by Garrison Frost

Matthew Thomas is a nice man, and even though his light-filled studio at Angels Gate was fairly empty, you could tell that there was a lot going on as you walked in the door to find the artist in a crouch dropping blue-dyed rice onto a low wooden circle in the center of the room. Most of his finished work, it was explained to me later, was in an exhibition at a large Buddhist temple in downtown Los Angeles. But he had opened his door like all the other artists at the Angeles Gate Cultural Center on May 14 and we were the better for it.

Shelley and I like hitting these open studios events. We're regulars at the Brewery events downtown (which we were missing this weekend), but we particularly like seeing what artists living and working in the South Bay are up to. And nowhere does one get a better feel for that than at Angels Gate. For those who don't know, Angels Gate is a former military complex in San Pedro that was long ago taken over by the City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks and converted into series of artists studios and exhibition spaces. Set on top of a cliff overlooking the Korean Friendship Bell (which overlooks Point Fermin Park, which overlooks the Pacific Ocean), Angels Gate has an otherworldly feel to it that's perfectly suited to its function as an artists magnet. Standing among these old clapboard buildings – painted white but aging wonderfully – one gets the contrary feeling of being detached from the real world, but also being where a lot is happening. There's a lot here and it's all different. Some of it's great, some not so great. But it's always really interesting, and well worth the visit.

For instance, our first stop after meeting the quiet Matthew Thomas was the tight, dark little studio of Robert Costanza, who seems to currently be nursing an infatuation with high voltage. His biggest draw was an installation piece that combined the top five feel of a power pole with a man sitting at a desk. Visitors were encouraged to operate a series of dials that ran power through the pole and causes sparks to emerge from the man's pen. This all felt incredibly dangerous to me, but also very cool. We quickly said our hellos to the artist and left, but not before checking out his finely detailed drawings of power lines and towers.

And that was pretty much how things went. We drifted around, checked out the artists work, talked to a few people and had a really good time. Now, a day later, both Shelley and I are feeling artistically charged, inspired.

As always, we really enjoyed the paintings of Jeffrey Scott Brown and Logan Fox. He had one of Oppenheimer hanging by the window that was just awesome. Brown also had perhaps the best artist bio on display: "Brown grew up in Manhattan Beach, CA, in the days when the main boulevard was a dirt road and skateboards had metal wheels."

I'm not going to name all of the thirty or so artists whose work we checked out, but I will name a few.

Two ceramic artists with completely different styles really struck me as impressive. Perry Okimoto was giving raku demonstrations in the courtyard, but Shelley and I really got a lot out of looking at his empty studio. It confirmed in my mind that one of the most interesting artworks of a passionate artist is his or her studio. The same goes for Yuichiro Roy Kunisaki (Mafune), whose porcelain works are really something. He shows a real command of color, proportion and creativity.

Shelley had a nice conversation with Elizabeth Blum, who creates these wonderfully layered paintings that emulate the glassy opacity of ceramic glazes. She was working up some layers on a piece and sticking it out the window to dry when we walked in.

Probably the most interesting space we entered was the studio of fiber artist Carol Shaw-Sutton. The artist had taken pains to put up signs indicating that all of the work on display was unfinished, but it was fascinating nonetheless. I won't even bother trying to describe the effect of these hanging cloths and the way the light streamed through them. Shaw-Sutton had apparently left Gail Fraser, another artist who works with natural materials, in charge of things. She had a couple of small shadow boxes on display, and they were amazing. She mixes fabric and handmade paper with natural items such as peach pits to make these intriguing constructions.

Pasadena-based glass artist Lucia Yang told us how it made perfect sense to commute the 37 miles to Angels Gate to do her work, and at the same time explained the basics of how she melts glass into bowls, jewelry and other items. She laughed like it was easy, but her command of color and design tell a different story.

The complex paintings of Yayoi Ailene Shibata reminded us a bit of Elizabeth Blum's, but her work still exhibits a bold, unique style.

And then we walked into the peaceful studio of Da Aie Park, whose painting evince an incredible subtle power. Great stuff.

During our tour of the Center, we happened to share a brief conversation with Nathan Birnbaum, the organization's executive director. Nice guy. He obviously loves the place – the idea of the place – and wants to develop it. This larger version of the open studios was just the beginning.

Things have been happening at Angels Gate for a long time, but it's particularly interesting now.

(May 15, 2005)

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