About this Event
Image above:
Paula Wilson, Up My Sleeve, 2021. Woodcut, relief, silkscreen, collagraph, monotype, and digital print; oil-based ink, oil, acrylic, muslin, and canvas, 35 x 58 1/2 in. Collection of Melissa D. Mathias.
Join California African American Museum (CAAM) and Metro Bike Share for a special community ride celebrating the opening of Paula Wilson: Toward the Sky's Back Door. Start your day with a recreational ride, make some new friends and re-connect with community, and explore the gallery after the ride! This event is no-cost to the rider. All ages welcome.
RIDE INFO
Start and End: California American American Museum
Length: 3-mile round trip bike ride on flat streets using bike lanes and shared roads
Experience Level: This route is great for novice riders, those who haven't ridden in a while, and for those looking to socialize. You must be 16+ to ride a Metro Bike. This ride is welcoming of children on personal bikes. Children must either be secured in an approved child carrier or riding their own bicycle and supervised by an adult at all times.
Getting There:
Public Transit: This ride is accessible via the Metro A and E Lines, as well as by bus. For assistance in planning your route, please visit https://trips.metro.net/
Parking: Paid parking and metered parking may be available nearby on a first-come, first-served basis in Exposition Park.
What to Bring:
- Participants 16 years and older can reserve a Metro Bike at no cost to attend this event
- A functional bicycle or wheeled device (highly recommended with gears) if you would prefer to provide your own. We do not have a mechanic on the ride and recommend you carry your own tire repair kit.
- Hand sanitizer
- TAP card or money for fare if you plan to use the Metro bus or train ($1.75 per ride)
- A helmet (If you do not have one, one will be provided free of charge)
- Water bottle
Safety Protocols:
We will be observing strict protocols during the ride to ensure the safety and comfort of all participants. Please keep in mind the following rules while attending the ride:
- If you are feeling sick or unwell, please stay home.
- Metro Bike Share will provide helmets, water, and ride marshals.
- Participants are required to sign a release of liability. No exceptions.
Paula Wilson: Toward the Sky’s Back Door presents nearly two decades of Paula Wilson’s paintings, sculptures, prints, collages, and videos, with different media frequently intermixed in a single work. Breaking down perceived boundaries to connect global and local narratives, the work explores subjects as wide-ranging as the moth that pollinates Yucca plants, ancient Greek vases, West African D’mba, and modern technologies. Using the same techniques and styles to make art for viewing on the gallery wall as for the rugs she walks on and clothes she wears, Wilson challenges the separations between art and everyday living. Often biographically oriented, her work investigates the polarities of human life, including her own identity as a Black biracial artist and her experiences living in both major metropolises and the small desert railroad town of Carrizozo, New Mexico.
Wilson’s work has been exhibited throughout the United States and internationally and is in the permanent collections of The Studio Museum in Harlem, the Albuquerque Museum, the New York Public Library, The Fabric Workshop and Museum, the Yale University Art Gallery, and the Tang Teaching Museum, among others. Born in Chicago, Wilson earned her BFA from Washington University in St. Louis and her MFA from Columbia University in New York. She is the co-founder of the artist-run organizations Carrizozo Artist-in-Residency and MoMAZoZo.
The exhibition title comes from a poem by Robin Coste Lewis, “Let Me Live in a House by the Side of the Road and Be a Friend to Man.”
Paula Wilson: Toward the Sky's Back Door is organized by The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College and curated by Tang Associate Curator Rebecca McNamara in collaboration with the artist. The exhibition and accompanying catalogue are supported by Friends of the Tang. The CAAM presentation is organized by Isabelle Lutterodt, Deputy Director, CAAM.
The California African American Museum's mission is to research, collect, preserve, and interpret for public enrichment the history, art, and culture of African Americans with an emphasis on California and the western United States.
Founded in 1977, CAAM has a long and rich history. The first African American museum of art, history, and culture fully supported by a state, CAAM was the direct result of a sustained, multiyear campaign of activism undertaken by visionary founders and community members. Its creation was an early and tangible recognition by the State of California of the critically important role African Americans have played in the American West’s cultural, economic, and political development.
About Metro Bike Share:
Metro Bike Share makes bikes available 24/7, 365 days a year in Downtown LA, Central LA, Hollywood, North Hollywood, and on the Westside. Metro Bike Share offers convenient round-the-clock access to a fleet of bicycles for short trips. Metro Bike Share is one of LA Metro's multiple public transportation options for Angelenos and visitors to get around. Metro Bike Share is a fast, easy, and fun way to ride, anytime. Get a bike from any Metro Bike Share station, go for a ride, and properly return it. It’s easy — just like riding a bike!
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
California African American Museum, 600 State Drive, Los Angeles, United States
USD 0.00
