Venice is a kaleidoscope of a place. It shifts under the eye, and it contains everything, and what you see depends entirely on where you’re standing at any given moment.
Its residents range from the rich and famous, who have always been drawn there, to homeless people, from aging boomers to street gangs, from conventional middle class families to stubbornly unconventional artists in all media, from the last beat poets to pioneer rappers.
From its grand founding 100 years ago by Abbot Kinney, it has always been a kind of crucible in which seemingly opposite, even antagonistic elements mix it up. More or less congenially.
With the inaugural of its new L.A, City Councilman Bill Rosendahl on the beach on Saturday (see story on page 1) Venice has embarked on an extended celebration of its 100th anniversary, which, of course, will be marked by a mix of events of all kinds.
This Week:
Venice Arts Council/Venice Art Collective/SPARC is presenting “Venice People ” at SPARC, 684 North Venice Boulevard over the next three months “to encourage the many talented artists who live here to create more personal statements to celebrate the Venice we know and love so well.”
From July 2 to 26, the focus will be “Venice Artists about Venice.”
From Friday, July 8 to Sunday, July 10, Venice Arts will host PIER/Life, the first art exhibition ever to be held on the end of Venice Pier. It will feature upwards of 50 photographs of life on, around and under the Pier that were taken over a period of months by young people in Venice Arts programs. A reception will be held on the pier on Friday, July 8, from 6 to 8p.m.
And in a very different, but exemplary Venice event, the beleaguered tenants at historic Lincoln Place are planning to put “life and light” back into their homes and buildings by putting up strings of Christmas lights this month to send a message to their landlord, AIMCO: “We may be few but we are bright and strong and determined to stay here at Lincoln Place.”The tenants will also ask homeowners in the neighborhood who have supported the effort to save Lincoln Place to display Christmas lights.
