Watts, B&W

Some more to snack on from Watts

sk8 park, part dos

The sun was going down when I headed over to the skate park to see my friend Tim dominate..the lighting produced some gnarly grainy film when I shot into the sun, but fun to see what I got a month later. I love shooting film and constantly being surprised by what comes out of that tank when I finally get around to processing! 

-L

Throwbacks

It's so weird to imagine who that little person making these things was... Just a couple of funny things I found when my mom and I were going through old stacks of art projects we saved long ago. I got a kick out of the spattered blood all over the French and Indian War project...I'm surprised my teacher didn't send me to the office for some psych testing or something.

The letter is OBviously from George Bush senior, although the spelling probably more closely corresponds to George Dubbya. My sister and I were forward-thinking little kids..

-L

Watts Towers

First, I cannot believe I neglected to post for over a month. New Years resolution...at least one post per week..

That being said, today I took an adventure with some friends to Watts where you can find these towers hiding out amidst one story houses and old workers' bungalows. The story of Simon Rodia is intriguing to say the least. After divorcing his wife and setting out to "do something big", he spent the next 34 years building this elaborate world of towers (which are remarkably structural...) and adorned with hundreds of thousands of tiles and found pieces of glass and ceramic. After 34 years he moved to Oakland and gave the property to his neighbor. Eventually two men bought it for $20 and worked to restore and protect it. Insane.

So, seeing this brings forth the question of whether the need for creative expression in some people leads to isolation and self indulgence....or can you have it all? But then maybe it takes people like Simon to sacrifice their life to the making of gems like this one.