Category: Ojai Institute

Intimate Perspective on Legacy
Frank Escher and Ravi GuneWardena, Escher GuneWardena Architecture
Saturday, January 30, 2021, 5:00 pm PST on Zoom

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This conversation will be structured around a visual presentation by Escher and GuneWardena featuring their architectural restoration and conservation efforts beginning with the family home of Paul R. Williams, as well as the architecture of A. Quincy Jones, and Gregory Ain. The conversation will explore the impact and legacy of Williams on Mid-Century architecture and social justice efforts in Los Angeles. Hosted by Janna Ireland and Frederick Janka, Executive Director of the Carolyn Glasoe Bailey Foundation, on the occasion of the Ojai Institute exhibition project Janna Ireland: Looking In, Looking Out.

Closed captioning will be available for this program.

The extraordinary range of projects of Escher GuneWardena Architecture – small, conceptually rigorous projects; ecologically and socially innovative urban design proposals; and work in the fields of contemporary art and architectural history – reflects the broad cultural interests of the firm’s principals, Frank Escher and Ravi GuneWardena. They frequently collaborate with internationally known contemporary artists, thinkers, consultants, and cultural institutions such as the MAK Center, The Eames Foundation, and The Getty Conservation Institute.

Escher GuneWardena address issues of sustainability, affordability, the relationship between form and construction, seeking to establish simple formal manifestations of the complexities of each project. New residential projects include the Jamie Residence, the Sola/Wright Residence, and the House with Five Corners. Work on historic structures includes restoration of John Lautner’s Chemosphere as well as of his personal residence, Phase 1 restoration work at the Eames House, restoration of Paul R. Williams’s personal residence, restoration of Gregory Ain’s Greene Residence, and an extensive restoration of A. Quincy Jones’s historic Pilot House.

Their work was recognized in the 2003 National Design Triennial, and in OPEN HOUSE: Intelligent Living by Design (2007, Vitra and Art Center, Pasadena).

Escher GuneWardena was a finalist in creating master plans for Linc.LA (2011), a Cleantech Manufacturing development in the Cleantech Corridor of Los Angeles. Currently, the firm is in the design phase for two master plan projects, the Woodland Nature Center, a Buddhist monastery campus and cultural center in the San Gabriel Mountains; and St. Michael’s Campus, a Franciscan monastery and agricultural community in Riverside, California.

The firm’s interest in contemporary art has led to various art related projects and collaborations with artists: Blum & Poe gallery in Los Angeles; numerous installations for Sharon Lockhart, Mike Kelley, Olafur Eliasson, and Stephen Prina. Major exhibitions designed by Escher GuneWardena are the 55th Carnegie International (CMOA, Pittsburgh), Mike Kelly: Eternity is a Long Time (Hanger Bicocca, Milano); Between Earth and Heaven: the Architecture of John Lautner (Hammer Museum; co-curated by Frank Escher and Nicholas Olsberg); “Little Review” Sharon Lockhart’s installation in the Polish Pavilion at the 2017 Venice Biennale; and The Jeweled Isle: Art from Sri Lanka at LACMA (2018-2019).

Frank Escher, trained at the Federal Institute of Technology (ETH, Zürich), is the editor of the monograph “John Lautner, Architect,” was the administrator for the John Lautner Archive (1995-2007), and serves on the boards of the John Lautner Foundation, the Julius Shulman Institute, and the Los Angeles Forum for Architecture and Urban Design. He is also an advisor to the Neutra Institute. Ravi GuneWardena, originally from Sri Lanka, studied architecture at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona and art history in Florence, Italy, and served on the Hollywood Public Art Advisory Panel for the CRA/LA. He is currently the director of the Los Angeles branch of the Sogetsu School of Ikebana. Escher and GuneWardena have been visiting professors at Cal Poly Pomona, University of Southern California (Escher), and Walsh Distinguished Visiting Professors at University of Oregon. They were recently visiting professors at the Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL, Lausanne) for the 2016-2017 academic year.

In June of 2017, Clocks and Clouds, a monograph of the firm’s work, was released by Birkhäuser in conjunction with their retrospective exhibition at the Art, Design, and Architecture Museum at the University of California, Santa Barbara, in summer 2017.

Carolyn Glasoe Bailey Foundation is pleased to present Looking In, Looking Out, Janna Ireland’s Ojai Institute solo exhibition project, on view January 8 – April 3, 2021.

Looking In, Looking Out features new photographs created during the last year viewable through the front window and by appointment. The exterior windows feature large scale images of an Ojai home by Paul R. Williams, printed on translucent vinyl. These works expand upon her ongoing engagement with his architecture through her photography, and are presented here for the first time in color. Individual works inside the gallery space were made during the last year while the artist was at home with her family, and feature the artist’s children.

To make an appointment please contact Frederick Janka, Executive Director: [email protected]

Janna Ireland was born in Philadelphia, but has chosen Los Angeles as her home. She holds an MFA from the UCLA Department of Art and a BFA from the Department of Photography and Imaging at NYU. Her work has been shown in solo exhibitions in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New Orleans, and Chicago, and in group exhibitions across the United States and internationally. She has been published in Aperture, The New Yorker, Harper’s, Art Papers, Vice, and The Los Angeles Times. Her first monograph, Regarding Paul R. Williams was published by Angel City Press this fall and is available for purchase online at the Ojai Institute Bookshop.

Special thanks to: Carolyn Glasoe Bailey Foundation Board, Ojai Institute Members, Rick Ridgeway, Summer Camp, John Connelly, Heidi Volpe, and Two Fish Digital.

Virtual event program:

Intimate Perspective on Legacy
Frank Escher and Ravi GuneWardena, Escher GuneWardena Architecture
Saturday, January 30, 2021, 5:00 pm PST

This conversation will be structured around a visual presentation by Escher and GuneWardena featuring their architectural restoration and conservation efforts beginning with the family home of Paul Revere Williams, as well as the architecture of A. Quincy Jones, and Gregory Ain. The conversation will explore the impact and legacy of Williams on Mid-Century architecture and social justice efforts in Los Angeles. Hosted by Janna Ireland and Frederick Janka, Executive Director of the Carolyn Glasoe Bailey Foundation, on the occasion of the Ojai Institute exhibition project Janna Ireland, Looking In, Looking Out.

Picturing Intimacy
Janna Ireland, Catherine Opie, Paul Mpagi Sepuya
Friday, March 26, 2021, 5:00 pm PST

A panel discussion with three Los Angeles based artists who explore bodies, intimacy, and domestic interiors in their respective practices.

Lynell George & Janna Ireland in conversation
Friday, April 9, 2021, 5:00 pm PST
Zoom Webinar
Click to Register

Image: Janna Ireland, Ojai House, Number 4, 2020

You are invited to join us for a conversation with Los Angeles based photographer Janna Ireland this Saturday, October 24, at 5:00 PM PST / 8:00 PM EST.

Please click here to RSVP for this Zoom event

Janna Ireland was born in Philadelphia, but has chosen Los Angeles as her home. She holds an MFA from the UCLA Department of Art and a BFA from the Department of Photography and Imaging at NYU. Her work has been shown in solo exhibitions in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New Orleans, and Chicago, and in group exhibitions across the United States and internationally. She has been published in Aperture, The New Yorker, Harper’s, Art Papers, Vice, and The Los Angeles Times. Her first monograph, Regarding Paul R. Williams, was published by Angel City Press in 2020.

The Ojai Institute will present a solo exhibition project with Janna Ireland opening January 8, 2021, and on view through April 3, 2021. 

Janna Ireland’s first monograph, Regarding Paul R. Williams, is now available for purchase from The Ojai Institute Bookstore. Click here to learn more

You are invited to join us for a live recording for the Ojai Institute Podcast. This virtual event will feature Los Angeles based artist Muna Malik in conversation with Frederick Janka, Executive Director, this Friday, August 7, at 5:00 pm PST / 8:00 pm EST.

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Please note this will be a ZOOM meeting, not a typical webinar, and will be closed captioned.

Muna Malik is a multidisciplinary artist based in Los Angeles, California. Malik’s art practice is grounded in a pursuit to create cultural awareness and understanding. Her current work focuses on capturing poetic imagery and narratives of women of color and refugees. Malik lived in Minneapolis and started her art career at MCAD and the Northern Spark art festival. Her work has also been exhibited at Artworks Chicago and The University of Minnesota—Humphrey School of Public Affairs. She was the billboard artist for North Carolina for the “For Freedoms 50 State Initiative.” She recently completed exhibitions at the Band of Vices Gallery LA, Annenberg Space for Photography LA with Photoville, the International Center for Photography with “For Freedoms”, Soomaal House of Art in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and MOCA Geffen in Los Angeles, California. Her latest collage series was featured on vogue.com and i-D Magazine. Her ongoing series Blessing of the Boats, large scale and site responsive sculptures of origami shaped boats, will be unveiled this month in Battery Park, New York City, as part of LMCC River to River Festival, River To River 2020: Four Voices, and will then make its way to Governor’s Island after that. A forthcoming installation of Blessing of the Boats will take place with the Atkinson Gallery at Santa Barbara City College this fall.