5 design things to do this week

Written by

This holiday break, you can: see Riverside Mission Inn awash in holiday lights; learn how to build a bike; check out the drawings of Russian architect Sergei Tchoban and the paintings of Seeroon Yeretzian; and catch up on the Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA shows you missed.

DnA will be off the week of Dec. 25. Have a wonderful holiday and we’ll see you back here in 2018!

1) Mission Inn & Spa 25th Annual Festival of Lights

Twenty-five years ago the Mission Inn in Riverside faced demolition. It was saved by property owners Duane and Kelly Roberts who have illuminated this marvel of Spanish Colonial-style architecture ever since with an annual Festival of Lights.

Come check out attractions including “200 animated figures including angels, elves and Dickens carolers; appearances by Santa Claus, the world’s largest man-made mistletoe, horse-drawn carriage rides, elf tuck-ins, freshly fallen snow, elaborately decorated Christmas trees; and delectable holiday confections.”

And while there, make sure to check out the PST: LA/LA show Myth & Mirage: Inland Southern California, Birthplace of the Spanish Colonial Revival at the Riverside Art Museum. DnA contributor Marisa Kurtzman reviewed the show here.

When: Ongoing through Jan. 6, 2018; lights are on 5 pm – midnight

Where:  Mission Inn & Spa, 3649 Mission Avenue, Riverside, CA 92501

Tickets: Free and open to all (not exclusive to hotel guests). Click here for information.

2) Sergei Tchoban Architectural Drawings

“Would I want to draw one of my own projects or my colleagues’ projects?” That’s a question posed by Moscow and Berlin-based architect Sergei Tchoban, who has won acclaim not only for his buildings but for the evocative drawings of them in which he transmits his love of architectural detail and texture.

The exhibition Sergei Tchoban Architectural Drawings showcases architectural fantasies and imaginary studies, which above all — say curators Dora Epstein Jones and Esenija Bannan — “depict the dialectic between historical and contemporary architecture.”

When: Ongoing through Jan. 11, 2018

Where:  A+D Museum, 900 E 4th St, Los Angeles, CA 90013

Tickets: Free. Click here for information.

Jenni Gwiazdowski, founder and director of the London Bike Kitchen. Image courtesy Lookmumnohands.(The original image is no longer available, please contact KCRW if you need access to the original image.)

3) More Women in Biking! with London Bike Kitchen Founder/Director Jenni Gwiazdowski

Kick off the Christmas break by building a bike! Or at least by vowing to cycle more in 2018. Jenni Gwiazdowski is the California-raised founder and director of the London Bike Kitchen, and she will lead a talk on “getting more women in biking and STEM generally.” She will also sign copies of her book, How to Build Your Own Bike.

When: Friday, December 22 from 7 – 10 pm

Where: Bikerowave, 12255 Venice Blvd, Los Angeles, California 90066

Tickets: Free and open to the public. Snacks will be provided. Click here for information.

4) Home Sweet Home: An Exhibit of Paintings by Seeroon Yeretzian

Los Angeles-based artist Seeroon Yeretzian grew up in a refugee camp in Lebanon with Armenian parents who had fled civil war in Turkey and wound up settling in Los Angeles. Her work ranges from medieval illuminated manuscripts to participation in the citywide “A Community of Angels” sculptural project. This latest exhibition by Yeretzian, who continues to paint despite suffering from Lou Gehrig’s disease, celebrates the panorama of people in this “city which gave her wings as an artist and a permanent home.”

When: Ongoing through December 22, 2018; Monday – Saturday, 10 am – 7 pm

Where: Roslin Art Gallery, 415 E Broadway, Ste 100, Glendale, California 91205

Tickets: Free. Click here for information.

Judithe Hernández, The Purification , 2013. Pastel mixed-media on archival wood board. 30 x 40 in. © 2016 Judithe Hernández. On display at the PST LA/LA show “ Judithe Hernández and Patssi Valdez: One Path Two Journeys(The original image is no longer available, please contact KCRW if you need access to the original image.)

5)  Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA

For the last three months, galleries and museums across the Los Angeles region have been hosting Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA, over 70 exhibitions and programs that take a fresh look at vital and vibrant traditions in Latino and Latin American art in dialogue with Southern California. Shows look at the boundary-crossing practices of Latino artists, Cuban posters of Hollywood movies, luxury objects in the pre-Columbian Americas, Spanish Colonial architecture, 20th-century Afro-Brazilian art, alternative spaces in Mexico City, Chicana/o murals in LA (see the banner image at the top of the page) and much, much more. PST: LA/LA comes to an end soon, so now’s your chance to catch up on the shows you missed.

When: Ongoing through February, 2018 (some shows closed early December.)

Where:  Multiple locations

Tickets: Click here for information.