Join a Mural Tour of the DTLA Arts District to Benefit Art Share L.A. – Saturday August 11
Cartwheel Art has partnered with Art Share L.A.’s Emerging Leaders Board on a mural tour of the DTLA Arts District—and it’s happening on Saturday, August 11. The tour, led by Cartwheel Art’s Cindy Schwarzstein, will feature murals by artists such as Nuke, El Mac, Augustine Kofie, Hueman, Christina Angelina, Tristan Eaton, and Kent Twitchell. Ticket sales benefit Art Share L.A., an organization committed to supporting emerging Los Angeles artists in their personal and professional development. Tickets are available on Eventbrite.
This mural tour begins at Art Share L.A. (801 E. 4th Place) at 11:00 a.m., and will wrap up at Angel City Brewery at 1 p.m. The first 25 ticket purchasers will get VIP access to Angel City’s 6th annual Avocado Fest, which will be going on all weekend. The Avocado Fest includes Angel City’s Avocado Ale, food, DJs, live music, and plenty of avocado-themed entertainment, including an avocado juggling contest and an avocado eating contest.
Cheyanne Sauter, Art Share L.A’s executive director is an L.A. native, and she remembers the Arts District when it was a completely different place, about twenty years ago. She says, “Nobody was monitoring what was happening in this neighborhood, so the creativity just kind of spilled out into the streets. It was lawless and it was creative and crazy and fun and dangerous.” She says the creation of large-scale commissioned murals in the Arts District by outside artists started about ten years ago, give or take. “A lot of ones that we’ll see on the tour that come from UTI or the MSK or Seventh Letter Crew, those have been here forever and ever, because of that lawlessness.”
Nowadays, Sauter says, many people come to the Arts District to visit Hauser and Wirth. “It’s a beautiful facility with amazing art, and it’s predictably pleasant, so people feel comfortable going to that sort of establishment.” She’ll recommend other places in the neighborhood, depending on what visitors are interested in. She says, “If they’re here doing a bunch of the breweries, I’ll definitely make sure that they go to the outskirts ones—Iron Triangle or Boomtown. If they’re here to see the artwork and they’re really adventurous, I’m like, ‘Get in your car or get an Uber and go south of 7th, because that’s where some really creative things are happening, and you’ll see some exciting, fresh, new murals that are coming up and tags that’ll come up overnight.’”
For a guided tour of that area, which is where Cartwheel Art is based, check out the upcoming Graffiti and BBQ tour, which launches Sunday, August 26, and will continue to run monthly. Cindy Schwarzstein, Cartwheel Art’s founder, says, “I’m excited to be partnering with our neighbor Pearl’s BBQ and creating this immersive experience right in our own backyard. Steve Grody has been documenting graffiti in the Arts District for more than twenty-eight years, and Nuke is a well-respected member of a graffiti crew that’s been in the neighborhood for thirty years, so this is a special tour, both historically and artistically.”
Top, Hueman’s Bloom mural. Above, Kent Twitchell’s mural of Ed Ruscha
If you can’t make it to the mural tour on Saturday, another way to support Art Share L.A. is by checking out some of their programming. Sauter says, “We’re open to the public to give people tours or show them into our gallery Wednesday through Sunday from 1 to 6 p.m. Admission is free, and you can kind of wander through all of the artwork and meet some of the artists that are working in the art studios on-site. In the evenings, generally Wednesday through Saturday night, there’s something creative going on in our theater.” On a given night, you might encounter the best—or the worst—of L.A.’s emerging artists. “One night, you’ll walk in and there’s an open mic night. The next night, it’s a produced, five-piece orchestra that’s coming and doing an avant-garde, funky new music sound. The next night you’ll have a book release party and it’s like a poetry slam.”
This Saturday evening, Art Share L.A. launches two new gallery shows. From 7 to 10 p.m., celebrate the opening of “Satan’s Spa Day” in the main gallery. The show features the work of Romy Aura Maloon, Joanne Chase Matillo, Michael Chomick, Milan Delvecchio, Zo Frampton, Casey Garcia, Michelle Guerrero, Dark Parr, Parker Winans, and Sean Yang. Art Share L.A. hosts a Satan-themed art show each August, with good reason. Sauter says, “We do it kind of tongue-in-cheek because it’s so blasted hot in our center in August. We don’t have air conditioning, so we have people come and kind of enjoy the demonic feel that is happening. It’s kind of sensory.” At the same time, Perimeter V, a new exhibit of work by emerging artists will open in Art Share L.A.’s perimeter gallery.
For information on future Art Share L.A. events, connect with the organization on Instagram, Facebook, or through their website.