Image from the Juno Project at the Pasadena Museum of California Art. / Courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech

The A x S Festival 2011 runs Oct. 1 through 16, continuing the Pasadena Arts Council’s biennial celebration of Pasadena’s unique heritage as a city of art and science. The festival, focused on the theme of fire and water, features two weeks of art, dance, music, theater, performance and conversation at venues throughout the city. Plus, beginning this month, many Pasadena arts venues are participating in the Getty’s “Pacific Standard Time” creative collaboration. Art Night (Oct. 14 from 6 to 10 p.m.) is your opportunity to experience “Pacific Standard Time” and the A x S Festival for free, with free transportation between 15 participating cultural institutions.

Some of the highlights of A x S include:

“WORLDS”: Experience the art and science of our solar system in “WORLDS” at the Art Center College of Design’s Williamson Gallery. The objects and images on display include contemporary art, sculpture and large-scale installations as well as NASA spacecraft imagery, meteorites and science fiction video. Also on view are high-resolution prints of historical astronomical book sketches by Galileo, Copernicus and other astronomers — scanned and drawn from the rare-book collection at the Huntington Library. The exhibit runs Oct. 14, 2011 through Jan. 15, 2012 (opening night reception Oct. 13).

“Sunflowers in Snow”: Boston Court Performing Arts Center partners with Red Hen Press in an evening of spoken word and poetry, focusing on the theme of fire and water and featuring Garrett Hongo, Jim Tilley and Evie Shockley, on Oct. 10 at 7 p.m.

“Beneath the Surface”: Experience the mystery of the Juno spacecraft’s visit to Jupiter before it actually gets there in 2016 with Jet Propulsion Laboratory Visual Strategist Dan Good’s interactive installation at the Pasadena Museum of California Art. Oct. 16 will feature a full day of speakers and activities, as well as free admission. The exhibit runs through Jan. 8, 2012.

“Picturing the Bomb”: This exhibit at the Pasadena City College Art Gallery features photographs from the secret world of the Manhattan Project, curated by Rachel Fermi (granddaughter of physicist Enrico Fermi) and Esther Samra. Opens Oct. 5.

Among the many choices on Art Night are: Kidspace Museum’s activities with JPL Gravity Scientist Sami Asmar, the Norton Simon Museum’s “Proof: The Rise of Printmaking in Southern California,” and Armory Center for the Arts’ “Speaking in Tongues: The Art of Wallace Berman and Robert Heinecken.”

For a brief synopsis of “Pacific Standard Time,” read our recent post.

Billy Collins and Kay Ryan

In celebration of National Poetry Month, two former U.S. Poets Laureate took the stage at Royce Hall on April 23. The UCLA Live event featuring Billy Collins and Kay Ryan was an immensely entertaining and very funny evening of poetry and conversation.

Entertaining and funny poets? Yes, and it should have been no surprise given that Collins penned a poem called “Taking Off Emily Dickinson’s Clothes” and was the inaugural recipient of the Poetry Foundation’s Mark Twain Award for Humor in Poetry, and Ryan has a collection of poems inspired by stories from the newspaper cartoon “Ripley’s Believe It or Not!” (originally titled “Believe It or Not” and re-issued as “The Jam Jar Lifeboat & Other Novelties Exposed”).

Plus, the two are friends who have done events together before, so they had great repartee, exchanging playful barbs and improvising witty remarks as they discussed their life’s work. For instance, Collins had this clever concern: How come everybody asks poets if they’ve ever considered writing a novel, but nobody ever asks a pianist, Why not try the trumpet?

Just days before this event, Ryan had been honored with the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for “The Best of It: New and Selected Poems.” She said it has really helped her self esteem, joking that even if her hair looks terrible, she thinks, What are they going to do, take away my Pulitzer Prize?

Collins said he felt the same way about being named U.S. Poet Laureate. Whenever anything went wrong, his car had a flat tire or sundry other problems, he’d say, How bad can it be? At least I’m Poet Laureate.

Collins has been compared to Robert Frost in the way he combines critical acclaim with popular appeal. Ryan’s poems have been likened to those of Emily Dickinson in that they are compact little gems. Collins described Ryan’s poems as “little acoustic systems” that played with sounds, and Ryan confirmed that sound as well as idea and metaphor all work together in her poems “like chemistry, establishing bonds.”

Word play or “words enjoying themselves,” as Collins called it, is what poetry is all about, both agreed, adding that they wouldn’t write if it wasn’t. “It’s fun to write poems. It’s game on,” Collins said after reading a hilarious and sarcastic poem in which a parent talks to a 17-year-old who is nowhere near as productive as certain composers and other famous figures who made history in their teens.

Ryan extolled word play, nonsense and rhyme. The mere act of saying two words that rhyme in itself can be a satisfaction, she said. After she read “Pentimenti,” a poem inspired by a visit to the Frick Collection in New York, she named — for the first time and much to the pleasure of the Royce Hall audience — a certain type of rhyme she uses: wedge rhyme, to describe the relationship between “exiled” and “extra child” used in close proximity in the poem.

Neither poet is very autobiographical. Collins uses a persona who talks in the present and is a modern version of the “Romantic walker” who would roam the English countryside and fall into a reverie.  His poems often take the reader on a journey and end in delightful or surprising ways. He calls writing “an act of discovery,” not an act of literature. Ryan feels the same; she said as a writer you “always have to invite accident.” When she sits down to write, words and memories become available to her that she never would have imagined.

Both also agreed that what we might call writer’s block is a kind of necessity. You can’t write all the time, Collins said.  For inspiration, he will go to an art museum, or open an art book or encyclopedia. Ryan likes to start with an idea or a title and see where it takes her. Essays also inspire her.

And if you’re thinking you’d like to be a poet, get going, because if you’re like the best of them, most of your poems will fail. Collins said we all have at least 300 poems we have to “write out of our systems. That’s what MFA programs are for,” he joked.

In conjunction with the event and tied to National Poetry Month, UCLA Live is holding a poetry-writing competition. Collins and Ryan will judge the winners from selected finalists and read the winning entry from the stage on the night of the show. The first prize winner will receive a pair of tickets to the event and a $100 gift certificate to Book Soup. Second and third prizes will be awarded. Submissions are being accepted now through midnight April 18 at http://www.uclalive.org/artinaction.

UCLA Live at Royce Hall, 340 Royce Drive, Westwood, (310) 825-2101, www.uclalive.org.

Wallace Shawn

“I’ve done some things, and some of you may have come for some of them.”  With that, Wallace Shawn – whose program bio mentioned neither My Dinner with Andre nor The Princess Bride – embarked upon an evening of readings called “Real World, Fake World, Dream World,” presented by UCLA Live at Royce Hall on Saturday, Jan. 22.

With no introduction, Shawn delivered a list of facts about the world, crafted into an easy sort of stand-up routine, before he embarked on the first essay.  Works by Elizabeth Eisenberg, poet John Ashbery, and Shawn himself followed, and a generally captivated audience responded in kind with the occasional belly laugh and applause.

Shawn navigated the “Real World, Fake World, Dream World” theme by moving from nonfiction to fiction and theater.  He navigated a sloppily produced Q&A (though R. Crumb takes the cake) by eloquently repeating and answering questions from what My Dinner with Andre really means to whether he enjoys being on the television series Gossip Girl. (He does.)

One rather insightful audience member, who reminded me of the Hollywood book club-goer who actually reads and ponders the material before attending, pointed out Shawn’s frequent use of non-human animals in his theater works.  With a slow, steady pace that by that point in the evening seemed characteristic of him, Shawn replied that he seeks the universal and the connective element in his work, that whatever divides nations and ideologies can almost certainly be surpassed through the animal qualities we all have in common.

Despite the program’s regression into disorganized Q&A, Shawn provided an excellent and informative glimpse of his own ideas, those that influence him, and the many forms a writer can choose to be as dissident as is pleasing.  One can only hope that Shawn will give more readings here in the future.

With that catch phrase from The Princess Bride out of the way, let’s consider the life’s work (so far) of Wallace Shawn, a native New Yorker with a big-screen background, a small library of plays to his name (and an Obie award), a 2009 collection of essays (now out in paperback), and a political inclination rarely so articulate in a world of star-powered political involvement.  His film work ranges from Woody Allen’s direction to the entrancing dialogue of My Dinner With Andre, from the sneaky plotting of a Princess Bride bad-guy to the guileless voice acting of toy dino Rex in the Toy Story franchise.  Shawn’s plays garner praise and discourse alike from the worlds of art and politics.  His collected essays have been well received academically and popularly.

Wallace Shawn

On Saturday, Jan. 22, UCLA Live will be hosting “Real World, Fake World, Dream World.”  The evening lecture from Shawn will be held at Royce Hall at 8 p.m., part of the performance season’s written word events.  Readings and discussions of his own works and those he admires will be followed by a Q&A and signing.

Culture Spot LA is happy to announce a ticket giveaway!  To be entered in a drawing for a pair of tickets to  “Real World, Fake World, Dream World,” send an email to editor@culturespotla.com with the Real Reason you’d like to attend.  (Every reason will be entered, but good karma for honest answers.)  A winner will be selected at random from the entries received by Wednesday, Jan. 19, at noon.  This writer is looking forward to closing her eyes and hearing Rex the timid toy dinosaur wax political.

Carlos Ruiz Zafón in conversation with Rick Kleffel at a May 24 Zócalo Public Square event at MOCA. / photo by Zócalo Public Square

Curious readers got a glimpse behind the art of creating literature when Carlos Ruiz Zafón visited MOCA for a Zócalo Public Square event on May 24.

Zafón, who splits his time between Barcelona and Los Angeles, is the author of the New York Times bestselling The Shadow of the Wind, the recently published The Angel’s Game, as well as four young adult novels. His work has been translated in 40 languages.

Zafón’s novels are infused with lyricism and mystery and explore beauty found in light and shadow. He builds labyrinthine plots like an architect of words, develops characters and landscapes with a cinematic eye, and draws you into a magical world beyond paper and ink. While his books make that process look easy, this literary maestro humbly revealed himself at the Zócalo event as, not a magician, but a craftsman who has to work hard.

“Sometimes I wonder when people say inspiration hits them — as if it were a truck or something. It never happened to me,” he said, adding, “Writing is one percent inspiration.”

Zafón’s comments about his novels and the creative process will inspire readers and writers alike. Read more about this Zócalo Public Square event and view a video of Zafón’s discussion with NPR’s Rick Kleffel at: http://www.zocalopublicsquare.org/thepublicsquare/2010/05/24/carlos-ruiz-zafn-on-inspiration-mystery-and-women/

Also at that website, you can learn about the nonprofit Zócalo Public Square’s upcoming events, which are free to the public and designed to “connect people to ideas and to each other in an open, accessible, non-partisan and broad-minded spirit.”

Harvey Pekar and Alison Bechdel spoke at UCLA Live’s “Titans of the Graphic Novel” event on April 23.

UCLA Live’s “Titans of the Graphic Novel” event brought two highly influential voices of graphic narrative to the same podium on April 23.  The effect was startling and instructive.

Alison Bechdel, author of Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic and the syndicated strip Dykes to Watch Out For, said it best: Words and pictures are, when combined, greater than the sum of their parts.  As she spoke of her life and her background in art, her family, and her work, Bechdel both demonstrated her contemporary relevance and looked to a well-respected colleague, Harvey Pekar.  He followed her presentation with a frank, open monologue to assuage all doubt that Pekar is the Everyman’s comics writer.

Bechdel’s presentation ranged from facts to philosophy.  She read from Fun Home about her late father and displayed excerpts of the book’s images.  When she demonstrated the steps between idea and printed page, the already staggering power of her work increased: text, sketches, ink, and shading in what she laughingly calls “method” comics.  Bechdel’s comics resound even without the potent subject matters of sexuality, family dynamics, politics, and what it means to be as clear as possible and yet hidden in the nuances of self-expression.  Her presentation was as layered as her work, and captured an already smitten audience before referring to the work and influence of Pekar.

American Splendor, Pekar made it clear, was never drawn by him.  (Bechdel had earlier displayed a stick-figure storyboard Pekar once doodled in a diner.)  And yet his stories about the mundane Cleveland life of a medical filing clerk have reached a zenith of cult celebrity.  Among the illustrators fleshing out the text of his work are Bechdel and R. Crumb; in 2003, the film American Splendor created a documentary and biopic out Pekar’s life and work.  Yet perhaps the most appealing and relieving aspect of his low-tech, straightforward storytelling was just that.  It was low-tech and straightforward, as quotidian and relatable as American Splendor itself.

In the words of scholar Hillary Chute, the term “graphic novel” is often “an awkwardly popular misnomer.”  These works are hardly the stuff of fiction.  In a brief Q&A, Bechdel and Pekar spoke of family, next moves, movies (as options, as realities), and, very highly, of each other.  Throughout the night, both authors seemed absolutely and even disarmingly themselves – a feat only more smoothly accomplished by their medium.

Upcoming literary events at UCLA Live include a reading by David Sedaris. For more information, visit www.uclalive.org.  

Harvey Pekar and Alison Bechdel will speak at UCLA Live’s “Titans of the Graphic Novel” event on Friday, April 23.

Harvey Pekar and Alison Bechdel will speak at UCLA Live’s “Titans of the Graphic Novel” event on Friday, April 23, at 8 p.m. at Royce Hall. They will explore the power of graphic novels as a confessional medium.

Pekar’s autobiographical “American Splendor” comics gained a cult following and were adapted into a 2003 feature film with the same name. Bechdel’s graphic memoir, “Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic,” was named the best book of 2006 by Time magazine. She is also the author of the syndicated strip “Dykes to Watch Out For.”

UCLA Live is offering Culture Spot LA readers a Buy One, Get One Free ticket deal. To take advantage of this offer, which is good through April 22, use the promo code TITANS when placing your order. Tickets must be purchased in pairs and are available online at: www.uclalive.org/event.asp?Event_ID=678.

Los Angeles is a one of the great cultural centers of the United States – and the film capital of the world.  There is a lot to see (at very good prices), but due to the city’s size, lack of centralized arts/theater districts and second-rate public transportation, you will spend a great deal of time driving on wildly confusing highways.  Do yourself a big favor and invest in a GPS – and learn how to use it before you get to LA.

1)    Los Angeles has great museums, good classical music choices, a lively jazz scene – but the brightest jewels in LA’s cultural crown are the town’s live theaters. Not the major theaters featuring touring Broadway hits, but the hundreds of smaller 60- to 200-seat houses scattered across Los Angeles and Orange County. In very intimate surroundings (and for very little money – see the next tip), you can see major movie and television stars in interesting new plays or great revivals.

2)    There are not one – but two excellent online half-price ticket services in Los Angeles: LA Stage Tix (lastagealliance.com) and Goldstar (goldstar.com). Both offer tickets several days (or weeks) in advance for as little as $10.  Note: LA Stage Tix, a nonprofit, charges a lower service fee, but their site is quirky and limited to theater. Goldstar offers a broader selection – but check out both.

3)    Before you run off to the “free” Getty Center, be aware that it costs $15 to park a car. (You can get there by bus.) Also, many experts feel that the collections are not in any way as spectacular as the high-on-the-hill location.  Recommended instead is the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (admission $10) or the wonderful Norton Simon Museum (admission $8) in Pasadena. Garden lovers should head to the Huntington Library in San Marino (south of Pasadena), which also features a strong British (including Gainsborough’s Blue Boy) and early American collection.

4)    If you live near or frequently visit one of the area’s performance venues (Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, Los Angeles Music Center, Pasadena Civic, Orange County Performing Arts Center or Skirball Cultural Center), go to their website to sign up for free email.  Besides sending advance publicity on their programs, email is becoming the primary vehicle theaters and venues use to announce special discounts and last-minute giveaways.  While you are there, see if the venue offers membership – and if it works for you, consider investing.

5)    If you love film, you will love LA anytime (especially the Nuart Theater), but the best time to visit is the week between Christmas and New Year’s when many films are given early screenings to make the Oscar deadline. You can catch the hottest movies – and frequently see a celebrity getting a head start on his upcoming viewing/voting responsibilities.

Visit the book’s website for more information about culture in LA and dozens of other U.S. cities: go-artsamerica.com.

With bindings and paper to give a stationery enthusiast goosebumps, titles like Hey Fudge encompass images, narrative, and haunting meetings of the two.  Travis Millard’s cumulative years of work for the title are in 240 pages of stitch-bound clay composite paper – clarifying, as if there were doubts, the enthusiasm and respect Lepkowski and Dischler have for their products.

With much the same energy, the duo also distributes miniature books and zines, typically self-published by authors and reaping only a small commission for Narrow Books.  As Lepkowski points out, these are meaningful works “because their economics are so democratic.”   Printing costs, thus price tags, move down considerably – but don’t seem to sacrifice artistic draw.  The third self-published 1Up MegaZine, which Narrow Books’ website calls its “prettiest” issue, sells for less than half the sticker price of Hey Fudge, but bursts with the same creative effort.

A localized aesthetic of color, line, and attitude permeates Narrow Books publications, making them both contenders at LA booksellers and a point of due pride for localphiles.  Their appeal contrasts a symptom of the economy: whereas titles from monster publishers are paring down décor and reflecting consumer pragmatism, even the most affordable items from Narrow Books validate and indulge the act of book-buying. (In a recent store display at Book Soup in West Hollywood, the anthology Two Letters, Vol. 2 immediately drew this writer’s eye.)

Lepkowski points out that “we do tend to publish mostly LA artists and writers…. It’s their work that we most often look at, like, and decide is criminally underexposed.” Esther Pearl Watson self-published Unloveable Vol. 1, a collection of her zines that often decorates the Narrow Books sales table.  Her drawings resemble Aline Kominsky Crumb’s: they bring to light the messy nonfiction process of American teenage years, and echo the underground comics movement of indie publishing begun decades ago.  Other local artists and writers at Narrow Books include Millard, John Pham, and the Joseph Mattson of recent Empty the Sun attention.  (That being said, there is also work from France, from the Union of Myanmar, and a recent publication, Megan Whitmarsh’s Yeti Logic, imported from Spain and vended with Narrow Books.)

The break-even nature of the endeavor encourages creative marketing by Lepkowski and Dischler, who have expanded their business to events like the Downtown Art Walk, Unique Los Angeles, and the Alternative Press Expo, selling their own titles alongside T-shirts and music, other publishers’ zines and minis, and individual prints from hand-picked artists.  In a cross-generic period of book history, the meeting of Lepkowski’s interest in literature and Dischler’s in design has created a timely and worthwhile pursuit of book arts and creative distribution.

Titles from Narrow Books, as well as the self-published materials they distribute, are available at Skylight Books, Book Soup, Secret Headquarters, Giant Robot, and more, as well as online at www.LittlePaperPlanes.com and www.NarrowBooks.com.