UCLA Arts Gift Guide 2020
Still have a few gifts left to pick up for your loved ones this holiday season? Check out our curated list of art, design and architecture-related objects created by artists, scholars, makers, and entrepreneurs from across the UCLA Arts community.
Stay safe and stylish with face masks designed by Department of Art distinguished professor of new genres Barbara Kruger – "Untitled (Better Safe Than Sorry)" – and professor of photography Catherine Opie – "Bo from Being and Having (detail)”. Each limited-production, artist-designed face mask costs $28. This mask shape is meant to fit a wide range of faces comfortably and securely, including children over 10 years old.
You can also add some flair to your face with these fashion-forward masks from Design Media Arts alum Matt Serafa. The masks include sequins, rhinestones, crystal mesh, vegan leather, and faux fur and will be sure to catch the eye of passers-by. Prices range from $15 to $30.
AlchemyCouture is a fashion line created by World Arts and Cultures/Dance alumna Kristina Marie Garnett. Check out the Sooper Stretch One-Shoulder Top for an asymmetrical silhouette, in black or berry red, for $88. You can also pick up the WERK shirt, with a structured silhouette constructed from stiff canvas, in noir or cloud colors, for $244.
In 2018, the Fowler Museum held an Afro-Brazilian head wrap workshop with Brazilian-born artist Thaís Muniz in Leimert Park as part of the Axé Bahia exhibition programming. The workshop explored the history of head wraps and turbans in Brazil and the broader Afro-Atlantic diaspora. Blending African and Brazilian turban styles, Muniz seeks to illustrate their cultural significance through tutorials, workshops, and documentaries. Pick one of these gorgeous head wraps and turbans from Turbante-se, the company Muniz founded.
In 2019, the Fowler Museum hosted Porfirio Gutiérrez for an artist talk and workshop. Gutiérrez is a specialist in Zapotec dyeing and weaving. At the talk, he discussed his artistic practice, informed by the traditions of his village, Teotitlán del Valle in Oaxaca, famous for weaving and one of the few towns where the Zapotec dialect is still spoken and many ancient traditions are still maintained. Check out the textiles available on his website.
Check out these stylish sneakers that feature original watercolor artwork by Jungalow founder and World Arts and Cultures alumna Justina Blakeney. Jungalow teamed up with Keds on this fun twist on the original Champion sneaker line, and it’s for a good cause: All net proceeds from sales on Keds.com and Jungalow.com of the Jungalow x Keds Champion In Chorus sneaker will go to GirlTrek, a public health and self-care movement for Black women. All sneakers are marked down to $50.
Love animals and coffee? Lena Wolek is a sculptor working in ceramics and the creator of functional pottery objects like the mugs pictured above. Each piece is unique and features one of Lena’s drawings of animals like cats, horses, and dogs to reflect on the imperfection of human nature. The mugs are beautiful, humorous, and available on her website. Prices range from $50 to $55.
The Fowler Museum partnered with chef Bricia Lopez of renowned Oaxacan restaurant Guelaguetza for a Global Cooking Lesson this fall in honor of the Mexican holiday Día de los Muertos. Their mole paste is available online here. ($12/jar, three for $32).
The Fowler also has an amazing selection of exhibition catalogs (such as Striking Iron, African-Print Fashion Now, and Dressed with Distinction: Garments from Ottoman Syria) for art history and textile enthusiasts.
2020 Ibsen Award winner and MacArthur Fellow Taylor Mac and his long-time collaborators, designer Machine Dazzle, Music Director Matt Ray, and producers Pomegranate Arts join together to celebrate the holidays in all of their dysfunction on Saturday, Dec. 12 at 7 p.m. PST, when UCLA’s Center for the Art of Performance will present Holiday Sauce… Pandemic! ($25 minimum donation). The online production will blend music, film, burlesque, and random acts of fabulousness to reframe the songs you love and the holidays you hate. There is more to the holidays than rampant capitalism and gift giving and in Taylor’s world, creativity and imagination are their own spirituality. This holiday season will be bittersweet for so many—Taylor Mac reminds us of the collective power of our chosen families, a message that will be of particular resonance this year when so many have lost so much.
The program comes on the heels of—and celebrates the release of—Mac’s Holiday Sauce album ($13 CD, $10 digital), another opportunity for home-bound audiences to experience Mac’s singular artistry and approach to the holidays.
How did Los Angeles start the 20th century as a dusty frontier town and end up a century later as one of the globe’s supercities—with unparalleled cultural, economic, and technological reach? In “City at the Edge of Forever,” Design Media Arts department vice chair and professor Peter Lunenfeld weaves together the city’s art, architecture, and design; juxtaposes its entertainment and literary histories; and moves from restaurant kitchens to recording studios to ultra-secret research and development labs. In the process, he reimagines Los Angeles as simultaneously an exemplar and cautionary tale for the 21st century. ($28)
Design Media Arts assistant professor Chandler McWilliams uses language and sculpture to prompt viewers to consider how ethics are performed and negotiated in their daily lives. Practice (Constraint) is an editioned bag with the words “Try Harder” silkscreened in dashed cursive handwriting. The edition includes an embroidery kit, containing needle and thread, encouraging the viewer/wearer to hand-embroider the words as a way of meditating upon the ways that our ethics and actions materialize in the world. $30, in black or white options.
Design Media Arts professor Casey Reas’s practice ranges from works on paper to urban-scale installations, solo projects in studio to collaborations with architects and musicians. His latest book “Making Pictures With Generative Adversarial Networks" ($15) is a non-technical introduction to creative applications of AI technologies. The book aims to inspire future research and collaboration, and to encourage a rigorous discussion about art in the age of machine intelligence.
Department of Architecture and Urban Design Professor Neil Denari is principal of Neil M. Denari Architects (NMDA), a Los Angeles-based office dedicated to exploring the worlds of architecture, design, urbanism, and global cultural phenomenon. NMDA works internationally at all scales with award winning projects such as l.a. Eyeworks, the Alan-Voo Residence, the Endeavor Talent Agency, built projects in Japan for the Mitsubishi United Financial Group, and for HL23 in New York, a 14-story residential tower. Denari’s anthology, MASSX: Neil M. Denari Architects - Precise Form For An Imprecise World: Selected Things 2000-2017, offers both a rich history of projects and an in-depth examination of the firm’s practice. ($160)
What is the origin of “room temperature?” When did food become considered fresh or not fresh? Why do we think management makes things more efficient? The answers to these questions share a history with architecture and regulation at the turn of the twentieth century. Drawing on a range of previously unexplored archival resources, Department of Architecture and Urban Design Associate Professor Michael Osman’s book “Modernism’s Visible Hand” examines the increasing role of environmental technologies in building design from the late nineteenth century—from cold storage and scientific laboratories to factories. The book broadens our conception of how industrial capitalism shaped the built environment as well as the role of design in dealing with ecological crises today. ($30)
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Department of Architecture and Urban Design Professor Dana Cuff engages spatial justice and cultural studies of architecture as a teacher, scholar, practitioner, and activist. Since 2013, Cuff has led a cross-disciplinary team at UCLA called the “Urban Humanities Initiative.” UHI offers students from architecture, urban studies, and the humanities a radical platform for crossdisciplinary, impactful, urban scholarship and action. Cuff co-authored a book about this effort entitled Urban Humanities: New Practices for Reimagining the City (MIT Press, 2020), which offers original, action-oriented humanist practices for interpreting and intervening in the city. The book's case studies report on real-world projects in mega-cities in the Pacific Rim—Tokyo, Shanghai, Mexico City, and Los Angeles—with several projects described in detail, including playful spaces for children in car-oriented Mexico City, a commons in a Tokyo neighborhood, and a rolling story-telling box to promote “literary justice” in Los Angeles. ($30)
James Welling, Emeritus Professor in the Department of Art, extends his iconic experiments with photography and color into the realm of dance, landscape, and architecture in his gorgeous new monograph James Welling: Choreograph from Aperture ($80). To create Choreograph, Welling photographed dancers performing in New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and Los Angeles, ultimately combining these images with landscapes and architecture. In a multichannel hack, Welling attains "pathological color"—the purposeful misuse of imaging technologies as a way to short-circuit conventions of photographic representation. Welling notes: “To my surprise, the buildings and landscapes that I used often seem to function like theatrical stages for the dancers. By choosing to use ‘choreograph,’ drawing with dance, as a noun, I am noting its similarity to ‘photograph,’ drawing with light.” You can also get a limited-edition print of the cover image, in an edition of 50, from George Eastman Museum. ($75)
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The Hammer Museum’s “Made in L.A. 2020: a version” brings together an intergenerational and interdisciplinary mix of artists, each of whom is contributing to L.A.'s vibrant art scene. Under the direction of co-curators Myriam Ben Salah and Lauren Mackler, the 2020 iteration is no exception. The Hammer's Ikechukwu Onyewuenyi is assistant curator for performance. Drawing inspiration from historical artist magazines, this catalog of the biennial ($50) is not documentation of the artists' work, but rather serves as an additional venue for the exhibition. It includes images of the artists' studios, art made specifically for the pages of the book, as well as essays and conversations between artists and curators that weave together the conceptual through-lines of the show. Find more gift ideas, ranging from posters to artist-designed clothing, at the Hammer store.
Neil Garg, a distinguished professor and the Kenneth N. Trueblood Endowed Chair in Chemistry and Biochemistry, was a panelist in the multidisciplinary discussion series “10 Questions: Reckoning," responding to the question “What Is Humor?” Garg uses a range of innovative and out-of-the-box teaching methods to make the study of organic chemistry fun and engaging. His students have created hundreds of chemistry-related music videos, an app that creates 3D renderings of molecules, and online science tutorials that have been watched around the world. Garg also created “The Organic Coloring Book" ($7) with his two young daughters. What started as a father-daughter bonding experience became a way to promote scientific literacy for the general public. They followed it up with “Cheesy Goes to the Doctor” ($7), a coloring book about a mouse that learns about medicine.
Support the Arts at UCLA
In a year of unprecedented challenge and uncertainty, a gift to the School of the Arts and Architecture’s Fund for Excellence will help us respond to our students’ most pressing needs, while creating new opportunities for the future. Join UCLA Arts in shaping the future.
Give the gift of membership to UCLA Arts’ renowned museums and performing arts programs
A CAP UCLA Membership supports the performing arts and provides access to all CAP UCLA programming for free. Become a partner in the creative process and help support the vitality of contemporary performing arts.
A Fowler Museum membership comes with perks, including curator-led tours of contemporary art exhibitions at the Fowler Museum and other museums; special “behind the scenes” opportunities; and invitations to exclusive events that explore related art, food, theater, film, and dance.
A Hammer Museum membership gives you access to digital content and online experiences designed exclusively for members. Once the museum reopens, your membership will grant you priority access to our exhibitions and programs.
Jonesing for some stylish UCLA Arts merch? The UCLA Store carries a collection of UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture branded products including water bottles, caps, mugs, t-shirts, and license plate holders. Available online here.
HEADER IMAGE: Head Wrap Curaçao from Turbante-Se.
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