LA River X collects, amplifies and protects LA River Stories. One of our love languages is creating and participating in events in the LA River watershed.
LA River X has linked arms with Developed in Compton and Color Compton for a golden hour photowalk along Compton Creek, one of the LA River's tributaries. All participants receive free film and scanning services, and are invited to become LA River X guest hosts to show their photos of Compton Creek to the world. Don't have a camera? Developed in Compton has your back, simply request a lender film camera when you sign up! RSVP now.
This event is made possible with the generous support of Pomona College, The Claremont Colleges Library, Friends of the LA River, and California Humanities, a non-profit partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Visit www.calhum.org. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in these workshops do not necessarily represent those of California Humanities or the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Riverpark Coalition hosted an action-packed, free, family-focused event that included kids activities, equestrian activities, documentary movie screenings and interactive booths from various community organizations, including...LARiver X! We were there with some fresh-off-the-presses large-scale vinyl prints of images from the LA River X collection, button making, and live drawing from the one and only Don Terlinden.
LA River X had a fabulous time tabling and exhibiting at Reseda Park, part of a CicLAvia, Council District 3, LADOT, and Council District 4 event that celebrated the opening of safer street infrastructure for cyclists. Big thanks to all our amazing volunteers who made the event such a fun success, to Councilmember Blumenfield's office for inviting us, and to CicLAvia for being such incredible collaborators and organizers!
An initiative of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Night of Ideas is a global celebration crafted by French embassies and consulates worldwide. This year's Los Angeles event was called Outside the Lines: Reinventing the City. A perennially timely topic! LA River X was honored to be invited by the Consulate of France in Los Angeles to be part of a panel moderated by the iconic Patt Morrison, joining fellow panelists Céline Minard and Jenna Didier.
LA River X was invited by the Council for Watershed Health to exhibit twenty-one LA River X large-scale images with several hundred delegates to the State of the Watershed event, which happens once every five years.
LA River X partnered with FoLAR and TIL Events to exhibit thirteen LA River X large-scale images and a wall of smaller prints with more than 1,000 audience members at RiverFest at LA State Historic Park in 2023. LA River X guest host alums were on hand to share information about LA River X - including sharing information about how to become a guest host.
In partnership with The Claremont Colleges Library, LA River X was proud to present esteemed printmaker Daniel Gonzalez and best-selling author Tim DeRoche in conversation with professor of literature and director of the Harvey Mudd College Makerspace Jeff Groves.
Their 2018 book collaboration The Ballad of Huck & Miguel - a reworking of the classic Huck Finn tale written by DeRoche and illustrated by Gonzalez with intricate linocut prints - reimagines both the original work and the Los Angeles River, in invigorating and thought-provoking ways.
This free event was part of The People’s Archive, a collaboration between LA River X, Pomona College and The Claremont Colleges Library, with generous support from California Humanities, a non-profit partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
The Claremont Colleges Library and LA River X launched their collaborative exhibition with an opening reception featuring Indigenous culture bearer Tina Calderon (Gabrielino Tongva/Chumash/Yoeme), photographer Fred Kaplan, fine artist John Kosta, and public historian Tilly Hinton in conversation with Pomona College's Char Miller - about image making and the Los Angeles River.
Guests enjoyed refreshments, viewed the accompanying exhibition in the North Lobby Gallery, and perused selected Los Angeles River archival materials in the Special Collections Reading Room.
This free event was part of The People’s Archive, a collaboration between LA River X, Pomona College and The Claremont Colleges Library, with generous support from California Humanities, a non-profit partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
LA River X created a hub that celebrated the LA River, with large-scale prints from Tracy Stone, Su Jen Buchheim, Safi Alia Shabaik, Craig Collins, Anthea Raymond, Avital Oehler, Dwayne Grant, Jim Kisiel, Joe Petricca, Laura Vena, T. Chick McClure, Kyle Gerner, and Trinity Zhang along with an incredible illuminated papercut artwork by Amanda Leigh Smith, aka Spatium Natura and LA Is Not A Desert as well as live-drawing by Don Terlinden. Also sound and video work from Ecojustice Radio, Helen Kim, River Delights, JP Orchestra, Projected Visions, and Laura Vena and artmaking stations for kids and adults to tell their own LA River stories.
LA River X alums Sarah G. Grant, Ph.D., Avital Oehler, and Peter Bennett talked with LA River X founder and curator Tilly Hinton about emotional, intellectual, and practical aspects of photographing the Los Angeles River.
This event was generously supported by California Humanities, a nonprofit partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
LA River X Guest Host Alums met with Tina and Joe Calderon at the river to recweive gifts of locally grown herbal teas blended by Tina, with packaging drawn by native artist Jess Gudiel. With so many LA River X connections having been entirely virtual because of the pandemic, this was a welcomed opportunity for people to meet safely in person.
The first ever LA River X Guest Host Alumni Forum, gathered LA River X Guest Host Alums together online for a program of sharing and learning together. The event began with a blessing from Tina Orduno Calderon, a Culture Bearer of Gabrielino Tongva, Chumash and Yoeme decent, followed by a reading from Laura Vena, a video from Las Fotos Project, and a photo presentation by Jim Kisiel.
LA River X alum Celeste Umana and Las Fotos Project teaching artist Leah Hubbard gave a behind-the-scenes of the FLOW project, a photographic exploration of the Los Angeles River that took a group of young photographers from Los Angeles all the way to United Nations HQ in New York.
LA River X alum Fred Kaplan talked with LA River X founder and curator Tilly Hinton about his lifelong relationship with the Los Angeles River, his appreciation of its beauty, and his extensive work in documenting the river in still photography and film.
Tilly Hinton, Peter Bennett, Margaret Gallagher, and T. Chick McClure leapt into conversation with the wonderful Patt Morrison (LA Times, Spectrum News) to talk about the importance of collecting and sharing LA River stories.
As guest speaker at the 94 years old Los Angeles institution that KCET has crowned the "strangest club in Los Angeles," the Los Angeles Breakfast Club, LA River X founder Tilly Hinton presented 'Know your place', a photographic and historical adventure that debunked the idea of the LA River being little more than a concrete drainage channel reflecting nature's demise in urban landscapes. Her presentation was a contemporary emotional history of the river, and a reflection on why nature matters and how paying attention to it positively impacts both our lives and our cities.
Reach out to LA River X Founder/Curator Tilly Hinton if you'd like to attend, host, collaborate, or support upcoming events.
email: tilly@goodisbetter.net
cell: 323-536-7998