2018 Events

The mixed media valises in this exhibition were created during a long-term collaborative project between artist Kim Abeles and the female inmates of Camp 13—a correctional facility in Los Angeles County for women who are trained and deployed to fight forest fires throughout the region. The valises will be used by the National Park Service and Los Angeles County Fire Department as educational tools to teach about fire prevention, national forests, and our relationship to nature.

Please join us for a reception at the Armory with the artist on Saturday, September 15, from 4:00 to 6:00 PM. Just prior to the reception at 3:00 PM, a representative from the National Parks service will deliver a presentation about our urban relationship to the forests and wildlife. This presentation and reception are both free and open to the public.

A closing reception is scheduled for Saturday, September 29, from 4:00 to 6:00 PM and will feature readings by seven local poets reflecting on wildfire, community, wilderness, and memory. Poets include Bridgette Bianca, Yvonne M. Estrada, Eric Howard, Beverly Lafontaine, Alicia Vogl-Saenz, AK Toney, and Terry Wolverton. The poetry reading will begin at 4:30 PM. Both the reading and closing reception are free and open to the public.

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Camp Ground: Arts, Corrections, and Fire Management in the Santa Monica Mountains embeds artists in the Los Angeles County Fire Department to work in collaboration with the paid and inmate workforces, as well as community stakeholders that serve the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. This inaugural Camp Ground project with inmates from Camp 13 was managed by the Armory, with Kim Abeles as the first commissioned artist. Camp Ground: Arts, Corrections, and Fire Management in the Santa Monica Mountains is made possible by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Los Angeles County Arts Commission.

Image: Valise 1 - Fire Line, courtesy Kim Abeles.