Culver City Artist Laureate Alexey Steele Celebrates National Arts and Humanities Month with live cast portrait sessions
City of Culver City sent this bulletin at 09/28/2020 12:51 PM PDT
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 28, 2020
Contact: Christine Byers, Cultural Affairs Coordinator christine.byers@culvercity.org (310) 253-6003
In celebration of National Arts and Humanities Month, Culver City Artist Laureate Alexey Steele will broadcast a series of live portrait sessions.
Noted California artist and Culver City Artist Laureate Alexey Steele will launch a series of technology powered portrait sessions showcasing Culver City neighbors, beginning with long time Culver City resident Dr. Janet Cameron Hoult.
"Culver City has always been the heart of arts and innovation on the Westside, and with this project, Alexey Steele demonstrates both. His recent efforts to share artwork with our Culver City Emergency Food Drive have brought joy to our most vulnerable. Now with his live drawing sessions, he has met the challenge of social distancing and found a creative way to continue his work and share it with us all," said Culver City Mayor Göran Eriksson.
In an expansion of his Love My Neighbor project, Steele will select 6-8 Culver City neighbors to capture in portrait. For the first portrait, Steele has chosen long time Culver City resident, poet, teacher, and Honorary Artist Laureate for Culver City, Dr. Janet Cameron Hoult. Dr. Hoult has a rich history of civic service and contribution to the cultural life in Culver City, and she was instrumental in establishing its Artist Laureate Program. As a senior citizen, Dr. Hoult is in a high-risk category for contracting COVID-19.
On three separate dates, Steele will live stream remote portrait sessions with Dr. Hoult, who will remain in self-isolation in her home. She will maintain visual contact with Steele via video conference transmitted onto a TV screen in the artists' studio in Long Beach. There, Steele will be working on the portrait as if his model was sitting right in front of him. Each drawing session and his interaction with the model will be broadcast via Facebook Live. Viewers will be able to watch the portrait come to life, listen to Alexey’s commentary about his work and his conversations with Dr. Hoult, and even ask questions. The sessions will also be recorded and available for later viewing.
“As we celebrate National Arts and Humanities Month in October, we want to recognize not only the leading role the arts have played in Culver City’s history, but the starring role that arts can play in the city’s long-term economic and cultural development. And, as this current health crisis has reminded us, the arts perform a vital role in maintaining the physical and mental health of the city’s residents. Alexey’s project exemplifies the creativity and community spirit to be found in Culver City," said Tania Fleischer, Chair, Culver City Cultural Affairs Commission.
About Artist Laureate Alexey Steele
In 2020, Culver City resident Alexey Steele was selected and appointed by the City Council as Artist Laureate of Culver City. He is best known for his figurative work in oil and on paper, as well as for his award-winning Love My Neighbor public art project, an emphatic portrayal of diversity at the center of community engagement.
Since the onset of the COVID-19 crisis, Artist Laureate Alexey Steele has led multiple art programs targeted at reaching high-risk residents in Culver City and in the City of Carson. He now brings his ethos, mastery, and experience to a new body of portraiture that will celebrate the community spirit of Culver City, especially in these challenging times, by capturing and highlighting special Culver City neighbors.
While Alexey hopes to eventually return to in-person interaction with his models, during this health emergency, he has adopted technology to facilitate an innovative approach to portraiture. He can maintain social distancing but still work with live subjects and open the portrait sessions to the public to watch and engage.
“It is at times of crisis when the community building power of art reveals itself to the fullest. Through this project we reaffirm our ability to persevere, overcome, and recover as a community. I believe art shapes society and society shapes art, and I am eager to explore how my recent experiences navigating the crisis will affect my artistic form," says Alexey Steele.
Alexey Steele's artwork images are available upon request of the artist at artistlaureate@yahoo.com.
About Culver City
Culver City is a five-square-mile, urban community of 39,000 residents surrounded mostly by the City of Los Angeles but also shares a border with unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County. It is centrally located on the Westside near Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, and Los Angeles International Airport. Culver City is particularly known for its well-run public school system, "small town" charm, growing high-tech and creative economies, and a dynamic downtown that is regionally known as a destination for restaurants, live theater, and art galleries.
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Images: 2020, Culver City Artist Laureate Alexey Steele drawing in his Long Beach studio; and 2015, Culver City resident, poet, and past Honorary Artist Laureate Dr. Janet Hoult; images used with permission.
