The California Monuments Consortium Lab
September 10, 2022 – November 6, 2022
Saturday, September 10, 2022: Community Town Hall and opening reception, 5:00 – 7:00 pm
Carolyn Glasoe Bailey Foundation is pleased to present The California Monuments Consortium Lab, an exhibition project for the Ojai Institute, presented in partnership with The Free Republic of California, LAND (Los Angeles Nomadic Division), and ESMoA. The California Monuments Consortium Lab will be on view September 10 – November 6, 2022. The Lab will open its doors Saturday, September 10, at 5:00pm with a community Town Hall Meeting, reception, and as a blank slate beckoning for participation.
The California Monuments Consortium is a theoretical agency aimed to create communal, artistic and sustainable dialogues about monuments. In partnership with the Carolyn Glasoe Bailey Foundation, the Ojai Consortium Lab will act as a think tank, research archive, community sounding board and organizing platform. A range of events and panels will highlight the mission and its underpinnings while offering stakeholders the chance to interact with the space, conduct research, take polls, draft surveys and create artistic expressions.
Over a three month period, the Consortium’s statement will grow, welcoming a range of artists, speakers, NGOs and government representatives to participate. The hope is that the findings of these three months of interaction will become a springboard to physical manifestations of the ideas found therein. California deserves monuments respectful and honoring of its people, history and land, while looking forward with the momentum it has always possessed.
Physical components of the installation will include large scale vinyl installation in the windows, a Library featuring an ever-growing selection of relevant books and maps of California, A Communal Workspace, as well as a Community Survey Portal, an interactive area where visitors can comment on monuments, take surveys/polls, etc.
Calendar of Related Events:
Saturday, September 10, 2022: Community Town Hall and opening reception, 5:00 – 7:00 pm
Saturday, October 8, 2022: Special Guests: Ojai Jail Art Initiative Artists’ Reception, 5:00 – 7:00 pm
Thursday, October 13, 2022: Public Land for Dummies, Special Guest: Natasha Wheat in Conversation, 5:00 – 7:00 pm
Saturday, October 15, 2022: Ojai Day Open House and The Free Republic of California poster scavenger hunt, 12:00 – 4:00 pm
Sunday, October 16, 2022: Special Guests: Ojai Jail Art Initiative Artist Panel and Closing Reception
Tuesday, October 25, 2022: Special Guest: Meet Your Neighbors, Blue Sky Art Center, 5:00 – 7:00 pm
Sunday, November 6, 2022: Closing Panel Discussion: The Intersection of Monuments & Land Acknowledgements, closing reception, 12:00 – 2:00 pm
About the partners:
The Free Republic of California is an ongoing conceptual piece by artist Cole Sternberg, which plays with notions of statehood and freedom by offering a vision for a more enlightened nation through the guise of Californian secession. Sternberg coordinates a variety of strategies for a state’s rebirth: alternative history and identity established in a new flag, photographic documentation, and ephemera; a constitution, budget, peace agreements, and international conventions in support of the environment and human rights; and, a proposed future conjured through sculpture, performance and engagement.
LAND (Los Angeles Nomadic Division) is a non-profit organization founded in 2009 committed to curating site-specific public art exhibitions in Los Angeles and beyond. LAND believes that all people deserve the opportunity to experience innovative contemporary art in their everyday existence, to enhance their quality of life and ways of thinking about their community. In turn, artists deserve the opportunity to realize projects in the public realm, unsupported through traditional institutions. LAND brings contemporary art outside of the walls of museums and galleries, into our shared public spaces and unique sites.
ESMoA is an art laboratory located in El Segundo, California and it is run by artlab21 Foundation. Our mission is to Spread the Spark of Creativity through the display and education of visual arts. ESMoA functions as a catalyst for creative thinking offering unique Experiences. The Experiences – our word for exhibition/exhibit – present a variety of media, including sculpture, painting, works on paper, performances, and photography. ESMoA was founded in 2013 by Eva Sweeney, Brian Sweeney and Bernhard Zünkeler.
Carolyn Glasoe Bailey Foundation is committed to supporting and advocating the arts and sciences. Current initiatives include awards for visual artists, as well as The Ojai Institute, an artist-residency program in Ojai, that extends the dialogue between artists and the public through exhibitions and programs. Currently based in Ojai, California, the organization, a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, was founded in 2015 by artists, family, and friends to celebrate the legacy of esteemed art patron and private art dealer Carolyn Glasoe Bailey.
Image: Cole Sternberg, TREE MONUMENT IN THE WILD – another kind of growth. Photo by Jon Viscott