Steel Art, Committed Heart: The Activism and Art of Karena Massengill

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Karena Massengill is both an artist and art activist. Her brilliant sculptural work in mediums from mild steel to fused glass and painted works is infused with the same kind of committment and rich meaning that she puts into the causes she espouses.

According to the artist, “My inspiration has largely been a desire to inspire other people to become a part of the solution and not be a part of the problem of climate change. When people recognize the power of their own voices to be heard and truly make a difference it is very inspiring to me.” She laughs that “Several years ago, a well-known critic (who will remain nameless) looked at my work and said ‘your work is unique and very special. And I have never seen anything like it! Though with your addressing climate change, it will never sell.'” Clearly that assessment has been incorrect.

Massengill has been an activist since high school. “Air pollution was a big problem from the TeePee burners at the lumber mills in Ukiah, California. A couple of friends and I wrote letters and pressured the city to do something about this problem. It worked. Another girlfriend and I got the dress code at school changed to allow girls to wear pants to school. It is so inspiring to me when people stand up for what is right,” she relates.

Her work and her political passions have both continued to evolve. Referring to her art, she notes that “I always did lots of life drawing in art school, [and I] traveled around South America painting,landscapes and portraits, and was invited into people‘s homes for food,” she recalls.

“Metalsmithing took on a passion for me until I realized the scale was too small. I discovered welding and was able to continue with my love for drawing and painting, and incorporating it within my sculptures,” she says.

Massengill loves to work with metal, and prefers recycled metals. “[I go] to scrapyards and pick up what I find on the street if it works as well. Because I love to paint and work with color. I incorporate that within the sculptures and [what I call accompanying works to many of my sculptures], Echoes. I also work with found materials and juxtapose materials in unorthodox ways, all while seeking to have a conceptual meaning behind it. Sometimes, as I work,very intuitively, I don’t even understand what the work means until I’ve completed it,” she explains.

Thematically her current work reflects her passion concerning climate change. “I work with recycled materials to help eliminate landfill as much as possible. I love to create [by] combining unorthodox materials, things that you would normally not see put together into some manifestation of my current passion.”

Indeed, she has at times included beads, sea shells, and a wide variety of metal scraps in her work.  Her steel working skills are unparalleled, and shape a body of work that is quite unusual.

Welding itself is what drew her to work in this medium. “When I immigrated to Canada after graduating with my BFA from Tyler School of Art, Temple University in Philadelphia, there was an ad in the paper offering successful applicants to be trained as welder-fitters to work on the pipeline transporting crude oil down from Alaska through Canada and into the U.S. ,” she  relates. “I applied and got the job! I trained along-side convicted felons seeking a better life for themselves. I had to earn their respect along with [honing] my craft. When I worked in traditional metal smithing, I found the scale too confining, so this was a perfect fit for me.”

 

Over the years, her welding skills have enabled her to work on large public commissions in both Canada and the U.S.

While working on the artwork for her public work, Gateway to Downey, in Downey, California, she used the opportunity to celebrate the aeronautical history of Downey, as well as addressing the food and shopping venues in the area. “The overhead cutouts create shadows that promote [the city of] Downey and simultaneously provide a shaded area as was requested by my client for having a meal outside.”

Massengill also created the public art project, “Rosie’s Dog Beach” for the City of Long Beach. She says that this piece “has reminded me of the power possessed by artwork, out in the public eye. It can stimulate conversation and generate ideas, emotional experiences, and even an intangible thought-provoking impact. I captured the joy of dogs playing on the beach and in the ocean,” she tells us.

The artist has been busy recently, with social exhibitions first at the Palos Verdes Arts Center and currently at Diversions Fines Arts Gallery. Asked what’s next, she reveals that she is looking forward to focusing on work in her studio without other distractions.

“I get so excited when an idea hits me and nothing else seems important until I can get into the thick of it! I love to make things, but I also love to feel like what I’m doing has meaning and is potentially important,” she says.

She welcomes other opportunities to show her work and the “stimulation of conversation…When people look at my work there’s an intimacy when they feel something and are moved to express their own experience of it.”

She says that what matters most to her is the reaction of her viewers, when people “see my work either emotionally, intellectually, or viscerally. I love it when they see things that I didn’t know are buried beneath– and it affects the way I see my work from then on,” she shares. She adds that to her,  “One of the most powerful things about abstract art is that it gives people permission and encouragement to explore the work personally as they have their own filters impacting this experience of it.”

Visit Karena’s multifacted and lovely work at Diversions Fine Arts, 1069 N. Aviation Blvd. in Manhattan Beach: open house and curatorial walkthrough 10/24 1-4; artist’s talk and closing reception 11/1; or stop by during regular gallery hours for a visit.

An Open Invitation to Exciting Art: Dave Clark is a Shape Shifter

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Dave Clark works with a wide range of mediums to create one-of-a-kind compelling sculptural forms, whether 2D or 3D. A master magician of found materials and repurposed ones, Clark makes tables, wall art, and free standing sculptures that rock a viewer’s world.

Clark is currently one of three solo artists that make up the Shapeshifters exhibition now at Diversions Fine Arts Gallery in Manhattan Beach. His inspirations are as varied as his work. “With pieces in the Perception series, [my inspiration] is the
anger and frustration of the manipulation of the populace; the need to communicate what I see as control of what people see and hear via the media. With other pieces it is either the need to do something or to do something that allows me to create an object to stimulate a person’s imagination, as is evident in the Mechanicals series [which is] reflective of the ideas behind my Design Fiction [series],” he explains.

His early work, art created in the 1970s and 1980s was “reflective of what I had in terms of materials and tools. This was heavily influenced by industrial machinery and things that did something. Lots of exploration of materials, shapes,” he relates.

From that era, his worked evolved into what he describes as more of a Pop Art aesthetic, and then “back into pieces that are meant to make the viewer react in some way. Wanting this from my art has allowed me to bounce around from the Skins series to the Mechanical series to the Perception series. And various pieces that don’t fit into anything other being sculptural in nature.,” he attests, admitting that when he becomes bored with a subject or series, he simply moves on.

As to his materials themselves, he notes that “A lot of what I use is mechanical or electrical in nature , or simply something I discovered that can be manipulated to create a texture….a texture to create a reaction.”

At the moment, he is working in the theme of Design Fiction, and has taken that thematically one step further by “creating ‘boxes’
that hold inside something reflective of a ‘reality.’ In this case,  something is happening inside that might cause one to imagine their own explanation of this ‘ reality,'” he notes.  He explains that he has also revised some of his pieces in an earlier Mechanical series to achieve “a degree of chaos.”

As to what lies ahead, Clark jokes “Fame, fortune… obscurity? No idea really. I just keep plugging along  either making what I make or building and supporting the arts community. One day at a time.”

The insight he choose to offer about his work over all is simple and complex: which more or less sums up each of his fascinating sculptural images. “It is what it is. It does what it does, or doesn’t. You tell me. My work is an open invitation. Rather than telling viewers what my art means, I am far more interested in what it means to [others], the conversation that unfolds between a viewer and a piece – that moment of personal recognition or unexpected association – is at the heart of what I make.”

Asked the most unique material he has ever worked with, Clark struggles to choose just one. “That is a tough one. Burned Gorilla Glue? Fabric dyes on paper? Formed concrete?” He adds that what drove him to repurpose electronic and other elements was the “look and feel” of industrial machinery, which he has always loved.

Creating art that is based on what those “machines do or did, or even might do” has been intrinsic to Clark’s process. “Art in the sense of creating or building things that worked, that functioned in some way [appeals to me.] So, using materials in that realm, allowed me to create my own mechanical devices.”

He describes those devices as failling into the overall theme of Design Fiction, a tech and design specific term that talks about the role of make-believe within the world of functional design. “Ideas generated within Design Fiction can be whimsical, inventive and off kilter though not by necessity,. What Design Fiction does is through its use of a prop or a device or a structure – say a thing – presents the ‘thing’ in everyday life as if it’s real. As such it is accepted as fact – it just is – in order to spark the imagination so it can be talked about and bandied about as if it were already real.”

In short, just as a novel creates an entire believable world, visually, Design Fiction does the same.  For Clark, his Mechanical Series “can be considered as Design Fiction in that we’re not sure what it is, what it does, or if it does anything… but it very much exists. These seemingly once-functional objects look like they belong in our world, but we just don’t know how or what happened to them to get to the point where they are today. And that lends them a bit of mystery.”  In other words, it makes them into the science fiction of art.

Clark has also created his own Design Fiction spin on functional tables that are the coolest must useful art around.

Along with his own awe-inspiringly innovative sculputral work, Clark has also recently created a series of small box galleries.
He describes their existence as based on being able to “share and/or promote art and artists by providing an alternative venue to show smaller scale art works with the larger community. There is no curation, and also no cost to the artist.”

The micro galleries, as he calls them, have created neighborhood art districts, which have also provided not only space but new ways of engaging culturally. They’re built on home owner property at that owner’s request, with more than 40 now spread across Long Beach and four already in the South Bay. Soon there will be more. “It is quite organic in growth with a gallery happening every month of so,” he says.

Clark’s magical mystery tour of sculptural art will be at Diversions Fine Arts Gallery  1069 N. Aviation Blvd. in Manhattan Beach from October 10th to November 1st. The opening reception is on the 10th from 4-7; don’t miss the chance to meet the artist and see these incredibly special works.

  • Genie Davis; photos provided by the artist

Annie Clavel: Art That Bursts With Texture

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Annie Clavel’s work is a swirling expansion of the visual soul, bursting with texture and triumphant with color. According to the artist, her inspiration is as diverse as her work. Currently, she says “I enjoy following the launch of new telescopes designed to explore the cosmos. There are so many unanswered questions about the true nature of the universe. Perhaps for me, this is a way to put our existence on Earth into perspective amidst the news and scenes that surround us. That’s where some of my inspiration comes from.”
But she also finds inspiration closer to earth, “I am constantly influenced by what I see in my daily life: the California light, the movement of a hummingbird outside my window, or the shouts of a homeless person near the Taco Bell [in my neighborhood.]”
And then there is a fascinating right-brain component. “Mathematics, which I have both studied and taught, plays a significant role in my art and helps me envision abstract worlds.” The depths of the cosmos, indeed.
Clavel began painting over forty years ago, she says, creating figurative watercolor work while still living in France, prior to her move to Callifornia. While still abroad, she “set out to explore abstract atmospheres using acrylics.  Upon arriving in the United States some twenty years ago, I faced several challenges: gaining a better understanding of American culture, defining what I wanted to paint, and building a network.”
As an artist, Clavel more than rose to those challenges. She describes herself as influenced by Dael Patton, an instructor at the Palos Verdes Art Center, which led her to be “truly immersed  in abstraction. I joined various art associations and participated in numerous exhibitions. I also felt that, as the years went by, figurative painting was losing the meaning I had originally attached to it, whereas abstract art was taking on profound significance for me.”
With that change, Clavel also changed her mediums. “For many years, I worked with watercolor on paper. Today, however, my preferred mediums are acrylic on canvas and watercolor on YUPO.  When painting with acrylics, I enjoy mixing fluid paints to create new colors, then applying them in free, layered strokes onto a stretched canvas.”
The artists points out that she “began using watercolor much more intensively after discovering YUPO as a new painting surface. YUPO is a non-absorbent paper that allows water to flow and colors to blend unpredictably. For me, the medium’s fluidity and watercolor’s vast color palette are major assets; they allow me to give free rein to my imagination as I explore abstract worlds and the events associated with them.”
Thematically, with her family living throughout the globe, she is exploring both her Vietnamese and French roots. “I would like to channel my inspiration into the feelings I have about the diversity of my background and the diverse environment I am now immersed in. I would like to develop a series dedicated to my ancestors and my scattered family. I think I will use a softer palette, without bright colors.”
In her current exhibition at Diversions Fine Arts Gallery, she displays an audacious and awesome mix of color, thick layers of paint, pinwheel-perfect small paper sculptures, and dreamy watercolor Rohrschachs.
She will also be participating in an open studio tour October 3rd and 4th from 1 to 5 pm, at 3101 E 2nd Street, #7C, Long Beach, and in an exhibition titled “Right Here, Right Now” on October 10th from 4-7 at Gallery Hellada at 117 Linden Ave also in Long Beach.
Regardless of where you view her lustrous work, Clavel wants her viewers to know that she lets her “instinct and intuition guide” her work in order to “capture parallel moments of time, advancing each work towards a personal resolution. I never sketch before painting. I put my present feelings directly on the surface, hoping that the viewers will find an echo in themselves.”
Clavel’s solo show in Diversions Fine Arts’ Golden Days exhibition runs through October 4th with an artist talk and closing 1-3 on that date. DFA is located at 1069 N. Aviation Blvd. in Manhattan Beach.
– Genie Davis, photos provided by the artist and Davis

The Horror of It All – Screamtacular at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures

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With perfect timing, both for the Halloween season and the current wave of exciting new horror films hitting film screens, The Horror Show exhibition opened this weekend at The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.

The beautifully curated exhibition is paired with public programming and film screenings, including a retrospective John Carpenter series, a Halloween evening screening of The Craft, and a 50th anniversary presentation of Carrie on November 19th which will include a talk with star Sissy Spacek.

From the splendor of the original Dracula cape, generously donated to the museum by the Lugosi family and luminously restored by the museum team to a “pose with Mrs. Bates” tribute to Psycho. this absorbing exhibition covers costumes, special effects, masks, movie posters, original concept art work, props, and of course, projected clips of classic films. The vast collection includes over 300 items on display, from memorabilia to monsters. It is worth nothing that the gift of Bela Lugosi’s heirloom Dracula cape was a major influence in creating the exhibition itself, and this iconic costume is being shown to the public for the first time.

It’s an immersively constructed exhibition divided into multple “chambers” of beloved horrors: Gothic, Psychological, Science, Slasher, Religion, and Ghosts. Guests enter the exhibition space through a dark gallery space that begins the experience with a horror soundscape.

Exiting the exhibition is done through a cinematic-blood spill and splattered plastic curtains.

The exhibition is pure nirvana for horror afficiandos such as myself, but it is a true pleasure for all cinema fans, and a fun experiential romp through the knowledge of all things horror, and horror movies. Among the especially fascinating artifacts are the dailies from the film shoot of horror classic The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.  Brilliant and breathtakingly terrifying images and scenes didn’t happen by magic, but rather through cinematic wherewithal and persistence that only looks like it was conjured up whole.

And speaking of the conjuring, “Annabelle” from many of The Conjuring series films is eerily encased in her infamous glass case, marked “Do Not Open;” Freddie Krueger’s ominous claw glove;  practical effects from The Ring and Alien are among the treasures on display.

Speaking of Freddie, Robert Englund, who played the Nightmare on Elm Street nightmare himself, was present at The Horror Show opening.  He expressed his gratitude for the museum’s recognition of the genre, which was not always as well-respected as it is today. Saying he was “proud of the Academy” for creating such a celebratory exhibition, he also noted that while when he first started acting in horror films “you kind of got the lousy table in the commissary by the kitchen door,” today “horror has saved studios and many majors.”  He adds “I think we’ve finally arrived.”

Nicholas Barlow,  one of the exhibition’s main curators,  noted that senior curator Jessica Niebel had proposed a horror exhibition before the museum even opened. “The date was pushed back, and now we are opening during a time in which there is a real love and hunger for horror,” he noted, adding that “Horror fans are very knowledgeable about the genre, so we were able to go deep across large swaths of horror history.”

According to Barlow, “One of the things to focus on in this exhibition is championing the creators as brilliant, ingenious filmmakers. People made so much for so little” in terms of budget. ”

The curator is proud to have “the original Leatherface [test] mask from 1974’s The Texas Chain Saw Massacre on loan from the University of Texas’ Harry Ransom Center. And along with that object we have dailies from the film that show it was really just a bunch of kids shooting on a shoestring…so simple, but the production of a masterpiece.”

He also noted the exhibitions focus on artwork, including poster art. And, he pointes out “There are many drawings made by real craftsmen as blueprints to design sets. We get to celebrate them as art objects and iconic pieces of art…the building blocks of the films” which “imagined this world.”

The Horror Show invites viewers into this marvelous and bloody universe through July 25th, 2027. The Academy Museum is located at 6067 Wilshiver Blvd. in mid-city. Be there and be scared!

  • Genie Davis; photos by Genie Davis and Charlie Davis