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40-682: The Lesbian Art Project was part of an ongoing effort by Arlene Raven, co-founder of the Woman's Building, to incorporate lesbian-oriented programming into the Feminist Studio Workshop , which had already launched the Los Angeles League for the Advancement of Lesbianism in the Arts (LALALA) in 1975. Critics and artists influenced by the tenets of postmodernism dismissed much of the art work made in

80-402: A "tax" to the gang in exchange for being left alone. In 2021, multiple attacks on transgender sex workers in the park had led to increased police presence and were widely reported. MacArthur Park has been used as a filming location numerous times. In Hard Luck (1921), Buster Keaton eludes the police by posing with a statue in the park. In A Woman of Paris (1923), Charlie Chaplin uses

120-534: A common goal of increasing opportunity for lesbian artists and writing a chapter of lesbian art. This small group disbanded in less than a year but Wolverton and Raven continued in their pursuit of a Lesbian Art Movement. As they continued their project they became astonishingly productive, and they were able to integrate the Lesbian Art Project with the curriculum of the Feminist Studio Workshop at

160-560: A for-profit business designed to strengthen their finances and support the artistic endeavors of the Building. They provided phototypesetting , graphic design , production and printing services. However, in 1988 the Women's Graphic Center closed, and the income for staff salaries disappeared. Wolverton served as sole executive director from 1988 to April 1989 before leaving. Pauli De Witt replaced Wolverton, staying only briefly and failing to rescue

200-421: A male-dominated institution like CalArts. That year they quit CalArts and founded the Feminist Studio Workshop (FSW). FSW was one of the first independent art schools for women, and revolved around a workshop environment, allowing women to develop their artistic skills and knowledge outside a traditional educational environment. The vision of FSW was that art should not be separated from activities related to

240-569: Is a park dating back to the late 19th century in the Westlake neighborhood of Los Angeles . In the early 1940s, it was renamed after General Douglas MacArthur , and later designated City of Los Angeles Historic Cultural Monument #100. The lake in MacArthur Park is fed by natural springs (although an artificial bottom to the lake was laid during the construction of the Red Line , opened in 1993). In

280-542: The Lesbian Art Project with students who felt their artwork contained queer themes and content in order to highlight the contributions by lesbian artists. Artist Sheila Levrant de Bretteville designed a necklace of an eyebolt on a chain, meant to represent "strength without a fist"; members of the FSW in 1978-79 made 500 of these necklaces to celebrate the 5th anniversary of the Woman's Building. In 1979, artists from

320-495: The women's movement . Students were encouraged to collaborate with each other, pooling together their different skills and resources to work on the same art projects. FSW originally met in de Bretteville's home, and in November 1973, the three women began renting a workshop space in a vacant building near MacArthur Park , calling it the Woman's Building after a building from the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition . FSW sublet space in

360-456: The 1970s from a lesbian feminist perspective. This has resulted in very little being known or written about this pioneering work. The activities and events associated with the Lesbian Art Project at the Woman's Building in Los Angeles have played a larger role in lesbian art history than is often acknowledged. The project began with six women (started by Terry Wolverton) working collectively with

400-611: The Better Punch, But It Didn't Win the Wristwatch , and Prometheus Bringing Fire to Earth . Previously, the statue of Charles III of Spain was installed in the park. The park, originally named Westlake Park, was built in the 1880s, along with a similar Eastlake Park, whose lake is artificial, in Los Angeles. Westlake Park was renamed May 7, 1942; Eastlake Park was renamed Lincoln Park . Both Westlake and Eastlake (as well as Echo Park) were built as drinking water reservoirs connected to

440-666: The City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks. The bandshell was once home to many organizations and events, such as Jugaremos en Familia (a live event hosted by Memo Flores for the Hispanic community). Public artworks installed in the park have included the MacArthur Monument , Entry Arch , General Harrison Gray Otis , the Hungarian Freedom Fighters Memorial, MacArthur Park Singularity , Mine Was

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480-947: The Feminist Art Workers toured the Midwest with interactive performance and installation artworks . A performance group called the Waitresses formed, who performed in restaurants using the waitress as a metaphor for women in society. The Incest Awareness Project consisted of a series of interactive exhibitions from 1978–79, including a video installation, Equal Time and Equal Space , directed by Nancy Angelo , in which audience members would sit surrounded by video monitors playing videos of incest survivors sharing their experiences. A group piece, In Mourning and in Rage , created by Suzanne Lacy and Leslie Labowitz , featured 10 tall women, wearing 7-foot-tall head extensions, draped in black, standing on

520-547: The LAP was Terry Wolverton and Ann Shannon's FEMINA: An IntraSpace Voyage (1978), which was created as a response to popular, patriarchal science fiction and is considered to be an example of lesbian feminist camp. Along with the major performance events, a database for lesbian artists was now in existence. Wolverton and Raven went their separate ways before completing the book they had planned but both continued to individually promote feminist and lesbian art. A partial successor to

560-551: The LAP was the 1980 Great American Lesbian Art Show (GALAS), also at the Woman's Building. Woman%27s Building#Feminist Studio Workshop The Woman's Building was a non-profit arts and education center located in Los Angeles , California . The Woman's Building focused on feminist art and served as a venue for the women's movement and was spearheaded by artist Judy Chicago , graphic designer Sheila Levrant de Bretteville and art historian Arlene Raven . The center

600-566: The Woman's Building issued a nationwide call for lesbian artists to organize exhibitions of their work as part of the Great American Lesbian Art Show (GALAS). In 1981, the Feminist Studio Workshop closed, due to the diminishing demand for alternative education . With FSW's closure, the programs of the Woman's Building were altered to cater to the needs of working women. The building's hours were reduced and two thirds of it rented to artists for studio space. That year all three of

640-515: The Woman's Building. At the Woman's Building they were able to organize a major performance event based on lesbian identities: The Oral Herstory of Lesbianism (Oral) . Advertised as "Storytelling, Theater and Magic for Women Only", the project was directed by Wolverton and its stories generated through a workshop for the thirteen performers. The scenes addressed a wide range of issues, including butch and femme identities, incest and sexual abuse, and lesbian stereotypes. Another performance sponsored by

680-409: The area during the 1970s and 1980s. FSW became the main tenant as the previous smaller tenants left, and decided to hire an administrator and create a board of directors to handle the growth of the organization. FSW obtained funding from memberships, tuition, fund-raising and grants . One of Kate Millett's statues that she had originally created for her work Naked Ladies was installed on top of

720-465: The artwork was featured in the book Spraycan Art by Henry Chalfant and Jim Prigoff. The lakeside portion of the park closed for 10 weeks in October 2021. The area surrounding MacArthur Park, one of the poorest areas of Los Angeles, has widely reported crime rates. Considered to be MS-13 territory, many poorer locals of the area, especially those doing illicit business in the park, are forced to pay

760-770: The board of directors, donated the Woman's Building records to the Smithsonian's Archives of American Art . Other archival collections of materials are at the Getty Research Institute and the ONE Archives, both in Los Angeles. The Woman's Building and its legacy was the subject of a major exhibition called Doin It In Public: Feminism and Art at the Woman's Building at the Ben Maltz Gallery at Otis College of Art and Design in 2011/2012. The exhibition

800-507: The building in 1978 to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the art center. Numerous programs and groups formed out of FSW. They offered a two-year program in interdisciplinary arts, such as performing, graphics, video and writing. Deena Metzger started the writing program which included an ongoing writing series. Readers in the series included Meridel LeSueur , Honor Moore , Audre Lorde , and Adrienne Rich . They also hosted large-scale exhibitions, media and social events. From 1976 to 1980

840-596: The building to performance art groups, the Sisterhood Bookstore, the Associated Women's Press, local chapters of the National Organization for Women and the Women's Liberation Union, and three galleries: Womanspace Gallery , Gallery 707, and Grandview. The building's goal included having multiple female artists represented in a registry cataloging them. The way they went about adding female artists to

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880-551: The city for a park. In the mid-19th century the area was a swampland; by the 1890s, it was a vacation destination, surrounded by luxury hotels. In the early part of the 20th century, the Westlake neighborhood became known as the Champs-Élysées of Los Angeles. Wilshire Boulevard formerly ended at the lake, but in 1934 a berm was built for it to cross and link up with the existing Orange Street (which ran from Alvarado to Figueroa Streets ) into downtown Los Angeles. Orange Street

920-421: The city's system, Zanja Madre . When the city abandoned the non-pressurized zanja system for a pressurized pipe system, these smaller, shallow reservoirs located at low points no longer provided much benefit and were converted into parks. The park was named for Henricus Wallace Westlake , a Canadian physician who had moved to Los Angeles around 1888, settled in the area and donated a portion of his property to

960-533: The commanding officer was demoted, seventeen other officers faced penalties, and the LAPD paid more than $ 13 million in damages. Beginning in 2002, the Los Angeles Police Department and business and community leaders led a redevelopment effort that has led to the installation of surveillance cameras, the opening of a recreation center, increased business, early-morning drink vendors, a new Metro station ,

1000-473: The crowd, then ordered the crowd to disperse. Some people began throwing plastic bottles and rocks at officers. Members of the Los Angeles Police Department then used batons and rubber bullets in a manner later found by the LAPD's own investigation, as well as by the courts, to be excessive. After community mobilization, pressure from the Mayor, and an extensive internal review, LAPD Chief William Bratton apologized,

1040-543: The founding members left, and former students Terry Wolverton , Sue Maberry and Cheri Gaulke led the organization. They also began the Vesta Awards, an annual fundraiser. The performance group Sisters of Survival, which formed in 1981, exhibited and toured across the United States and Europe to protest nuclear weapon proliferation. That year, the Woman's Building founded the Women's Graphic Center Typesetting and Design,

1080-533: The north side of the park and the Ansonia in two scenes. MacArthur Park/Westlake Park and its boats figure prominently as the scene of a murder in the 1949 film noir Killer Bait (also known as Too Late for Tears ) with Lizabeth Scott, Don DeFore, Dan Duryea and Arthur Kennedy. In 1973 The Phantom of Herald Square an episode of the TV horror anthology series Circle of Fear included a significant number of scenes filmed within

1120-414: The occasional rumored drowning became commonplace, with as many as 30 murders in 1990. When the lake was drained in 1973 and 1978, hundreds of handguns and other firearms were found disposed of in the lake. Two May Day rallies calling for US citizenship for undocumented immigrants were held at MacArthur Park on May 1, 2007. When the protest overflowed onto city streets, police drove motorcycles through

1160-415: The organization financially. After she left, a 13-member board ran the Woman's Building. The Woman's Building never recovered and despite pushes to move to another location, they closed the gallery and performance space in 1991. They continued to hold the Vesta Awards, with keynote speaker Lucy Lippard and proceeds going towards an oral history of the organization. In 1991, Sandra Golvin, president of

1200-557: The park superintendent, these were the first swans born in the park in over a decade. For many years, Filipino World War II veterans protested in the park named after their former commander regarding promises made when they enlisted that the United States had reneged on. In 2009 as part of the stimulus package , Congress awarded lump-sum payments of $ 15,000 to Filipino veterans who are American citizens and $ 9,000 to those who are noncitizens. MacArthur Park became known for violence after 1985 when prostitution, drug dealing, shoot-outs, and

1240-711: The park, as well as "The Bank Examiner Swindle" (season 9, episode 6 of Dragnet ) and The Amazing Spider-Man (1977), and "72 Hours", an episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air , wherein Carlton plans to conduct illegal sales of counterfeit merchandise in the park, hoping to prove his street cred to Will and his friends. It is also featured in the Gym Class Heroes music video for Cupid's Chokehold (the As Cruel as School Children version) and Lorde 's 2017 music video for Green Light . The movie In MacArthur Park (1976)

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1280-421: The past, a fountain with a reflecting pool on the northern end was also fed by the springs. The Westlake/MacArthur Park B and D Line station is across the street. The park is divided in two by Wilshire Boulevard . The southern portion primarily consists of a lake, while the northern half includes an amphitheatre , bandshell , soccer fields, and children's playground, along with a recreation center operated by

1320-411: The registry is by allowing other female visual artists to submit ten slides of their work, a resume, and information about themselves in order to be considered to be added to the registry. The registry they created included the "[artists'] books, resumes, correspondence, postcards, and samples of [their] art in the form of sketches, drawings, and prints" from 1970 to 1992. In 1975, the building that FSW

1360-681: The return of the paddle boats and the fountain, and large community festivals attracting thousands. Along with determined campaigns to improve community relations between the neighborhood and the police, crime rates went down through the mid-2000s. In 2007, Levitt Pavilion Los Angeles opened, offering 50 free concerts each summer and attracting a wide range of audiences from around the country and globally. Currently programmed & produced (as of 2017) by local resident Matthew Himes, notable acts that have performed include Celso Pina , Fishbone , Bomba Estereo , La Sonora Dinamita , Jimmy Webb , Kinky , La Resistencia , Nortec Collective and many more. In

1400-527: The same year, the paddle boats returned. They were available for rent on the weekends in 2009. By early 2010, the boathouse was closed. Eventually, the paddle boats were removed. The boathouse was demolished in 2014. The MacArthur Park bandshell was painted by local artists and graffiti artists under the direction of Otis Parsons. Some of the artists involved were: Robert Williams, Skill, John "Zender" Estrada, Hector "Hex" Rios, Geo, Exit, Trip, Hate Prime, Relic, Galo "MAKE" Canote , RickOne and others. Some of

1440-555: The steps of the Los Angeles City Hall . Each woman represented a victim of the Hillside Strangler and a statistic of violence against women. Works such as these are credited with shaping the contemporary performance art scene. Another collective, Mother Art, created installations and performances that addressed the issues their members faced as both mothers and artists. In 1977, building co-founder Arlene Raven , formed

1480-564: Was open from 1973 until 1991. During its existence, the Los Angeles Times called the Woman's Building a "feminist mecca." The time: mid-'70s. The place: the Feminist Studio Workshop, later to become the Woman's Building. The quest: to find themselves, to make art, to change the culture. In 1973, CalArts teachers artist Judy Chicago , graphic designer Sheila Levrant de Bretteville and art historian Arlene Raven were finally finished with trying to offer feminist education in

1520-449: Was part of the Getty initiative, Pacific Standard Time. The exhibition was accompanied by a 2-volume catalog, and a website that includes historical information about the Woman's Building. On June 8, 2018, the L.A. City Council designated the Woman's Building as a Historic Cultural Monument. Notes Further reading MacArthur Park MacArthur Park (originally Westlake Park )

1560-512: Was renamed Wilshire and extended east of Figueroa Street to Grand Avenue. This divided the lake into two halves; the northern one was subsequently drained. From the 1940s, the lake featured the rental of electric boats, with the names of comic book animal characters. According to a Los Angeles Times news story from 1956, two swans, named Rudie and Susie, hatched their five new cygnets on the island in MacArthur Park Lake, and according to

1600-411: Was renting was sold, and they, along with the other tenants, moved to a former Standard Oil Company building from the 1920s. In the 1940s, the building had been converted into a warehouse , consisting of three floors of open space, making it ideal for FSW's classes and exhibitions. The space was the first arts organization to locate itself in downtown Los Angeles , contributing to the revitalization of

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