Sunday afternoon at Curtis Winery in the Santa Ynez Valley

Colleen and are were served by Julie in the beautiful barrel room of the Curtis Winery.  In addition to a wonderful conversation with Julie and the wine tasting, we appreciated the amazing mural and weavings on the walls.  The large mural over the bar was completed in Guatemala and was hung at Macy's Dept. Store in New York.

Brooks and Kate Firestone established Firestone Vineyard as Santa Barbara County's first estate winery in 1972.  He left the family tire business in Ohio to start this new adventure.  In 1995, the Firestone family took another pioneering step by establishing Curtis Winery as one of California's first wineries dedicated exclusively to Rhone-style wines.  The name Curtis honors the maiden name of Brooks' mother.  Today, Andrew and Ivana Firestone and Adam and Kate Firestone are the active owners of Curtis Winery.

The above three pictures are of the amazing Guatemalan Mural

That's Colleen with the beautiful weavings in the Curtis Barrel room.

"If You Cound See..." by Rise Delmar Ochsner

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Rise Delmar Ochsner was born and raised in New York City.  She graduated from Tulane Medical School in New Orleans and practiced there for 20 years and moved to Santa Barbara to be a full time artist. 
These paintings over the bar in Curtis tasting room and add beautiful color and creativity to the amazing space.

Sunday at Au Bon Climat and Qupe Open House

Colleen and I arrived about noon for the Au Bon Climat open house at their production facility shared with Qupe winery in Northern Santa Barbara County...near Santa Maria.  Jim Clendenen started Au Bon Climat 30 years ago and partnered with Bob Lindquist of Qupe to share the production facility.

Both wineries shared samples of their production as well as Jim Clendenen labeled wines and others.  We sipped away and enjoyed the great food served to the hundreds present. 

That's Jim Clendenen on the left helping to serve the guests.

That's a picture of a picture of Bob and Jim celebrating their partnership.

Full of Life Flatbreads in Los Alamos

Colleen and I enjoyed the ballet of the flatbread baker at the Full of Life Flatbread restaurant in Los Alamos...great Fig and Prosciutto flatbread was great with an amazing Lil' Alamos Salad with shredded organic carrots and celery tossed with House Salad Dressing and topped with Fax Seed.  The berry cobbler was terrific....heated next to the wood fired oven which is heated up to 800 degrees.

 We will be back!

YOLA at HOLA with Gustavo Dudamel

Saturday morning I had the delightful opportunity to volunteer at Heart of Los Angeles, HOLA, for an event with Youth Orchestra Los Angeles, YOLA, for a rehearsal with the LA Phil Orchestra conductor, Gustavo Dudamel.  This event celebrated the 2 year partnership between HOLA and YOLA. 

HOLA, is located in the Rampart District of L.A. across the street from Lafayette Park and the citiy's part and  beautiful recreation center built as a public/private partnership between HOLA and the city with funding from Every Child Foundation.  HOLA has 4 buildings on the corner of Lafayette Park Place and 6th and serves 2400 children in after school programs with 90% coming from the immediate neighborhood.  Their programs include home work first then recreation, music and arts.  They have been doing this for over 20 years

YOLA at HOLA engages 180 first-through sixth-graders in intensive instrument instruction, singing, ensembles and daily tutoring. Parents and volunteers are key partners in the success of the program.

On Saturday morning a team of volunteers and parents under the direction of HOLA and YOLA staff members arrive at 7:30 AM to move all the chairs, music stands etc. from HOLA across the street to the gym at the recreation center.  The children arrived and set in two groups:  the woodwinds and brass 3rd year group began practicing while the strings and first year group began playing as well...each with their own conductor.

The 6 year olds with their beginning violins began rehearsing outside to be a part of the welcoming ceremony for Gustavo.  When he arrived, he walked through a crowd of all the children singing and playing the bongo drums to welcome him and his toddler son, whom he carried.  Then the 6 year olds played and sang and welcomed him...along with the dignitaries present.  He then moved into the gym where all the musicians had reassembled and they played for him....then he gave them instruction and leadership on the meaning of their music...then he conducted each group. 

Twas an exciting day for the children and for us spectators as well.  Gustavo brings heart and emotion to the music and the musicians feel it and respond with Gusto!

Gustavo Dudamel

Gustavo arrived carrying his son and greeting by the singing children.

Gustavo is greeted by the dignitaries includingTony Brown, Executive Director of HOLA.

Hammer Museum with the V.A. Class

Amy, our U.C.L.A. student guide, led our Art Appreciation class through the "A Strange Magic" Gustave Moreau's Salome exhibit.  She gave additional information and history of Moreau and this painting that he took years to complete.  The exhibit shows other works he painted, drew, and sketched in preparation of the Saleme dancing for King Herod painting leading to the beheading of John The Baptist.  She then led us through the permanent collection with favorites including Dr. Pozzi, by John Singer Sargent and paintings by Van Gogh and others.  By the way, it is interesting that the portrait of Sarah Bernhardt is in the collection as she and Oscar Wild wrote a play about Solome in which she acted as Solome...she was over 50 at the time...but could carry it off.  In addition, she and Dr. Pozzi, the Paris Gynecologist painted in the sexy red robe were and item. 

Dr. Pozzi

Bustave Moreau's "Salome Dancing before Herod" 1876

Amy then led us through a walk through of Zarina "Paper Like Skin" which is the first retrospective of Indian-born American artist Zarin Hoshmi with works from 1961 to the present.  Her handmade paper is the basis for her art.  The exhibit is very beautiful and her work is amazing....but I was unable to take pictures. 

We then walked through a colorful and diverse exhibt call Graphic Design - Now in Production.  This exhibit explores how graphic design has broadened to a widely used tool accessible to the creative on the computer. The show explores design-driven magazines, newspapers, books, posters, and branding such as new logos for major companies and organizations.  We voted on whether we like the before or after look of the logos.

Roaming in LA via the MTA

I took the subway to Union Station/Olvera Street to see the newly restored mural "Tropical America"...'twas closed....but good tacos, Dos XX and native dancers. I took the Dash, 25 cents, to MOCA across from Disney Hall to see the exhibit...closed. Roamed around the Colburn School of Music...yogurt and took the bus home...25 cents. I feel like Columbus... explorer but don't know where I'm going...more fun that way.

More from LACMA

Walter De Maria's "The 2000 Sculpture"

This sculpture is 32 feet by 164 feet and made of 2000 polygonal solid plaster rods in a pattern of 5,7,9,7,5 - 5,7,9,7,5...300 five-sided, 800 seven-sided, and 400 nine-sided. The total length of all rods is 1 km.

Walter De Maria was born in 1935 in Albany, CA.  He lives and works in New York.  He is a sculptor and composer of the Minimalist movement.  This sculpture is returning as it was first installed in the unfinished Resnick Pavilion in 2010 in order to take advantage of the play of light and vast open space of the Renzo Piano's gallery building before the interior walls were installed.

This is a view of Park La Brea from the top of the third floor entry of the Broad Building.  Park La Brea is a large apartment complex designed by Leonard Schultz & Son and Earl T. Heitschmidt in 1941 iwho designed the two story garden apartments in a Modern Colonial style.  The towers were designed by Leonard Schultz Associates and others in 1948 in a style inspired by the innovative housing of Le Corbusier in Paris.  The complex has 4,255 apartments located in 18 13-story towers and 31 2-story garden apartments.  It sits on 160 acres with numerous lawns.  Home to about 12,000 residents, it is the largest complex West of the Mississippi.