Hammer Blog

Libros Schmibros' core team is more than David and I.  For a year now, Catherine Fryszczyn has imposed order on chaos by wrangling herds of books, corralling large amounts of data, steering volunteers, and riding the rodeo of public events that is part of life at Libros Schmibros.  She has created ways to track all our data, and work on the daunting task of grantwriting and fundraising.  Somehow, through it all, she even manages to lasso the ever-multiplying shiny objects that David brings back to the shop and piles on the desk.





Catherine helps a patron in Westwood.
She is Phi Beta Kappa in Russian Language and Literature and experienced (despite her young years) in non-profits and educational initiatives, and is deeply committed to libraries and literacy.  Her passions include Dostoevsky, the Dewey Decimal System, good food writing, and linguistics.

Colleen Jaurretche, co-director of Libros

A free Public Symposium by UCLA's cityLAB in the Billy Wilder Theater at the Hammer Museum.
Monday, October 10, 2011, 4-6 PM


When it comes to Westwood Village there is one thing everyone agrees about: it has seen better days. But the Village’s promise becomes more apparent when visions for its future are put into play. UCLA’s cityLAB has engaged two teams led by prominent designers—Neil Denari and Roger Sherman—to suggest different visions for Westwood Village: Living Culture and Car-Lite Village.
Join cityLab as they continue their conversations about the future direction of Westwood Village with a panel of experts that includes Aaron Betsky (Director, Cincinatti Art Museum), Christopher Hawthorne (Architecture Critic, Los Angeles Times), Nick Patsaouras (Past President, Los Angeles Board of Water and Power Commissioners), and Mark Robbins (Dean, Syracuse University School of Architecture).
Learn More

On view September 24 - October 14, 2011

For the past two decades, the dynamic sculpture of Los Angeles–based MacArthur Award-winning artist Jorge Pardo (b. Havana, 1963) has bridged art, design, and architecture. Renowned for his meticulous attention to craft and his eye for vibrant color combinations, Pardo has explored the very definition of art by bringing enormous aesthetic innovation to the objects that populate our daily lives, from ceramic tiles, clocks, picture frames, and tables to pavilions and entire homes. Lamps are a favored form of his, and for the installation in the Hammer courtyard, he has created an entirely new design, working for the first time with powder-coated steel. Like a hanging garden of blooming flowers, Pardo’s Hammer Installation transforms the courtyard into a magnificent wonderland.



These indoor/outdoor works debuted as a special installation at the Hammer’s annual Gala in the Garden on September 24 and remain

Libros Schmibros at the Hammer is now extended until November 5th! We’ll be hatching ideas in the next few days and posting them here and on our website, Twitter and Facebook.



Our additional stay means not only more Libros, but also more occasions to talk about books, forge bonds between west and east, and just possibly more special guests and friends in both shops. It also means that this blog will continue narrating the Life Cycle of a Libros Schmibros Book, offering profiles of other folks in the Libros family, and providing updates as we make ready our new Mariachi Plaza space in Boyle Heights…

Viva!

Colleen Jaurretche, co-director of Libros Schmibros

Above, left-right: Beate Inaya, Daniel LaRue Johnson, Charles White, and Betye Saar at the Negro and Creative Arts Exhibit at the Los Angeles home of actress Diana Lynn, organized by Beate Inaya, August 12, 1962.

NOW DIG THIS! ART & BLACK LOS ANGELES 1960–1980
OPENS SUNDAY, OCTOBER 2 WITH FREE ADMISSION
This comprehensive exhibition examines the vital legacy of the city’s African American visual artists, who—through their work and their connections with other artists from a variety of ethnic backgrounds—made up an important part of the creative community. Including 140 works by 35 artists, many of whom are not well known to the public, Now Dig This! expands the art historical record, placing the work of these practitioners within the context of the movements, trends, and ideas that fueled the arts in Los Angeles during this period. Learn more

Now Dig This! is presented as part of Pacific Standard