Join Cartwheel Art Tours on Saturday March 5th for a unique perspective and immersive urban experience in art, food/beverage and history.  This tour itinerary will provide an opportunity for guests to meet artists and makers along with learning about the new developments occurring in one of Los Angeles’s most unique, dynamic, art-centric and rapidly changing neighborhoods–the Downtown Los Angeles Arts District.

This will occur through Cartwheel Art Tours eclectic team of knowledgeable and passionate district insiders, who are deeply connected to the neighborhood including Cindy Schwarzstein, Cartwheel Art online-magazine’s founder and Cartwheel Art Tours director, who lives and works in this area of the Downtown Los Angeles Arts District. Cindy is involved with a diverse number of mural and community groups as well as serving on he board of the Los Angeles Artists and River Business Association (LARABA).

Here are some of highlights for this tour:

DISCOVER: murals by international artists and Los Angeles Graffiti Crews while learning about the historical background and details of graffiti lettering/styles with Steve Grody, historian and author of Graffiti LA, featured photographer in the MOCA “Art in the Streets” exhibition and co-curator for the “Street Cred: Graffiti Art from concrete to Canvas” at the Pasadena Museum of California Art.

EXPLORE: significant developments with art galleries, museums and centers, in addition to historical points of interest. See film locations along the LA River and unique industrial warehouses that are being re-purposed and developed as new creative spaces in the district.

EXPERIENCE: the first-hand perspectives of artists, developers, historians and creative entrepreneurs while visiting them in their homes, studios, businesses and on the streets as they discuss the Arts District. Learn about the waves of creatives who are moving into the neighborhood as fashion, food, art and filmmaking become the new manufacturing in the district. Enjoy tasting artisanal food and beverages.

PURCHASE TICKETS HERE. 

(Note: A portion of the ticket price is paid to support the guest artists and speakers)

The following are more specific highlights for this itinerary:

Food and Beverage: 

* A tour and tasting at Greenbar Distillery, LA’s oldest distillery & first since Prohibition. They have been making spirits here in Los Angeles since 2004 offering a product lineup that has grown into the world’s largest portfolio of organic spirits, distilled and bottled at their facility on the edge of the Arts District. We will be provided the opportunity to learn first hand how Greenbar creates spirits using whole organic ingredients and modern techniques in pursuit of flavorful, inventive spirits. Some of their offerings include the SLOW HAND Six Woods, a whiskey designed to capture flavors of nontraditional woods, and TRU Garden, a vodka infused with fresh herbs.

• Check out the Bread Lounge where they bake all the breads, pastries and more on their premises. They are a major distributor to many of the artisan businesses and restaurants in the neighborhood.

The Arts:

• View murals by contemporary and urban street artists such as Cleon Peterson, Andrew Schulz, Shrine, Peter Greco, Septerhed, LeBa, Kim West, and more.

* Discover murals by graffiti artists such as, Saber and Zes, members of MSK/AWR Crew, K2S Crew, UTI Crew, YR Crew, Mice of Millions, Retna, Dame Risk/Revok/Able, and many others. NOTE: Some of the graffiti art we will be viewing is located in graffiti crew walls where they have been creating productions for years but are not usually explored by those other then the graffiti community.

• Meet DTLA Los Angeles Arts District artist Heath Satow, who has been designing and fabricating public art for over twenty years in his studio. His sculpture Ripple won the 2012 Americans for the Arts’ Public Art Network Award for its “innovative and creative contribution in the field of public art”, and since then he’s been exploring the theme of “reflection” as both a literal and metaphorical subject matter. He builds everything in his studio, using direct fabrication techniques that minimize material waste.

* Meet DTLA Los Angeles Arts District street artist, muralist and oil painter, LeBa. His signature style is realistic oil portraits of political and social satire, along with themes of mortality and the afterlife. He was recently featured on the Oxygen series “Street Art Throwdown”.

•Check out Wilding Cran Gallery, where we will view the new exhibition post-post by Christian Eckart. The exhibition explores Eckart’s philosophical inquiry on the concept of art via painting/sculpture hybrid. With a career spanning over 30 years, he has established a substantial record of more then 60 international solo exhibitions. However, this exhibition for post-post will be his first solo show in Los Angeles.

Extras:

While the tour has a set itinerary, because of Cindy’s connection to this very intimate community, there are sometimes spontaneous adventures that occur and an unplanned meeting of artists or creatives along the way with her neighbors so always expect surprises along the way!

NOTES ABOUT THE TOUR: 

•We will meet in the back garden patio at the Bread Lounge, located at 700 S. Santa Fe Avenue (at the intersection of 7th Street by the bridge)., Los Angeles, CA 90021

•Street Parking is usually found on S. Santa Fe Avenue or along Imperial and Jesse Streets by Urban Radish. Plan accordingly with your timing especially if your looking to eat in advance of the tour at Urban Radish, The Bread Lounge, Stumptown or the American Tea Room, which are all close to our meeting location.

* For the tasting at Greenbar Distillery, guests must be 21+ to participate.

Top photo is courtesy of Greenbar Distillery.

We will be meeting artist Heath Satow in his studio.

This mural by Shrine will be seen on the tour, which is hidden in an alley.

Mural by LeBA

Mural by Thanksone Art