Here Comes the Shark – Jaws Celebrates 50th Anniversary at Academy Museum of Motion Pictures

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With warm remarks by filmmaker Steven Speilberg, exhilerating soundtrack excerpts performed symphonically live and set to movie stills, dun-dun dun-dun dun– Jaws has arrived at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in mid-city.

It was a thrilling introduction to a well done exhibition at the museum, one that any movie lover should brave the waters filled with LA traffic sharks to experience.

The live musical experience of the Hollywood Studio Symphony – who performed the iconic John Williams score for the film originally, added to the enthusiasm of the audience before we even got a look at the beautifully realized multi-gallery experience.

Celebrating the 50th anniversary year of Steven Spielberg’s Jaws (1975), the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures first large-scale exhibition dedicated to a single film is also the largest exhibition to have showcased Universal Pictures’ landmark summer blockbuster, which earned three Academy Awards® and was nominated for Best Picture.

Running September 14, 2025, through July 26, 2026 in the Marilyn and Jeffrey Katzenberg Gallery, Jaws: The Exhibition breaks down famous scenes, offers interactive experiences, behind-the-scenes stories, and some 200 original objects on display.

Interactive experiences include the ability to pose as the arm buried in the sand dune on the beach; create your own dolly shot on your smart phone, operate a facsimile of Bruce the shark (the real deal hangs outside the gallery, spanning massive ceiling space over the escalator), or sit in the galley of the boat where the intrepid team of shark hunters bonded in the film.

Props and notes and even a camera are on display among many objects never previously shown to the public, some from the personal collections of Steven Spielberg and the Amblin Hearth Archive, the NBCUniversal Archives & Collections, and the Academy Collection.

 

According to Academy Museum Director and President Amy Homma, who gave her remarks at the press opening, “The Academy Museum celebrates film history and with this exhibition we can bring never-before-seen movie experiences to a public audience…[and] create a space where the worldwide community of Jaws fans can gather and relive the movie while giving new audiences the joy of discovery.”

Senior Exhibitions Curator Jenny He, who also spoke at the opening noted that “It has been absolutely rewarding to engage with so many outstanding collaborators to tell the story of Jaws through an exhibition, which is as thoughtful and revelatory as it is immersive and thrilling. All of us at the Academy Museum are deeply grateful for the invaluable support and insight we have received, working with Steven Spielberg’s personal archive at Amblin, the collection at Universal Pictures, numerous private collectors, and many of the Jaws filmmakers.”

The exhibition leads museum visitors through the structure of the film in six sections: “The Unseen Danger,” “Amity Island Welcomes You,” “Sunday at the Beach,” “The Shark’s Rampage,” “Adventure Ahead,” and “Into the Deep.” The final gallery of Jaws: The Exhibition explores the enduring impact of the film.

From scene set ups to learning about the team behind the film, location scouting, and the film’s famous dolly zoom effect, visitors will uncover terrific information amid a visually resonant series of original set decorations and props, production designs, a Moviola used by editor Verna Fields, and even have a chance to play the musical notes that signal the approach of the shark.

The delightfully immersive and experiential exhibition highlights the impact of the film on motion picture industry itself and pop culture, and brings viewers into the world of movie making as well as drawing them into the enduring allure of the film itself, from the dangerous great white shark to the efforts of the town’s chief of police (Roy Scheider), a young marine biologist (Richard Dreyfuss), and a grizzled shark hunter (Robert Shaw) to destroy the terrifying creature before it kills again.

As a thrilling adventure and as a remarkable feat of filmmaking – Speilberg remarked with wit about the great difficulties faced while filming on location, from rough seas to regattas showing up in his framing; and to the stress of being 110 days past the original shooting schedule. But what a reward for suffering the unexpected indignities of shooting at sea.

The Academy Museum is the largest museum in the world dedicated to global cinema and the arts, sciences, and artists of moviemaking. While you visit the brand new Jaws exhibition, be sure to also take a look the other stellar exhibits on display, from the world of Cyberpunk to the set designs of Barbie and Beauty & the Beast, the filmmaking of Bong Joon Ho, a glowing room of golden Oscars, and an astonishing collection of well known props and costumes from Captain America’s shield to Spiderman’s disguise.

  • Genie Davis; photos: Genie Davis

 

Glowing Gems from S.P. Harper at LAAA

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S.P. Harper‘s Oracles of Effulgence glows literally and figuratively in her solo exhibition at LAAA’s Gallery 825 which opens September 13th. The exhibition is mesmerizing from the artist’s mysterous, gem-like geometric imagry to her use of phosphorescent material that makes these works literally glow in the dark.

Harper has used geometric form and gemstone images to dazzling effect in other series as well, each lovely and immersive.

However in her new show,  there is something resonately deep going on, a visionary transformation due to the way in which the works transition between daylit radiance and what look like bioluminescent forms in the dark.

Melding found objects with phosphorescent paint, Harper creates something entirely different, both reflecting a magical transformation and a hidden source, as if inviting the viewer to step into the depths of the earth and uncover some long buried and secret elements of the earth.

Riffing on cubism and the luster of gemstones, specifically diamonds as inspired by the artist’s diamond cutter grandfather, Harper shapes her own jewels as perfectly and precisely as nature forms minerals and crystals, or just as diamonds-in-the-rough are faceted and reimagined as stunning rings.

Diamonds are definitely this artist’s best friend, as she uses their shape and their sparkle to create richly dimensional, emotionally faceted work that is both elegant and luminous, alluring and delightful. She toys with the veiwers perceptions in a joyful and perceptive way– while we know the objects she presents here are not really aglow, they take on a life of their own, pulling the viewer into a compelling and intimate dance with a fantasy both familiar and impossible.

There is a subtle hint of throwback to the era of black light paintings and psychedelic trips– if that sort of hippie, happening past had been passed through a finely tuned filter and turned into fine art as delicately constructed as it is subversively joyous.

Harper has painstakingly applied multiple coats of an invisble phosphorescent paint. With gallery lights dimmed, each form leaps from the wall and illuminates the darkness; the gallery is tented off to fully reveal the magical mystery tour that Harper is taking us upon.

Harper’s use of transforming material is not new to her. She has painted and sculpted using recucled gemoterics in other series, utilizing media as diverse as discarded canvas and plaster scraps to reform materials into a kind of patterned contemporary vibrancy that is both unexpected and minutely rendered. The materials she utilizes in this exhibition include a shower curtain, wood salvage, and canvas. Her color palette here revolves on a series of dazzling blues and greens, an electrified ocean of  treasure.

And she knows her faceted styles, literally, titling works after their cut, Ascher, Brilliant, Princess, and Miner cut faceting, introducing viewers to her own magical knowledge of a creative skill few of us understand. Each image is immersive in this way, taking viewers into an emotional mine shaft in which gems are embedded, waiting for us to dig them out (pun intended) and take these treasures home.

The artist has explained her work simply and beautifully, saying “I paint jewels because they transfix and reflect.” Indeed they do.

Also exhibiting at Gallery 825 are Aileen Rodriguez Imperatrice with her new series Selective Memory;  Faina Kumpan with her whimsical and vivid fantastical sci fi figures in Are we alone? Aliens, mutants and visitors; and Tom Lasley with his evocative DioramaDrama.

Opening reception for all four solo shows at Gallery 825 is Saturday ,September 13 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The gallery is located in West Hollywood at 825 N. La Cienega. The exhibition runs through October 17.

  • Genie Davis; photos provided by the artist

 

A Purrfect Show – Natural History Museum’s Cats Pounces Into LA

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Fierce! The Story of Cats, now at the Natural History Museum through February 18, 2026, brings an immersive, intelligent, and fun view of the fabulous feline to Los Angeles.

Saber-toothed cats had pretty impressive bicuspids!

Along with learning that the La Brea Tar Pits were once home to lions, and that cat friendships and mousing expertise long pre-dated the Egyptian culture’s deification of cats, the exhibit revealed not only cat history, but cat breeds, cat physicality, and cats as art and vestiges of good fortune.

There are clips from cat media (of course including last year’s Academy Award-winning Flow), video of Chinese New Year lion dancers, and even a gigantic sculpture of a Japanese “lucky kitty.”

Flow, above.

What and how cats see, below.

Add your kitty to the carousel of pretties…

In its West Coast debut, the show also features clever cat facts and silhouettes of kitties on the exhibition gallery walls; the ability to enter photos of your own cats as part of a slide show of domestic kitties; and a variety of cultural cat objects.

Seeing the size of various cat claws up close, and cat teeth, and cat fossils, the viewer gets a look at the evolution of cats, the array of feline family cousins and descendents. There are hands-on facts and fun, audio exhibits, and perhaps best of all, a wide ranging display of both taxidermied cats, art depictions of cats, and yes, stuffies of cats, all revealing the beautiful and diverse creatures that make up the feline family tree.

Learn how cats leap, all about their vision, their supple skeletal structure, the differences in fur, the commonalities among feline types.  Hear them roar, hear them purr, consider the reason cat claws contract, and the joy of a playful kitten.

From protecting crops to balancing the eco system in the wild, from predatory hunting skills to the healing sound of a purr, this lovely, multi-room exhibition (plus a gift shop with a lot of fun kitty-lover treats) is informative, fun, and packs a potent message about how important it is to protect cats great and small, their habitats and their homes.

The Natural History Museum is located at 900 Exhibition Blvd. in Los Angeles; open hours are 9-5 Monday-Sunday; Fierce tickets are $12 above the regular museum entrance pricing of $18 per adult admission. Go ahead, take a leap.

  • Genie Davis; photos by Genie Davis

Sur: Biennial at Torrance Art Museum Revs Up

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Sur: Biennial is an exhibition series that made it’s first apeparance in 2011, and is still going strong today. Highlighting the impact of Latin American culture in art, this year’s compelling works are bold and in some instances, wonderfully surreal.

Works on exhibit include those by Carlos Beltran Arechiga, Carlos Rittner, chris velez, Elena Manero, Jesus Max, The Lowrider Alliance, Migues Rodriguez Sepulveda, and Priscilla Mondo.

The Lowrider Alliance also presented four absolutely gorgeous cars outside the museum on opening night, each their own work of art from metal work details to vibrant paint.

The entire exhibition shines with a glorious light,  from those exhibited cars outside to culturally resonant photos taken by The Lowrider Alliance inside, to Carlos Rittner’s large and exciting neon, and chris velez ‘ glowing anime-style figure offering blessing from inside a tech version of a confessional booth.

velez also exhibits a wild update on the Sword and the Stone, with “The sword was never removed by a King it was thrust by a Saint” a sculpture that embeds a sword in a microfilm reader’s screen.

There are twisted, sinuous sculptures from Priscilla Mondo that despite their monumental size, seem to float on the gallery floor.

A massive oil and acryllic on sewn canvas painting by Carlos Beltran Arechiga, “Conjura,” (above) reveals fantastical pink and white figures that are both abstract and figurative at the same time; a smaller work by the artist was created in part by using different blends of coffees from Mexican Nescafe to Starbucks, each creating a different texture.  The latter work, “Balance: Fragil” speaks beyond texture to the treatment of workers at coffee plantations.

Jesus Max displayed a compelling series of hyper-realistic paintings that flirt with surreal elements; Elena Manero’s paintings are graceful stories come alive with nuanced color, and Migues Rodriguez Sepulveda also contributes outstanding work.

Last, but certainly not least, Lowrider Alliance contributions to SUR Biennial were curated by Art Limon (President, Lowrider Alliance) featuring artists Alfonso “Fox” Orozco, Estevan Oriol, G. Alfaro, Gil Ortega, Horacio Romero, Ignacio Gomez, Teresa Rodriguez, Vidal Herrera.

In the museum’s dark room, executive producer Dolores Huerta, presents Backstreet to the American Dream (2021), an insightful and intimate film about race, labor, and class in modern-day America, focusing on blue-collar entrepreneurs and Latino immigrants in a 90-minute presentation.

Gallery Two also offers a fascinating and immersive exhibition…

In Affective Territories, Alternate Belongings, video and multimedia works focus on technology, its growing importance and our reliance on it, as well as its outgrowth of and from our human world. The exhibit is exciting, provocative, and leads the viewer into a world we know about but often prefer to remain unseen.

Exhibiting artists include:  Allyson Packer and Jesse Fisher / United States, Camille Dumond/ Switzerland, Chrystele Nicot & Antoine Alesandrini / France, Holly Veselka / United States, Joe Harjo / United States, Laine Rettmer / United States, Margaret Noble / United States, Paul Moore / Northern Ireland (UK), Scott Massey / Canada, Sophie Dia Pegrum / British/American, Spencer Chang / United States, Woohee Cho / South Korea/ United States.

In short,  TAM has once again curated a terrific group of exhibitions that speak to the immediate world, the future world, and our ongoing history.

Vibrant with color, alive, and thoughtful, these shows are worthy of a very long cruise down Whittier Boulevard and into East LA — and an extended visit to the Torrance Art Museum.

  • Genie Davis; photos by Genie Davis