This is a very artsy weekend…with dashes of science, French and food thrown in for good measure. And several events include today, Friday, January 12, in their hours.
The first of the weekend-long events is a big sidewalk sale at the Craft and Folk Art Museum, which will be open today through Sunday during regular museum hours. You can shop a selection of international folk art, as well as take advantage of many CAFAM Shop markdowns. Sale items include holiday items, children’s gifts, jewelry, housewares, and more…at 50 – 75% off. All proceeds benefit CAFAM.
After your bargain hunting, you could head up to the Hollywood Museum, 1660 N. Highland Ave. (the old Max Factor building), for the first weekend of its new “Batman ’66 Retrospective” exhibit, celebrating the campy 1960s Batman TV show. It opens today and will be available during museum hours until March. The exhibit consists of four sections (Wayne Manor, The Batcave, Gallery of Guest Super Villains, and The Collectibles of Batman ‘66), and pays tribute to the memory of Adam West, while also honoring both the other half of the Dynamic Duo, Burt Ward, and the iconic show itself, still airing in reruns in both the U.S. and around the world. The exhibit also features original and never-seen-publicly costumes and props from the show, including the Batmobile and Batcycle.
For more serious art, and also launching today (Friday) and running all weekend, there’s the L.A. Art Show: Modern|Contemporary – the annual art extravaganza at the L.A. Convention Center, which features more than 200,000 square feet of exhibition booths. The show includes items from local, national and international galleries, as well as performance art, installations, programs, talks and panel discussions led by international curators, artists, designers, collectors, art influencers and museum directors. The booths, featuring vendors from more than 18 nations, will exhibit painting, sculpture, works on paper, installation, photography, design, video and performance. And all works on display are available for purchase. Hours are 11-7 Friday, and Saturday and Sunday, 11-5.
Saturday also dawns with an eye on art, with a LACMA Gallery Course: Art of the Ancient World and the Middle Ages. Starting at 8:30 am, participants will explore works from the museum’s permanent collection, surveying art of the ancient world and how artists from the next period—the Middle Ages—both drew upon that foundation and took a different path. The class will trace the different influences, including the classical civilization of Greece and Rome, along with the developments made in response to the spread of Christianity and contact with other cultural traditions. The introductory lecture, by educator and LACMA Director of Adult Programs Mary Lenihan will be followed by a private gallery tour. Tickets are $30 for LACMA members and $35 for the general public. Tickets include refreshments and parking. See the link above for more information.
Still in the museum vein, but shifting for a moment to science, the Natural History Museum this weekend will give visitors chance to view several yellow-bellied sea snakes that washed up during the 2015–16 El Niño. (And next weekend, they’ll add another new specimen, which washed up just last week in Newport Beach and is now being preserved for display.) The snakes, which are venomous and rare this far north, will be on view in the Museum’s Nature Lab, an exhibition dedicated to telling stories of Southern California’s urban biodiversity. They are being studied for their implications to sea animal populations and climate change.
Later, back in the Larchmont area, those who are interested in learning or practicing the French language can join the now-twice-weekly French Conversation Class at the John C. Fremont Library, 6121 Melrose Ave., starting at 1 p.m. on Saturday (the class also meets at 5:30 p.m. on Thursdays). Everyone is welcome…and, like all library events, it’s free.
Back in the arts vein, and starting at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, the Bookstore at MAF, at the Marciano Art Foundation, 4377 Wilshire Blvd., will present readings by Alissa Bennett and John Marr, two writers who explore the tragic and macabre, specifically through their respective zines, Dead is Better and Murder Can Be Fun. Bennett, whose essays profile deceased celebrities, will be sharing two such pieces…and Marr will read excerpts from his work chronicling tragic accidents, including the morbidly comical Death at Disneyland. This is the first time Bennett and Marr have presented their work together, and the readings will be followed by a zine signing. It’s free and open to the public, but space is limited, so please reserve tickets at the link above.
Finally on Saturday, those who have worked up a good appetite from the day’s outings will be happy to note that the winter edition of DineLA restaurant week (which is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year) is now underway, and two Larchmont-area restaurants – Osteria Mamma and Cafe Gratitude – are participating with special prix fixe menus. There are also many other participating restaurants in nearby neighborhoods (e.g. La Brea, Fairfax and Hollywood), so it would be a great time to check out a restaurant new to you…or re-visit an old favorite.
On Sunday, you could try any of the weekend-long events you didn’t make it to on Saturday, or head back to LACMA for a talk on Excavating, Restoring, and Exhibiting Figurines: Reflections on the Ancient Maya Resurrection Scene from El Perú-Waka’, Guatemala, starting at 2 p.m. David Freidel, archaeologist and co-author of the seminal book, “A Forest of Kings,” and Michelle Rich, archaeologist and curator of the current LACMA exhibition “Ancient Bodies: Archaeological Perspectives on Mesoamerican Figurines,” will discuss the ancient Maya resurrection scene excavated at the Classic period Maya site of El Perú-Waka’, Guatemala, which has changed the way Maya specialists perceive Classic period figurines. The speakers will recount the archaeological discovery of the 23 ceramic figurines in an ancient ruler’s tomb, excavated by Rich, as well as examine the process of coordinating the restoration of the figurines, and the broader implications of the world-wide exhibition of these cultural and artistic treasures. The talk is free and open to the public.
Finally, once again, please remember that Wilshire Blvd., between Western and Gramercy, will be fully closed for Purple Line subway construction preparation, from 8 p.m. tonight (Friday) through 6 a.m. on Monday. For more information, see https://www.metro.net/projects/notices/notice_purpleline1_102517/
