DCA Arts and Cultural Calendar
Events Search and Views Navigation
September 2018
California Bound: Slavery on the New Frontier, 1848–1865
This exhibit examines California’s underrecognized involvement with slavery in the 19th century. With powerful photographs, historical documents, and other ephemera, California Bound: Slavery on the New Frontier, 1848–1865 illuminates the state’s struggles over enslavement in an era that encompassed two wars and the establishment of California, first as a territory and then a state. Tuesdays – Saturdays 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., Sundays 11:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
January 2019
Gary Simmons: Fade to Black
Artist Gary Simmons references film, architecture, and American popular culture in paintings and drawings that address race, class, and memory. Much of Simmons’s work centers on his signature erasure techniques. Hours: Tuesdays – Saturdays 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., Sundays 11:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
New Orleans Second Line Parades: Photographs by Pableaux Johnson
Louisiana native Pableaux Johnson has been photographing Second Lines—or Sunday brass band parades—in New Orleans for over a decade. This exhibition presents more than 40 color portraits of members of African American Social Aid & Pleasure Clubs (SAPCs). Wednesdays 12:00 noon – 8:00 p.m., Thursdays – Sundays 12:00 noon – 5:00 p.m.
February 2019
Adia Millett: Breaking Patterns
Adia Millett cycles her imagery through a variety of media, including collage, assemblage, photography, textiles, and painting, creating multilayered representations of deconstructed structures and imaginary interiors that stand in for the human experience and provide a dwelling place for a black aesthetic. Tuesdays – Saturdays 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., Sundays 11:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Men of Change
This exhibit presents the nation’s story through profiles of twenty-four revolutionary African American men, including Muhammad Ali, James Baldwin, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Ryan Coogler, W.E.B. Du Bois, and Carter G. Woodson. Each biography is paired with a selection of work by a noted contemporary artist, accentuating the subjects’ individual legacies while examining broader themes of masculinity, heroism, black identity, and more. Tuesdays – Saturdays 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., Sundays 11:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Highway 2 Call for Art and Art Show
Highway 2 Art Show at the La Cañada Los Angeles County Library in March 2019 showcasing art of the Angeles National Forest.
Life Model: Charles White and his Students
Presented at the original Otis Art Institute campus where Charles White was the first African American faculty member, this exhibition illuminates the artist’s impact as a teacher. The show features artwork in diverse media and modes of expression, alongside sketchbooks, photographs, and archival footage that illuminate his pedagogy. The gallery is open to the public every Saturday afternoon from 1–4 pm
March 2019
Plumb Line: Charles White and the Contemporary
A prolific painter, printmaker, muralist, draftsman, and photographer whose career spanned more than half a century, Charles White’s artistic portrayals of black subjects, life, and history were extensive and far-reaching. Plumb Line features contemporary artists whose work in the realm of black individual and collective life resonates with White’s profound and continuing influence. Tuesdays – Saturdays 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., Sundays 11:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
The Liberator: Chronicling Black Los Angeles, 1900–1914
The Liberator: Chronicling Black Los Angeles, 1900–1914 sheds light on the expansion of the city’s African American community, its challenges in a post-Reconstruction era, and its hopes and accomplishments, as captured in the newspaper’s pages. More than a century since The Liberator’s final issue, this exhibition includes rare ephemera, photographs, and artifacts that offer a unique study of the narrative of black Los Angeles. Tuesdays – Saturdays 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., Sundays 11:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power 1963-1983
Soul of a Nation celebrates the work of Black artists made over two decades beginning in 1963, at the height of the civil rights movement. The exhibition devotes individual galleries either to groups of artists working in a particular city — with three galleries dedicated to artists living and working in Los Angeles – or to a different kind of art production. The exhibition showcases communities engaged in robust artistic dialogues, while also revealing disagreements about what it meant to…