Artists’ State University and Los Angeles School of Artists at Law. Also included are artworks featuring wordings from Article I of Congress and the Official Secrets Act, a looming American Flag and a rack of about 40 different postcards created by 20 artists for gallery-goers to sign and send to members of the Reauthorization Committee.

“There’s a lot of people that support this issue; but how many people have time to sit down and write 42 letters?” Atkinson explained. “Here, we have everything available to you at cost--the (pro-reauthorization) postcards, the mailing labels, the stamps--so people can do in a couple of minutes what it would take them days to do at home. I’m hoping it will help, especially since the people that are fighting against the NEA are so organized.”

As Atkinson tells it, the practical aspects of this exhibition--getting as many postcards as possible signed and sent in to committee members by the time the exhibition closes June 15--are much more important that the art. But that’s the whole idea, she says.

“I wanted to do something that would really make a difference,” said Atkinson, 34, a CalArts graduate who now teaches at her alma mater. “There’s always the old saying, and my students always say, ‘Art doesn’t make a difference; it doesn’t do any good.’ But I’m hoping that it does.”

OVERHEARD

A man in his mid-20s wearing horned-rimmed glasses, talking to an equally yuppified female while admiring Rauschenbergs at the Gemini G.E.L. gallery on Melrose Avenue at a reception for the Tricia Brown Dance Company: “You know,” he said looking around the room at older people eyeing the art, sipping white wine and talking of their collections, “I won’t feel comfortable at these things until I’m a collector myself. And that means after the Wharton M.B.A.”

CURRENTS

Look out for a sleeping dog. Noted Santa Monica-based artist Laddie John Dill is offering a reward for the sculpture “Sleeping Dog,” which was stolen from the walled sculpture garden at his home in early May. The bronze piece, by L.A. artist Gwynn Murrill, a personal friend of Dill, is worth $25,000. Pat Faure of the Asher/Faure Gallery, which represents Dill, said the artist wants dealers to be aware that the sculpture is at large in case they encounter someone trying to sell it. Anyone with information can call Asher/Faure at (213) 271-3665.

HAPPENING

The ears as well as the eyes will confront AIDS issues when poetry readings accompany an art exhibit at the L.A. Municipal Art Gallery in Barnsdall Art Park. The poetry is written by eight Los Angeles poets whose lives and works have been affected by the disease. The poets will read their works in a program called “A Fury of Words” on May 26 and June 9. The readings, by Mark Haile, Bia Lowe, Gil Cuadros and others go along with the dual art exhibit, “The Indomitable Spirit” and “Raging at the Visible: AIDS in the City of Angles,” which runs until June 24 at the gallery, 4800 Hollywood Blvd. Information: (213) 485-4581.

ETC.

In conjunction with the L.A. Municipal Art Gallery exhibition of the same title, “The Indomitable Spirit,” a new limited edition portfolio of 10 previously unpublished photographs is available in Los Angeles at BlumHelman Gallery. The portfolio features works by John Baldessari, Chuck Close, Jan Groover, Annette Lemieux, Duane Michals, Richard Prince, Robert Rauschenberg, Cindy Sherman, Bruce Weber and William Wegman, and is available in an edition of 50 plus 15 artist’s proofs. Proceeds from sales of the portfolio, available in a number of galleries nationwide, benefit the American Foundation for AIDS Research and the National Community AIDS Partnership.

Los Angeles-based sculptor and media artist Barbara McCarren has been selected as the first artist to have work acquired by the L.A. County Museum of Art under the Marvin B. Meyer Family Endowment. Income from the $50,000 endowment, established in 1989, will provide for the acquisition of one work by an emerging artist from the Los Angeles area each year. For the first acquisition, McCarren will create a new work to be installed this summer.

L.A. artists who want to say it on a billboard can submit their work to the third annual ArtBulletin Program by June 29. Judges will select three artists whose work will be reproduced on 14-by-48-foot billboards. The billboard spaces will be donated by Patrick Media Group Inc., which is co-sponsoring the program with LACE. Since the billboards will be on city streets for public viewing, a spokeswoman for the contest reminds artists to do something that uses the outdoor medium and catches the attention of people driving by. Each winner will receive a $750 honorarium. Last year’s winning billboards included one by artist May Sun depicting the student demonstration in China’s Tian An Men Square. Information: (213) 731-5111.

Artists interested in workin’ on the railway can contact the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission by June 15. The commission is searching for one artist to create a permanent work for the Metro Blue Line tunnel, which will go from under Flower Street to the 7th Street station. Artists should plan on incorporating light and reflective materials and creating an installation designed for a moving audience. The budget for the project is $325,000. Artists may work alone or in teams. Information: (213) 236-9556.

Art gets down to earth as ART/LA90 joins with the Natural Resources Defense Council in a project called “Art for Earth’s Sake.” The sponsors of the annual ART/LA90 event in Los Angeles have announced a liaison with the environmental action group, and has selected the organization as the beneficiary for the 1990 Gala Preview to be held in December at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Artists, collectors and galleries will participate.

THE SCENE

The glowing letter “W” sits atop the Woman’s Building as a rallying point for women. “In a few short strokes, I tried to distill what I see as a representation of women,” said artist Eve King-Lehman of her colorful and grand-scaled sculpture. “I came up with the letter as the first letter of the word woman, of course, but it also stands for the West, where we are, which gives off an exploratory kind of energy.”

King-Lehman’s piece is part of the face-lift the building at 1727 N. Spring St. received when three works were added to its exterior as part of the “Gilding the Building” project last week. She was chosen to adorn the building’s walls along with artists Norma D’Andrea and Barbara Romain by jurors Sheila De Bretteville and Betye Saar.

King-Lehman created a work that “reflected how the Woman’s Building sees itself.” To the artist, the building feels full of “explosive energy. And it has a strong connection to nature.” As a result, she said she used colors from nature--deep blues and earthy tones--within the W.

She illuminated her W with florescent lights to attract attention to it. “It’s bright so I could easily share it with all women, and with the outside world who passes the building,” she said of her first public commission.

“And the lines of the W, which arch up from the building to the sky, symbolize a positive future for women,” she added.

Artist D’Andrea’s piece is also devoted to the future. Located at the entrance to the building, it’s a three-paneled etched glass structure of an artist drawing in front of a planet while she maps out her future.

Romain has done a frieze that runs across the entire building. The piece, called “Las Angelinas,” was a community project put together by local woman artists.

Also at the Woman’s Building . . . let Imogen Cunningham, the 20th-Century photographer, tell you about her works in her own voice. In a film by her granddaughter, filmmaker Meg Partridge, Cunningham discusses her photos. The 28-minute film is based on interviews with Cunningham when she was in her late 80s. “Portrait of Imogen” can be seen in the Video Gallery until June 30.