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Artist Tom O’Day recently retired from his position as an instructor at Spokane Falls Community College, where he has been fostering talent and innovative programming since 1986. He will continue to manage the college’s art gallery, which is currently hosting an exhibit of his own work. The mixed media installation “Exit-X-It” is on display now through Oct. 22, with restrictions on entry due to COVID-19.

O’Day was one of the DTLA art community’s early pioneers, having moved into the Shuken Bag building in 1979. The lofts at 1617 E. 7th St. were home to many Los Angeles artists, including “Action Critic” Eric “Randy” Johnsen, one of the Young Turks. During his six years downtown, O’Day frequented Al’s Bar and Gorky’s and worked as an art handler and installer for Cooke’s Crating. O’Day moved to Washington state in 1985.

There will be a closing reception for the artist at the Spokane Falls Community College gallery on Thursday, Oct. 22, 12:30-2 p.m. For more information about “Exit-X-It,” please see the SFCC website.

The historic 19th-century building known as Citizens Warehouse — occupied by artists such as Carlton Davis, Marc Kreisel, Ed Glendinning and others in the 1970s, '80s and '90s — went up in flames in the early morning hours of Sat., Nov. 10, 2018.

The building is featured in several scenes of the documentary "Young Turks," including the opening in which the band Fat & Fucked Up play their brand of punk-classical music next to a brick wall with the words "Young Turks" spray-painted on it. It was also home to the Art Dock, a drive-by art gallery operated from 1981-86 by Carlton Davis in the loading dock of his loft.

Purchased by the City of Los Angeles several years ago, part of the building had been demolished for widening of the 1st Street Bridge to make room for Metro's Gold Line extension. Faced with Metro's effort to raze the rest of the building, preservationists had recently (within the past month) won a battle with the city to save a portion of the building, possibly for future use as low-income housing for artists.

Reported Sat., Nov. 10, 2018, 2:49 p.m.

The Hi-Desert Cultural Center in Yucca Valley will present the world premiere of The Pearly Gates Collection at its new Yucca Valley Visual & Performing Arts Center (YVArts) on Nov. 3, 2018, with a celebratory public gala from 6-9 p.m. The Pearly Gates Collection pays tribute to the late art curator Walter Hopps — at one time the youngest museum director in the United States — whose pioneering curatorial approach garnered him much acclaim. The exhibition will unveil 50 original artworks from renowned artists, curated by YVArts Executive Curator Michael McCall, who was a close friend of Hopps.

McCall says the Pearly Gates project, started four years ago, was the culmination of a 3-decade mentorship under Walter Hopps, who died in 2005. Hopps’ obituary in The Washington Post described him as a "sort of a gonzo museum director — elusive, unpredictable, outlandish in his range, jagged in his vision, heedless of rules.” In that spirit, McCall began in November 2014  a “curatorial performance event,” trading banknotes Hopps had collected on his many world travels to artists McCall knew in exchange for artworks. Using what he labeled “Hopps Money,” McCall amassed a collection Hopps could appreciate from beyond the pearly gates.

The Pearly Gates Collection features artworks and writings by Richard Amend, Anthony Ausgang, Larry Bell, Gary Brewer, Matthew Couper, Woods Davy, Doug Edge, Joe Fay, Jim Finnegan, Ed Flynn, Clark Fox, Megan Frances, Peter Frank, Nick Fyhrie, Mat Gleason, Ed Glendinning, Brian Goings, Peter Goode, Emily Halpern, George Herms, Charles Christopher Hill, Brad Howe, Paula Izydorek, Terry Karpowitz, Ed and Nancy Keinholz, Rockne Krebs, Tom Lieber, Laurie Le Clair, Gary Lloyd, Aline Mare, Darwin Estacio Martinez, Michael McCall, Todd Monagham, Jim Morphesis, Andy Moses, Lindsey Nobel, Al Nodal, Loren Philip, Pierre Picot, Ave Pildas, Robin Rose, Catherine Ruane, Rafael Serrano, Stephen Seemayer, Alan Sonneman, The Art Guys, The Dark Bob, Jeffrey Vallance, Bob Wade and Norton Wisdom.

"Woods Davy: Dead Flowers" will open at Craig Krull Gallery in Santa Monica on Sat., Oct. 20.

Davy, one of the artists featured in "Young Turks," works with stones in natural, unaltered states, assembling them into fluid, precarious sculptural combinations that appear weightless. Writer Shana Nys Dambrot has noted Davy’s work is “a collaboration between artist and nature,” one in which the artist “prefers to cooperate with the pre-existing uniqueness and objecthood of his materials.”

In "Dead Flowers," Davy has gathered bleached coral from Caribbean shores, giving them new symbolic life and calling attention to global warming and other manmade factors that have negatively affected the ocean environment. At once contemporary and archaic, these forms evoke ancient Cycladic sculpture, while addressing current environmental issues. Davy's sculpture simultaneously references the past and invokes a contemplation of the planet's future.

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