Hi! BeansTalk will be on holiday through July 6, 2004 (the birthday of BeansTalk!). Have a wonderful and safe weekend!

Travel Ready: Sonya Dakar offers up a great skin-care travel kit for Acne. The Acne Mini Kit retails for $39.50. The perfect size for travel, trial, or a great gift. Each product comes in 1/4 oz. jar and includes step-by-step instructions.

Includes the following products:

* Mud Lavender Wash

* Triple Action Organic Scrub - Acne

* Omega-3 Repair Complex - Acne

* Hydrasoft Lotion - Acne

* Enzyme Peeling Cream

* Mud Lavender Mask

* Drying Potion - Full Size

Great to take along on vacation.

Visit http://www.sonyadakar.com/products/minikit-acne.htm.

Who’s Wearing What: Actress Christina Applegate chose “Mint”, a pair of shoes from Mang by George Mang, a footwear collection by designer George Mang, to Anchorman-The Legend of Ron Burgundy premiere. “Mint” is a round toe black suede shoe with metallic silver leather piping and bow detail on a cylindrical ombre heel.

Actress Jennifer Aspen wore Tree by Los Angeles design duo Theresa McAllen and Beverly Klein to the premiere of “LA Twister.” Her top was a Sea blue silk charmeuse mitered cami; skirt, a Celery charmeuse asymmetrical skirt and sweater, a forced neck merino wool wrap cardigan in hunter, aqua and celery.

Looking too low-carby: Brandy, out a lot lately (at the BET Awards, at Fuse’s Daily Download and MTV’s TRL).

Getting SURLY Down in L.A.: Our friends at Surly Girl Studios have moved from their Northern California based to a new So Cal location. We love their bags! Check them out at http://www.surlygirlstudios.com/.

Usher –ed In : Usher Tells “The Truth” Singer Announces First Leg of US Tour Presented by MTV Hot off the record-breaking success of his No. 1 album, Confessions, multi-platinum LaFace/Zomba Label Group recording artist Usher will embark on the US leg of his “The Truth” Tour Presented by MTV, coming to arenas and coliseums around the country, kicking off August 5, 2004 in Hampton, VA. This new tour will feature theatrical set designs, wardrobe changes, full live band, and — of course — Usher’s signature moves. The Los Angeles Times (about his 2002 “Evolution 8701” tour), called Usher a “skilled singer and tremendous dancer,” and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution proclaimed it “a show like no other.” In a recent interview with USA Today, Usher promises “The Truth” tour will be even bigger, saying it will be “a night to remember.” Joining Usher will be Kanye West.

In March, Usher dropped his fourth studio album, Confessions, which sold 1.1 million copies in its first week, the highest ever debut in Soundscan history by an R&B artist. Confessions spent nine weeks at No. 1 — the longest stint at No.1 since Santana’s 1999 album Supernatural — and has already been certified 4x platinum.

Earlier this month, Usher became only the third artist in history (joining the Beatles and the Bee Gees) to net three Top Ten singles in one week. Usher’s second single “Burn” holds at No.1, while the first single “Yeah!” — which set a new record for listener imprints, 172 million listeners in one week — still remains in the Top Ten. His third single “Confessions Part II” quickly shot up the charts to No. 2 and continues its climb. If “Confessions Part II” unseats Usher’s current chart-topper “Burn,” he will be the second artist ever (previously accomplished by the Beatles) to score three consecutive No. 1 singles. With the twelve-week reign of “Yeah!” and the seven-week run thus far of “Burn,” Usher has set yet another record: controlling the top spot of the Billboard Hot 100 for 19 weeks, the longest any artist has ruled the charts since their inception in 1940.

MTV is the presenting sponsor of “The Truth” Tour. The music network will support the tour both on air and online with tour promos, ticket giveaways, full tour information and live video streams on MTV.com, MTV News reports from the road, behind the scenes features, plus special packages on TRL, Direct Effect, and more.

Below are tour dates for Usher’s upcoming US tour, promoted nationally by Concerts West / AEG LIVE and Atlanta Worldwide Touring. More dates to follow. Usher is currently on the European leg of “The Truth” Tour.

USHER: The Truth Tour
Dates Subject to Change

8/5 Hampton, VA Hampton Coliseum
8/6 Baltimore, MD 1st Mariner Arena
8/7 Raleigh, NC RBC Center
8/9 Toronto, ON Air Canada Centre
8/12 Dallas, TX American Airlines Center
8/13 Houston, TX Toyota Center
8/14 New Orleans, LA New Orleans Arena
8/17 Cincinnati, OH US Bank Arena
8/19 Philadelphia, PA Wachovia Center
8/20 Washington, D.C. MCI Center
8/21 E. Rutherford, NJ Continental Airlines Arena
8/22 Boston, MA FleetCenter
8/25 Columbus, OH Value City Arena at the Schottenstein Center
8/26 Cleveland, OH CSU Convocation Center
8/30 Los Angeles, CA STAPLES Center
9/3 Oakland, CA Oakland Arena
9/5 Las Vegas, NV Mandalay Bay
9/9 Minneapolis, MN Target Center
9/10 Chicago, IL Allstate Arena
9/11 Auburn Hills, MI Palace of Auburn Hills
9/12 Milwaukee, WI Bradley Center
9/17 Memphis, TN FedEx Forum
9/18 St. Louis, MO Savvis Center
9/19 Kansas City, MO Kemper Arena
9/23 Miami, FL American Airlines Arena
9/24 Tampa, FL St. Pete Times Forum
9/25 Jacksonville, FL Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena
10/1 Greenville, SC BI-LO Center
10/3 Atlanta, GA Philips Arena
10/7 Hartford, CT Hartford Civic Center

VOTE NO: From our friends at Planned Parenthood Los Angeles:
OBJECT TO ANTI-CHOICE JUDGES!
The Senate is expected to vote on the nomination of J. Leon Holmes to the US District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas next Tuesday, July 6th. All signs point to a close vote on Holmes. Planned Parenthood Los Angeles strongly opposes his nomination.

Join us in urging your Senators to block his confirmation today.

Holmes has worked throughout his career to eliminate a woman’s right to choose. During his career, he has
• Served as the President of the Arkansas Right to Life and as Secretary of the Unborn Child Amendment Committee in Arkansas;
• Supported a constitutional amendment banning abortion;
• Dismissed concerns that such an amendment would prohibit abortion in cases of rape because, according to Holmes, the “concern for rape victims is a red herring because conceptions from rape occur with approximately the same frequency as snowfall in Miami.”
• Has twice compared abortion to the Holocaust in his writings

Since taking office, President Bush has nominated numerous judges to the federal judiciary who like J. Leon Holmes have demonstrated that they do not support a constitutional right to choose. Because lower federal courts exercise enormous power in deciding cases involving women's rights, the right to privacy, reproductive freedoms, and other basic civil rights, it is essential that judges appointed to these courts demonstrate a commitment to safeguarding these fundamental rights. J. Leon Holmes has not demonstrated this commitment.
Given the importance of the lower federal courts, we must hold our Senators accountable for their “advice and consent” role on judicial nominees. It is vital for the future of reproductive and civil rights that Holmes not be confirmed.
Object by visiting this site: https://secure2.convio.net/ppla/site/Advocacy?JServSessionIdr012=0re57biao1.app5a&page=UserAction&cmd=display&id=148

BBC America “Fakes It”: From choir girl to rock chick, bicycle courier to polo player and chess
player to soccer manager, the emotional roller-coaster of almost
implausible transformations returns in an all-new season of BBC AMERICA's
multi-awarding winning Faking It premiering Sundays from August 22 at 8:00
p.m. ET/PT.

A battle against the odds, Faking It charts the progress of five more
heroes, plucked from their natural habitats, to take up the challenge of
completely changing their identities. With the help of three experts,
they have just 28 short days to acquire the skills necessary to
convince a panel of professionals they are the real McCoy with a wealth of
background knowledge - and not just a faker with a month's experience
under their belt.

Winner of the inaugural Golden Rose of Montreux for reality TV - the
highest accolade in European TV - an International Emmy and a BAFTA
(British Academy of Film and Television), season three promises to be every
bit as dramatic and emotional as the first.

To kick off the new season Malcolm "Woody" Woodcock, a bicycle courier
from Manchester has just four weeks in which to pass himself off as a
polo player. Not only will he need to learn how to ride a horse, plus
all the shots rules and tactics, he'll also have to undergo quite a
major image makeover - the piercings will have to go along with the
ponytail...

Next to take up the challenge is Laura-Jane Foley a 20-year-old
Christian choir girl who's never been to a rock-concert and doesn't believe in
sex before marriage. It will take a few prayers in the church of rock
'n' roll to transform this straight-laced student into a sassy rock
chick from hell.

Others seeking to pull off unlikely transformations are a London
management consultant who hopes he won't be sniffed out as a fake dog
trainer, a general store owner who attempts to transform into a media savvy television reporter and a former world chess champion trying to pass himself off as a professional soccer manager.

As award-winning Faking It returns, Faking It Changed My Life - Part 2
looks back on the last season and follows up on some of the remarkable
developments in the lives of the participants. Some of the 'fakers'
have simply gained new hobbies, made new friends, or just realized
they're happy with things how they are. But others have had their lives turned upside down. Faking It Changed My Life - Part 2 premieres on Sunday, August 15 at 8:00 p.m. ET\PT.

OTHER BBC PROGRAMMING

NEW ON BBC AMERICA – SEPTEMBER 2004

PRIMETIME HIGHLIGHTS ON BBC AMERICA

THE WORST WEEK OF MY LIFE (U.S. original premiere)
The tension, mishaps and nightmares that befall a bride and groom during the week leading up to their wedding are explored to hilarious effect in BBC AMERICA’s latest acclaimed comedy premiere, The Worst Week of My Life.

Getting married should be the best experience of a person’s life – but for Mel Cook (Sarah Alexander, Coupling, Smack The Pony) and Howard Steel (Ben Miller) it turns into the week from hell.

There are just seven days to go before they get married in the beautiful grounds of her parent’s house. The couple have a few last-minute preparations to complete, like picking up the ring, co-ordinating the bachelor and bachelorette parties and finalizing the seating plan. What could possibly go wrong? For most people, nothing. But for Howard – everything.

As the week begins, Howard and Mel are blissfully looking forward to their wedding until a panicky call from Mel’s mother, Angela, disturbs their tranquil morning. Howard has one task to complete before they visit Mel’s parents later that evening – he has to pick up the wedding ring and deliver the precious family heirloom to his in-laws. However, Howard’s office friends decide to throw him a surprise drinks party and things don’t quite go to plan.

Each episode of the seven-part series will feature the events of a single day in the week before the big day - and it is a catalogue of mishaps. Will he and Mel ever make it up the aisle?
The Worst Week of My Life premieres Sundays from September 26 at 9:00 p.m. ET\PT.

HOLIDAY SHOWDOWN (U.S. original premiere)
Holidays can be stressful enough – but what happens when you end up going somewhere you would never dream of with a bunch of people you don’t know. In BBC AMERICA’s latest U.S. premiere series, two families with polar opposite views of what makes a great family holiday are sent off to swap holidays for one week each – together!

In week one everyone lives by the rules of Family One. In week two, the tables are turned, and Family Two takes charge as they both embark on a very different vacation. At the end of the two weeks both families come together for a Holiday Showdown “Last Supper” to give their full and frank views on their experiences.

Match ups include a family who enjoy hedonistic clubbing/beach holidays in Cancun, Mexico, with a Christian family who use their holidays to do charity work in villages in Ghana, West Africa. A competitive family who holiday in a static caravan holiday park and an aspirational family who holiday in an upmarket part of rural Lake District in the north of England. There’s also a family of “beach-bums” who go to Spain’s trashy Costa del Sol with a well-to-do “horsey” family who go riding in Sierra Nevada, Spain
Holiday Showdown premieres September 14 at 10:00 p.m. ET\PT.

McCALLUM (channel premiere)
John Hannah stars as the tough motorcycling forensic pathologist with a passion for the truth and a turbulent love life in BBC AMERICA’s compelling murder-mystery series, McCallum.

Dedicated to solving brutal murders in London’s East End, he and his team stop at nothing to solve complex crimes and chase down the city’s most dangerous killers.

In season two, McCallum himself becomes a suspect following the death of a medical student whose diary had named the pathologist as the father of her unborn child. In another case McCallum suspects that a human organ thief is on the prowl after an eviscerated body is found in a sewer while an intriguing investigation reveals mysterious substances in two bodies that had previously been diagnosed with Anorexia Nervosa.
McCallum airs Wednesday’s from September 27 at 9:00 p.m. ET\PT.

THE LIFE LAUNDRY (U.S. premiere season)
Are you drowning under a sea of clutter from a lifetime of hording family memorabilia? Struggling to maintain order in a chaotic family house? BBC AMERICA can help.

In the inspirational UK lifestyle show, The Life Laundry helps transform people’s homes by getting them to clear out their clutter, ditch their junk and reveal the treasure that lies beneath. Dawna Walter offers top tips on purging superficial paraphernalia and clearing the clutter while antiques dealer Mark Franks helps people
turn their junk into hard cash.

This season, Dawna and Mark bring order to a central London home squeezed by an owners hording of memorabilia from their career in broadcasting. Help is also at hand for one young woman too guilty to rid an inherited home of her godmother’s possessions. While order is imposed on the home of a former BBC DJ who is drowning under decades worth of music paraphernalia, board games and comics of every description.
The Life Laundry premieres Saturdays from September 4 at 9:30 p.m. ET/PT.

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION (U.S. premiere season)
Two of the sharpest minds in the UK property market take up the challenge of finding buyers an ideal home in just a few days in an all-new season of Location, Location, Location.

From scouring the market for the perfect house to making the final offer, expert property finders Kirstie Allsopp and Phil Spencer have a mission to help homebuyers find the best home for the best price.

Each week, Phil and Kirstie get to know the lifestyles, likes and dislikes of a new couple in a new location. Armed with a budget and their expert knowledge of the market, our property professionals offer advice to help couples find their ideal space or re-assess their priorities to find something more realistic for the money and location they are searching in.
Location, Location, Location premieres Saturdays from September 4 at 10:00 p.m. ET\PT.

CASH IN THE ATTIC (U.S. premiere season)
BBC AMERICA turns hidden treasure into cash and dreams into reality for more participants looking for Cash in the Attic.

Converting redundant belongings into cold, hard cash, BBC AMERICA’s antiques experts, Jonty Hearndon and Paul Hayes, help families sift through their possessions, sniffing out potential items of value. Anything that is found then goes to auction in the hope that enough money can be made to help a family achieve a cherished goal.

Sheila Taylor is hoping to raise money so that she can publish poetry written by her recently deceased mother. Another viewer is determined to clear out the clutter in her parent’s home with the incentive of helping them earn enough cash to visit their other daughter in Australia. And a couple need some extra resources to fulfil both their separate dreams – he wants to drive a real steam train and she wants a painting holiday in Spain.

While the object is clearly for the family to make enough money for them to achieve their goals, the outcome is by no means a foregone conclusion. Combining fascinating tales of family history and circumstance with the unpredictability of the auction room, Cash in the Attic is guaranteed to get you rummaging through your closets.
Cast in the Attic premieres Tuesdays from September 28 at 8:00 p.m. ET\PT.

TRAILER PARK BOYS (U.S. premiere season finale)
BBC AMERICA pulls up at Sunnyvale Trailer Park for the final episode from season two of the totally original, heart-warming comedy about the lives and loves of the inhabitants of a small blue collar district on the outskirts of Halifax in Canada.

At the heart of the community are Ricky (Robb Wells) and Julian (John Paul Tremblay) – two potty mouthed, petty criminals whose love for fast cars and living on the edge of the law is matched by a deep sense of loyalty and responsibility to the trailer park in which they live.

At the start of the season, the boys emerged from jail pledging that things were going to be different. Julian had a plan – it was called “Freedom 35” and it called for Ricky to grow as much of his awesome dope as he could for Julian to sell to prisons across the country through his prison guard contacts. In return they’ll make a trailer full of cash – enough to let them retire early and stay out of crime forever.

It’s now “Freedom 35 day” – the day Julian plans to sell his dope to the guards. It’s also a big day for Ricky. Not only will he be rich, he’ll also have his grade ten, assuming he passes his exam. With their Airstream trailer filled with dope and ready to go, will it be a life of leisure or back to prison for the hapless Trailer Park Boys?
Trailer Park Boys (season finale) premieres Thursday, September 30 at 9:00 p.m. ET\11:00 p.m. PT.

LA Art Scene Notes
The Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater (REDCAT) today announced the programming for the new 2004-05 season at the Gallery at REDCAT. The season, REDCAT’s second, opens in September with the group exhibition White Noise and continues in November with an exhibition of new work by Korean artists Gimhongsok and Sora Kim. The Los Angeles debut of Tokyo artist Taro Shinoda opens in February, followed in April by Facing the Music, an exhibition conceived and organized by Allan Sekula that considers the changing fabric of downtown Los Angeles. The 2004-05 season concludes next summer with MATOKIE LIVES, a survey of the works of Bay Area painter Margaret Kilgallen.





White Noise
September 9-October 31, 2004
Artist Talk: Wednesday, September 8, 6-7 p.m.
Opening Reception: Wednesday, September 8, 7-9 p.m.
Curated by Assistant Curator Clara Kim

The exhibition White Noise presents works that create disruptions or interferences on our visual, sonic and structural landscape. Although “white noise” is a term commonly linked to sound frequencies, the exhibition will play with notions of what is perceptible and imperceptible in video, photography and sculptural forms. Like white light that contains all spectral colors, white noise is made up of a range of frequency waves that are not detectable by the human ear. In this context, the works in White Noise can be read as signals that disrupt what is normal. They are visual manifestations of what underlies our sensory conscience altering our perceptions about reality.

In their collaborative video From A to B (2004), artists Artemio (Aguilar) and Ruben Gutierrez excavate found footage from films and television to create a continuous cycle of absurdly repetitive gestures and fragments. Los Angeles-based artist Rodney McMillian similarly takes images from popular culture. In Untitled (an audience) (2003), McMillian manipulates a recording of Michael Jackson’s anniversary concert that aired on network television. Laureana Toledo uses the static frame to make slight manipulations on the natural landscape. In Patrones Migratorios (2001), Toledo tracks the migratory patterns of birds by superimposing abstract forms onto photographic documents. San Francisco-based artist Felipe Dulzaides also manipulates the existing world, but through “real” interventions; simple, performative gestures that have a poetic resonance. In Toilet Paper Acts (2002), Dulzaides transforms one-way city streets and parking spaces by adding a temporary line of toilet paper, thereby manipulating the artificial boundaries that dictate public behavior. In Stefan Brüggemann’s This is not Supposed to be Here (2004), neon letters spell out the title phrase, recalling Arte Povera materials and processes while destabilizing our understanding of location and perspective. In her recent sculptural installations, Shirley Tse melds her interest in common, synthetic materials and the architecture of electrical towers as camouflaged structures whose transmissions affect human behavior and thought. Colectivo Tercerunquinto manipulates structural forms to alter the spatial dynamics of interior and exterior spaces. For White Noise, Tercerunquinto will create a new installation that responds to the architecture of REDCAT and the implications of its unique location in downtown Los Angeles.

Gimhongsok and Sora Kim
November 18–January 16, 2005
Opening Reception: Wednesday, November 17, 2004, 6-9 p.m.
Artist Talk: Saturday, November 20, 2004, 3 p.m.

The installations of Gimhongsok and Sora Kim propose a logic of transcendence in the face of rampant consumerism and today’s technological regime. Gimhongsok's recent work Boat (2001-2), considers its own integral relationship to the motion, logic, and internal economy of exhibitions. Treating the project as movement, the artist began with the neutral object of a cast fiberglass rock and assigned it the title “boat.” As he followed the work to different cities, the artist added local foodstuffs and necessary devices to his vessel. Equipped with laptop, music system, beer, umbrella, fishing rods and instant noodles, the resulting object is both absurdly material and slyly anti-material, suggesting the interdependency of the imagination on the physical conditions in which it is cultivated -- here the artificial economy of a traveling exhibition. Sora Kim’s interactive installations such as Capitol Plus Credit Union offer provocative and necessary explorations of the subjectivity of value and consumption. In this work viewers are invited to “deposit” everyday objects in the artist's credit union for the duration of the exhibition. After an item’s size, weight, use and other factors are measured and noted on a deposit slip, it begins to earn interest based on the artist’s own calculation of an item’s value. The calculation of value, the means of accrual of interest, and the way in which interest will be paid remain speculative.

Gimhongsok has exhibited his work at P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center, New York; Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery; Taipei Fine Arts Museum; Espai d’Art Contemporani de Castello, Valencia; Mattress Factory, Pittsburgh; and Art Sonje Center, Seoul. Sora Kim has exhibited her work at the Mattress Factory, Pittsburgh; Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery; Earl Lu Gallery, Singapore; Rodin Gallery, Seoul; Art Sonje Center, Seoul; and the Gwangju Biennial. Their collaboration Chronic Historical Interpretation Syndrome (2003) was featured in Dreams and Conflicts: The Dictatorship of the Viewer at the 50th Biennale di Venezia. Following a month-long residency in Los Angeles partially funded by the Korea Foundation, Gimhongsok and Sora Kim will create a new project for the Gallery at REDCAT. Both artists live and work in Seoul.

Buried Treasure: Taro Shinoda
February 3-April 3, 2005
Opening Reception: Wednesday, February 2, 2005, 6-9 p.m.
Artist Talk: Saturday, February 5, 2005, 3 p.m.

Taro Shinoda’s works often engage issues of science, adaptation, and desire. His work was first exhibited in the United States in 2003 in the group exhibition Time After Time: Asia and Our Moment at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco (co-curated by REDCAT Gallery Director and Curator Eungie Joo). The exhibition featured two installations by Shinoda: the kinetic light installation Milk (1995, 2003), a reflection pool that plays off of the artist’s training in traditional Japanese landscape; and the installation PSP or Personal Satellite Project (2002), a consideration of the humanistic and
personal applications of technology through an installation of videos and hand
sculpted miniature satellite models on chrome computer bases that considers
ownership and access to airspace. Shinoda’s recent works continue a kind of existentialist exploration of the technological age. In God Hand (2002), a
giant propeller wing connected to a jet engine suggests a dangerous yet
fascinating manipulation of space through velocity and energy. Helicopter (2003) was developed during a residency in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. While there, the artist saw helicopters used as a normal mode of transportation for wealthy citizens for whom automobile traffic afforded an unnecessary risk of kidnapping. Shinoda was surprised by the fantastical and violent implications of this mode of transportation and reminded of a favorite toy helicopter from childhood. In the work, the audience operates a radio-controlled helicopter, “saving” colorful plastic figures by picking them up and dropping them off around the gallery metropolis. While the interactive, game-like quality of the work is playful, its implications are by no means transparent.

Born in 1964, Taro Shinoda emerged as a practicing artist at the age of 30. He has participated in a number of major group exhibitions such as the 2001 Yokohama Triennial, Under Construction: New Dimensions in Contemporary Asian Art at Artspace Ima in Seoul and Tokyo Opera City Gallery (2001-2), the 2002 Lithuanian Biennial, and Rroppongi Crossing (2004) at the Mori Art Museum. Shinoda’s project will follow his three-month residency in Los Angeles funded by the Asian Cultural Council.


Facing the Music
April 13 – May 29, 2005
Opening Reception: Wednesday, April 6, 2005, 6-9pm
Artists Talk: Saturday, April 9, 2005, 3pm
Guest curated by Allan Sekula

Facing the Music is a collaborative project initiated in 1999 to investigate the urban fabric of downtown Los Angeles in the wake of the construction of the Walt Disney Concert Hall. Five participating artists -- James Baker, Anthony Hernandez, Karin Apollonia Müller, Allan Sekula and Billy Woodberry -
have been working outward from the main entrance of the Concert Hall at the corner of First Street and Grand Avenue. This urban street corner can be understood as an intersection of the new axis of culture and official spirituality and the older axis of government and official media in Los Angeles. The lines drawn by this exhibition stretch from the new, but abandoned Belmont High School complex to the recently demolished housing project at Aliso Village, two sites well beyond the reach and remedy of today’s downtown boosterism. Work in the exhibition will include photography, new media, and video projection. A catalogue and lecture series will accompany the exhibition.

Facing the Music is organized by Allan Sekula and made possible by a grant from The J. Paul Getty Trust.

MATOKIE LIVES
June 16 – August 21, 2005
Opening Reception: Wednesday, June 15, 6-9pm

MATOKIE LIVES is a survey of the works of the highly influential Bay Area painter Margaret Kilgallen. Kilgallen devoured old-time sources with an insatiable ear and respectful eye: Appalachian music, hand-painted signage, letterpress printing, hobo train writing and all host of religious and decorative arts. With an elegant hand, Kilgallen meticulously copied letterforms and numbers in long forgotten scripts, revisiting the now forgotten pace of craftsmanship and the personal tales buried beneath official history. Kilgallen’s unique re-sourcing of sweetly familiar and non-hierarchical everyday places, markings and people found throughout California was in large part inspired by the wandering culture of immigrants, railway workers and dreamers.

Kilgallen was especially interested in evidence of a maker’s hand -- in seeing traces of the maker in her work. The artist explained:

I like things that are handmade and I like to see people's hand in the world, anywhere in the world; it doesn't matter to me where it is. And in my own work, I do everything by hand. I don't project or use anything mechanical, because even though I do spend a lot of time trying to perfect my line work and my hand, my hand will always be imperfect because it's human. And I think it's the part that's off that's interesting, that even if I'm doing really big letters and I spend a lot of time going over the line and over the line and trying to make it straight, I'll never be able to make it straight. From a distance it might look straight, but when you get close up, you can always see the line waver. And I think that's where the beauty is. (from Art 21: Art in the Twenty-First Century, http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/kilgallen/clip1.html)

Kilgallen was born in 1967 in Washington, D.C. She received a BA in printmaking from Colorado College in 1989 and her MFA from Stanford University in 2001. Kilgallen’s work has been exhibited at the UCLA Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, and the Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia. She died in 2001.

The Gallery at REDCAT is open Tuesday through Sunday, from noon until 6 p.m. or curtain. Admission to the gallery is free.

CalArts, the first U.S. higher educational institution to integrate the visual and performing arts under one roof, is recognized as the nation's leading laboratory for the arts. Housing six schools -- Art, Critical Studies, Dance, Film/Video, Music and Theater -- CalArts embraces creative cross-pollination among diverse art forms and traditions, and strongly encourages each artist to pursue his or her vision within a broad context of social and cultural understanding.

REDCAT, an interdisciplinary arts center that allows Los Angeles audience to follow the latest developments in the performing, visual and media arts from around the world, is a natural extension of CalArts’ educational mission. Its programming features a wide-ranging array of interdisciplinary performances, music and dance concerts, multimedia performances, theater works, film and video screenings, readings, and art exhibitions.

For more information about events at REDCAT, go to redcat.org. For more information about CalArts, visit calarts.edu.