Esoteric Survey

  Saturday, September 28th Symposium and Home Tour The third in a series celebrating Modern architecture in Bakersfield, Bakersfield Built: Architecture of the 1950s , will explore the most exciting decade in the city’s history. From a devastating earthquake to postwar population growth, local architects and a handful of internationally known architects transformed “America’s Newest City.”  The symposium will feature a panel of experts including: David Coffey, of the Bakersfield Built Foundation. Maristella Casciato, Senior Curator at the Getty Research Center, Frances Anderton, Author and former host of KCRW's design and architecture program, Alan Hess, noted architectural author, Sian Winship, President of the Society of Architectural Historians/Southern California Chapter, Volker M. Welter, Professor of Architectural History at UC Santa Barbara, Raymond Neutra, President of the Neutra Institute for Survival Through Design, John Berley, architectural designer involved in Neutra I

Architectural Pottery: Ceramics for a Modern Landscape Curated by Jo Lauria, at AMOCA Jo, Dan Chavkin, Jeffrey Head, Gary Wexler and the AMOCA team put together a wonderful exhibition. Displaying this many pots is not an easy undertaking. The wall graphics and photos are great as well. It all started with La Gardo Tackett in 1949.  Tackett assigned his students at the California School of Art to create forms for modern homes. They held an exhibition of their work at a Evans & Reeves nursery, where Max and Rita (pictured with Tackett above) Lawrence saw the work. In 1950, the Lawrences partnered with two of the students, John Follis and Rex Goode, on a company they named Architectural Pottery.   LaGardo Tackett with a group of his designed Totems; Photo: George Szanik, 1957 Courtesy of Monacelli Press from the accompanying book, Architectural Pottery Ceramics for a Modern Landscape.   by Daniel Chavkin, Jeffrey Head, and Jo Lauria From the collection of JF Chen.  The bisque platfor

  Roy McMakin Domestic Furniture Cove dining table Kenji Fujita Eames Office.  Perhaps a little contact magic from 901.  Evelyn Ackerman

901 Washington Blvd, Venice, CA 901 was the Eames Office from 1943 to 1988. Some of the most important designs of the 20th century were conceived and prototyped within these walls. Wartime products to furniture, toys, and films were all made in this nondescript industrial building. I've been by the building more times than I care to admit and have posted about it in the past . However this time, thanks to Gerson and Danny (Modern for All), I had the opportunity to get inside. As an Eames geek and practitioner of Contact Magic, this was a big deal for me. Architecture critic Reyner Banham said  “Visiting architecture freaks tried to make the Eameses’ office in Venice their first port of call, exploiting their good nature to secure introductions before going on to investigate the rest of the scene.” The building, constructed in 1929, was operating as the Bay Cities Garage for a number of years before Evans Products Molded Plywood Division took the space over in 1943, first for war-re