Whether a self-taught artisan or a contemporary art titan, one can make artwork just about anywhere. As the saying goes, the only limit is your imagination. And when art and life intersect, sometimes the distinction between the two disappears.

As the National Trust for Historic Preservation can tell you, homes and studios from rural Kansas to the hubbub of Manhattan have been the locus of eclectic, quirky, and innovative ideas that illustrate how creativity and daily existence are one and the same.

Last month, the NTHP added 19 new properties to its Historic Artists’ Homes and Studios program. Comprising locations that range from houses and workspaces to quarries and hand-assembled fantasylands, the new spaces bring the total number of network participants to 61 across the U.S.

Colossal readers might be familiar with one of last month’s additions, the Kosciusko, Mississippi, home of L.V. Hull (1942–2008), which was included in the National Register of Historic Places last summer. The designation was the first to honor the residence of an African American woman visual artist at the national level, and it was also the first time a home art environment by any African American was added to the list.

Women feature prominently in this year’s announcement, including Pope’s Museum in Ochlocknee, Georgia, which is distinguished as the oldest surviving artist-built environment by a woman in the U.S. A self-taught maker, Laura Pope Forester (1873–1953) created elaborate exterior installations, including murals and other works that pay tribute to women’s achievements, military veterans, and literary figures. The crochet-like white facade is composed of sewing machine parts.

Additional places include the homes of groundbreaking women artists Louise Bourgeois and Carolee Schneemann, along with remarkable creations like Grandma Prisbey’s Bottle Village in Simi Valley, California, and Mary Nohl’s unique environment in Fox Point, Wisconsin.

Plan your visits on the Historic Artists’ Homes and Studios website.

Local New Orleans designers and artists have teamed up with the NFL for a Super Bowl LIX collection truly representative of the city.

• Shop the NFL Origins collection on Fanatics.

The collection features New Orleans-based artists Jerk Art, Statement Goods, and Sneaker Politics.

Sneaker Politics released nine new items for the collection. Two jackets are featured in the drop, the Black NFL Origins Full-Snap Bomber Jacket and the Olive NFL Origins Full-Snap Letterman Jacket.

Each artist brings a different style and flair. While Sneaker Politics favors neutral colors like black, white, and gray, Jerk Art adds pops of color and graffiti-like print.

Jerk Art’s Heather Black NFL Origins Premium Pullover Hoodie steals the show with a fun print of Bourbon Street on the back. Jerk Art also released two t-shirts, one simple with a traditional NFL logo and the other with a unique logo and graffiti font.

Statement Goods similarly showcased all New Orleans has to offer with prints of Louisiana classics like crawfish boils and brass instruments on t-shirts and totes.

Shop the entire collection here.

Use code DIAGEO for free shipping on orders exceeding $24.

Attention, fellow Los Angeles Lakers fans: While we’re all understandably focused on the huge news of the team’s latest addition, let’s also celebrate the local artists who are taking part in the Lakers’ fourth “In the Paint” exhibition.

The exhibition includes 36 new works — unified by the theme “How Expression Produces Triumph” — by 10 artists of color from all over the L.A. area. It’s free and open to the public from Saturday through March 8 (11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays) at Band of Vices (1700 S. Santa Fe Ave., Suite 371, Arts District).

The 10 featured artists are Abby Aceves, Estefania Ajcip, Jessica Taylor Bellamy, Daryll Cumbie, Derick Edwards, Megan Gabrielle Harris, Marlon Ivory, Larry Li, Ann Phong and Michael The Khoi Tran. Each artist will receive a $10,000 grant from the Lakers Youth Foundation and will be celebrated at Monday’s home game versus the Utah Jazz at Crypto.com Arena.

That’s just some of the latest from around the L.A. arts scene. I’m Times staff writer Ashley Lee, here with my colleague Jessica Gelt with more Essential Arts news and to-do’s:

Best bets: On our radar this week

Alice Coltrane celebrations
The Hammer Museum is opening “Alice Coltrane, Monument Eternal,” the first museum exhibition inspired by the life and legacy of the jazz musician and devotional leader. Curated by Erin Christovale, the exhibition explores themes of Coltrane’s cultural output and practice like spiritual transcendence, sonic innovation and architectural intimacy, and features archival ephemera from her archive — handwritten correspondence, unreleased audio recordings and video footage, much of which has never before been shared with the public.

Also on view: sculptures, installations, paintings and photography by 19 contemporary artists, including Star Feliz, Rashid Johnson, Jasper Marsalis, Cauleen Smith and Martine Syms. The exhibition — which debuts Saturday night with a free opening night party, complete with a DJ set by Flying Lotus (Coltrane’s grandnephew, Steven Ellison) — is on view from Sunday through May 4. Hammer Museum, 10899 Wilshire Blvd., Westwood. hammer.ucla.edu

And in Orange County, Alonzo King Lines Ballet is celebrating Coltrane’s numerous artistries and disciplines — as spiritual leader, composer, pianist and harpist. Also part of the Bay Area-based contemporary ballet company’s program that evening: a tribute to the storytelling of Maurice Ravel in “Ma mère l’Oye (Mother Goose).” 7:30 p.m. Friday, Segerstrom Center for the Arts, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. scfta.org

‘Buried Child’
Interact Theatre Company is launching a new season of free staged readings at the Studio City Branch Library, beginning with Sam Shepard’s Pulitzer-winning drama, directed by Rob Brownstein. And mark your calendars for the second Saturday of each month for “God of Carnage” by Yasmina Reza, translated by Christopher Hampton (March 8), “Rabbit Hole” by David Lindsay-Abaire (April 12), “Fences” by August Wilson (May 10) and “Wit” by Margaret Edson (June 14). 2 p.m. Saturday. 12511 Moorpark St., Studio City. lapl.org

‘Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends’
After a London run, this celebration of composer-lyricist Stephen Sondheim comes to Los Angeles with Tony winners Bernadette Peters, Lea Salonga and Beth Leavel in tow. Directed by Matthew Bourne, the revue features beloved numbers from Sondheim shows like “Into the Woods,” “Gypsy,” “Follies,” “Company,” “West Side Story,” “Sunday in the Park With George” and “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.” This pre-Broadway production begins performances Saturday and runs through March 9. Ahmanson Theatre, 135 N. Grand Ave., downtown. centertheatregroup.org

— Ashley Lee

The week ahead: A curated calendar

FRIDAY
David Lynch The American Cinematheque and Vidiots continue their respective tribute series to the late filmmaker.
“Eraserhead,” 7 p.m. Sunday (with “Short Films by David Lynch”) and 10:30 p.m. Friday; “Lost Highway,” 7 p.m. Friday, Egyptian Theatre, 6712 Hollywood Blvd.; “Mulholland Drive,” 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Eagle Theatre, 4884 Eagle Rock Blvd. americancinematheque.com

Whiplash A live-to-film screening of the 2014 film features an 18-piece jazz band conducted by Academy Award-winning composer Justin Hurwitz.
8 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 3 p.m. Saturday (doors open two hours earlier). Saban Theatre, 8440 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills. streetfoodcinema.com

SATURDAY
The Gift: An Immersive Experience In a music-filled room, read an illustrated storybook (available in English, Spanish, French, simplified Chinese and Korean) about the fates of two stars; preceded by a conversation with LeVar Burton and project co-creators Janani Balasubramanian, Natalie Gosnell and Andrew Kircher.
4:30-6:30 p.m. conversation; 6:30-9:30 p.m. The Experience, please allow approximately 30 minutes. Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, 135 N. Grand Ave., downtown L.A. musiccenter.org

Colectivo Cherani A political and artistic initiative whose work includes paintings, murals, graffiti, photography, installation and hand-embellished objects that reflect the customs and traditions of the Purépecha people of Mexico.
Through Aug. 31, closed Mondays. UCLA Hammer Museum, 10899 Wilshire Blvd., Westwood. hammer.ucla.edu

Ant Hampton / Time Based Editions A photobook (included in the price of the ticket) springs to life in “Borderline Visible,” an audiovisual performance blending narration and soundscape on a journey through history along the eastern edge of Europe.
1, 4 and 8 p.m. UCLA Nimoy Theater, 1262 Westwood Blvd. cap.ucla.edu

Romance Reimagined Contemporary paintings and sculptures collected through the Autry’s “Masters of the American West” annual art exhibition and sale explore emotion, imagination and immersion in nature.
Through March 23, closed Mondays. The Autry, Griffith Park, 4700 Western Heritage Way. theautry.org

SUNDAY
Camerata Pacifica The group performs “high definition chamber music” with selections from Morciano, Gershwin, Weill, Debussy and Schoenberg.
3 p.m. Sunday. Performing Arts Center, 2100 E. Thousand Oaks Blvd., Thousand Oaks; 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. The Huntington, 1151 Oxford Road, San Marino; 8 p.m. Thursday. Thayer Hall, Colburn School, 200 S. Grand Ave., downtown L.A. cameratapacifica.org

LA Voices: Black History Celebration Guest vocalists join the Inner-City Youth Orchestra of L.A., the largest predominantly Black orchestra in the U.S., for this free concert.
4 p.m. The Ebell, 4401 W. 8th St. ebellofla.org

Macbeth Kamal Bolden plays the title role in director Andi Chapman’s staging of Shakespeare’s tragedy, reset in early 20th century New Orleans.
Through March 9. A Noise Within, 3352 E. Foothill Blvd., Pasadena. anoisewithin.org

Rodolfo Leone and Quartet Integra The ensemble performs piano quintets by Schumann and Brahms.
3 p.m. Thayer Hall, Colburn School, 200 S. Grand Ave., downtown L.A. (also livestreamed). colburnschool.edu

Culture news and the SoCal scene

Long Beach Opera is taking the radical — and exciting — step of devoting an entire season to pioneering electronic music composer, feminist and accordionist Pauline Oliveros. LBO’s slogan, interim managing director Marjorie Beale told Times classical music critic Mark Swed, is “We’re not the Met.” And it’s a good thing too, writes Swed in a column examining how LBO, “America’s oldest purveyor of consistently progressive opera is about to embark on the most uncompromising season of any company of its size or supposed mission anywhere. Ever.”

South Coast Repertory said a partial roof collapse of a production building where painted scenes, more than 100,000 costumes and an abundance of archival items are stored may have resulted in serious loss. The collapse happened during a storm that brought wind and rain, and officials say they are still examining the site to assess the damage.

In January, the Norton Simon Museum kicked off its 50th anniversary by launching a $14-million construction and conservation initiative called the Exterior Improvement Project. The project will make the garden and landscaping more sustainable. It will also include conservation of the 115,000 Heath ceramic tiles on the building’s exterior. The goal is for the whole endeavor to be done by early fall.

L.A. is getting a new gallery devoted to contemporary South Asian art. Rajiv Menon Contemporary aims to be a place for collaboration and communication among culture lovers on the West Coast and those in India. The gallery has a South Asian-influenced private garden and courtyard. It plans to open Feb. 17 and will donate a portion of the proceeds from its inaugural exhibition to fire relief through SevaSphere and the California Community Foundation.

If you’ve been following the online drama about the original Van Gogh that was allegedly found at a Minnesota yard sale in 2016, you’ll want to know that the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam has weighed in. Late last month, the museum said the piece, which was purchased by a New York-based art authentication company called LMI in 2019, was not created by Van Gogh. LMI pushed back, saying: “Even the museum is fallible.” Hyperallergic has the full story.

— Jessica Gelt

And last but not least

Still thinking about impressionist painter Edgar Degas at the 2025 Grammys via Chappell Roan.

Pink

Pink’s love of aerial stunts and plethora of bops make her an easy suggestion for the halftime show — in fact, she has performed at the big game, albeit to perform the national anthem in 2018.

However, when the NFL asked her to play the halftime show in 2019, she turned it down.

She told Billboard in 2019 she was reluctant to play for a couple of reasons. First, “everybody that does it gets so persecuted,” she said.

Then she added that the NFL probably wouldn’t appreciate her support of Colin Kaepernick, the San Francisco 49ers quarterback who famously kneeled during the national anthem to protest racial injustice, a move that sparked both support and criticism.

“I’d probably take a knee and get carried out,” Pink said.

“They should only give it, because of the controversy, to African-American or Latina women for a while,” she continued.

Maroon 5 went on to headline the show, joined by Travis Scott and Big Boi.

In 2018, the NFL league banned on-field kneel protests.

In 2020, four years after Kaepernick first kneeled, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell apologized to Black players in the league.

“We the National Football League admit we were wrong for not listening to NFL players earlier, and encourage all to speak out and peacefully protest,” he said in a statement. “We the National Football League believe Black lives matter. I personally protest with you, and want to be part of the much-needed change in this country.”

Much more than marching

The music school received widespread attention toward the end of 2024 when the marching band participated in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. But in music school terms, that’s old news; in late January the school launched a student-run record label, Greene Street Records.

Major milestones in recent decades include the 1989 opening of the Koger Center for the Arts, now overseen by the School of Music, and construction next door of a music building with a recital hall in 1993. The next year, what had long been the music department became chartered as the School of Music.

The school has long been committed to “the music of our time,” said Tayloe Harding, now entering his 20th year as dean. That includes a recent rebuilding of jazz studies.

“We’ve reinvigorated the jazz program,” Harding said.

The program has added faculty and moved into a former church near the school in 2023. In 2007, the school started a minor in entrepreneurship, which has continued to expand (Greene Street Records is part of that.)

The most recent development has been music leadership education with an emphasis on entrepreneurship, music advocacy, community engagement, and health and wellness, Harding said.

One of the best-known concert series at the school is Southern Exposure, which showcases contemporary music by performers from around the globe. The award-winning series draws large crowds and is highly regarded in the new music world.

As part of the centennial, the school is spotlighting alumni, faculty and students.

“This season the USC Symphony Orchestra is celebrating our current students, our alumni and our faculty,” said Scott Weiss, professor and director of orchestras. Compositions by faculty members Harding, David Kirkland Garner, Fang Man and John Fitz Rogers, and performances by faculty members, students and alumni are part of the orchestra season.

This column is sponsored by Arlington Arts/Arlington Cultural Affairs, a division of Arlington Economic Development.

Arlington’s visual arts scene is thriving, with a growing array of galleries, maker spaces and museums showcasing diverse and thought-provoking works. From sculptural movement pieces and historical photography to a tribute to a pioneering fashion designer, local exhibitions reflect Arlington’s dynamic arts landscape.

Arlington Cultural Affairs, a division of Arlington County’s Arlington Economic Development Department, delivers unparalleled public arts programming for Arlingtonians, visitors and beyond. Our mission is to create, support and promote the arts, connecting artists and the community to reflect Arlington’s diversity.

Current Exhibitions

Nothing Personal: A Collaboration in Black and White 

January 31-May 3 | Mason Exhibitions Arlington | Virginia Square

This exhibition explores Nothing Personal (1964), a book collaboration between writer and Civil Rights activist James Baldwin and photographer Richard Avedon. The work juxtaposes celebrity culture with capitalism and racism’s corrosive effects.

Patrick Kelly: Nothing is Impossible 

Now through March 8 | Cody Gallery | Virginia Square

This exhibition celebrates Patrick Kelly, the late 1980s designer known for joyful, boundary-pushing fashion. Dubbed the “male Black Lucille Ball,” Kelly infused humor and playfulness into his work. The Cody Gallery presents more than 20 of his creations, courtesy of the Shaw-Holmes Collection.

Museum of Contemporary Art Arlington: Come Together in Movement and Light

Wednesday, February 12 | 6:30-8:30 p.m. | Innovation Studio + Store | National Landing

During her residency, Negar Ahkami will develop Y’All Go Rhythm!, an interactive installation inspired by Persian architectural patterns and the exuberant dance traditions of Iranian-American gatherings. Visitors are invited to move and dance within the space.

Bennie Herron: All of the Pieces Are Women 

Through March 1 | Fred Schnider Gallery | Virginia Square

Poet, painter and social advocate Bennie Herron explores identity and emotion through bold, fractured busts in his latest work. His paintings serve as an extension of his poetry, reflecting on the paradoxes of existence.

Explore Arlington’s galleries and experience the power of visual storytelling. For a full calendar of visual and performing arts events, visit arlingtonarts.org.

For more than a decade, CERN, the European Laboratory for Particle Physics in Geneva, Switzerland, has been ahead of the curve, hosting artists in residence as one of the first scientific institutions to recognize the potential of cross-disciplinary collaboration between art and science.

Founded in 1954, CERN was born as a means to revive scientific excellence in Europe, foster peaceful collaboration and push the boundaries of human knowledge in science and technology. Today, it remains one of the most advanced centers for investigating the universe’s subatomic structure. Home to the Large Hadron Collider—the world’s most powerful particle accelerator—CERN was where physicists confirmed the existence of the Higgs boson in 2012, a breakthrough that reshaped our understanding of fundamental physics. It’s also where the World Wide Web was conceived, originally as a tool for scientists to share data before evolving into the digital backbone of modern life.

Since launching its first residency in 2012, the Arts at CERN program has provided artists with rare access to physics experts working on the world’s largest and most complex scientific instruments, all in pursuit of the biggest questions about the universe. The initiative fosters a collision of art and science—not just as a metaphor but as a tangible exchange that expands inquiry, research and creative discovery. Artists in the program enter the lab, engage in dialogue with physicists and conduct research that informs new works, many of which go on to circulate in the contemporary art world. This bridge between artistic practice and scientific exploration creates a dynamic two-way exchange: artists gain firsthand exposure to cutting-edge physics while scientists encounter new ways of thinking and communicating their work. Over the past twelve years, Arts at CERN has hosted more than 200 artists in residence and produced over thirty-five artworks, many of which have since been showcased in some of the world’s most prestigious museums. The program’s ever-growing roster includes international artists like Tania Candiani, Haroon Mirza, Mika Rottenberg and Suzanne Treister, among many others.

In anticipation of their upcoming annual summit, “Uncertainty: CERN Art and Science Summit 2025,” happening on February 5, Observer sat down with curator Mónica Bello, who has led the program now for years. We discussed how this radical experiment in artistic-scientific collaboration has evolved and what happens when contemporary artists step into one of the world’s most advanced research centers—where the fundamental nature of reality is being dissected, questioned and redefined.

“CERN is a place for fundamental science, which already requires creativity,” Mónica Bello tells Observer. “You need a particular way of approaching questions, and often the procedure or the way to do it is to go through, you know, the unusual, detours and the unexpected failure. All these processes are very similar to the artistic practice: seeing things differently, to propose ideas and testing possibilities.”

The ability to think creatively, particularly through artistic practice, has been proven to facilitate and accelerate innovation by opening alternative ways to question and archive the truth, pushing beyond the immediate present. Immersed in CERN’s vibrant laboratory environment and engaging with a scientific community of 7,000 scientists, engineers and staff, artists expand their research with fresh questions on the structure of nature and reality while also embracing aspects of the scientific method. “Being in this environment helps them to understand how you cannot take for granted what one knows about physics or what we can read in the news, in the literature, scientific literature, scientific communication,” Bello says, underscoring the necessity for artists to spend time in the lab and engage directly with the experts there. “Each experience deals with the challenge of being in a fascinating place. Also, sometimes you can get lost and doubt. You can doubt all that you’ve done and known before here. For us, it’s essential that the artists spend time in the laboratory and deal with these questions. Then the individual experience is very singular.”

Artists coming to CERN aren’t necessarily there to engage with direct scientific facts. They might be drawn to the residency for the opportunity to approach science and scientific research from entirely different perspectives. Some are more interested in the materiality of science, the artifact or an ethnographic approach or in seeing nature differently and entering aspects of uncertainty, according to Bello. This ability to grapple with the unknown is central to how artists at CERN interact with the universe’s deepest mysteries, mirroring the way physicists move forward—through questions, tests, attempts and failures.

SEE ALSO: Observer Arts Interviews 1-54 Founding Director Touria El Glaoui

This is why the selection process prioritizes artists with a genuine curiosity about spending time in a particle physics laboratory and an ability to provoke meaningful questions through unexpected proposals. “I don’t mean that they need to be new, more innovative or something that we haven’t seen before, but it’s key the way one expresses the question and approaches the inquiry. With a good question, you can trigger maybe not many answers, but see the richness of the world around you.”

While artists at CERN have full access to the laboratories and work closely with physicists, they must adhere to strict safety protocols and procedures. But, Bello clarifies, the real essence of the residency isn’t about seeing the machines up close or getting hands-on with heavy engineering—it’s about engaging, discussing and exchanging ideas with the scientific community. “The artists spend time with the scientists, yes, but working with an accelerator or on particle physics is not something artists can do; often, the artist starts from a straightforward information point,” she says. “This is the place where materiality is revealed very differently, but an extraordinary aspect of our residencies is that you are part of the scientific community that is dealing with fundamentals about reality.”

CERN and MIT were among the first scientific institutions to experiment with artist residencies, but today, the intersection of art, science and technology has become a widely recognized tool—not only for advancing knowledge but also for interrogating the use and impact of contemporary technologies. Artists play a crucial role in making complex scientific data and ideas more accessible, transforming them into narratives and experiences that resonate beyond academic circles and traditional scientific discourse.

“I think there is interest in understanding how we can do things together,” Bello says, reflecting on the growing phenomenon of cross-disciplinary collaborations between art and science. She sees this as particularly vital in today’s institutional crisis, where traditional structures are being questioned and new approaches are needed to hybridize different branches of knowledge and find in reality a broader spectrum of possibilities.

“The point is to understand what’s core and how society can benefit from our progress, not just from machines, household appliances or motorways, but with many more things beyond the utilitarian aspect of life,” she says. “I think it is an exciting moment in society. It’s a turning point in which we ask fundamental questions to understand our position in the universe as part of a broader network of relations, forces and energies.”

Years of residencies and case studies at CERN have proven not only that this model works but that it yields essential results. The Arts at CERN program plays a crucial role in supporting the production of works that emerge from these experiences and ensuring their circulation in museums and institutions worldwide. But even the most prestigious museums have their limits when it comes to exhibiting these works—what’s sometimes missing, Bello says, is the dynamic spirit with which these works were being produced or initially conceived. To put it another way, context is lacking. “The distribution of these works and projects produced during the residency should also emphasize an understanding of how this particular context and critical conditions helped to enrich and nurture new and different realities,” and the key lies in creating moments of exchange and dialogue—through panels, talks and international gatherings that allow the ideas generated in these residencies to resonate beyond the final artifact.

The structure of the program and the community surrounding it are constantly evolving. Artists come and go, sometimes staying only a few weeks before returning with new materials, fresh ideas and an expanded perspective on their research. While Arts at CERN typically hosts around twenty residents per year, they’ve avoided setting a fixed number since the pandemic to allow for the varied rhythms, methodologies and processes different artists bring to the program.

Since 2023, artworks created during these residencies have found a permanent showcase at CERN Science Gateway, where rotating exhibitions show work from resident artists. But the real convergence of this community happens at the aforementioned annual summit, first launched in 2024. The second edition will bring together artists who have participated in Arts at CERN alongside leading voices from literature, philosophy, science, art and music to foster conversations between artists and scientists. Titled “Uncertainty,” it aligns with UNESCO’s declaration of 2025 as the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology, celebrating the transformative impact quantum science has had over the past century on tech, culture and our fundamental understanding of the world.