Title & Author:

Sabato Rodia's Towers in Watts : art, migrations, development / edited by Luisa Del Giudice.

Edition:

First edition.

Publication:

New York : Fordham University Press, 2014.

Description:

xiv, 476 pages : illustrations ; 26 cm.

Series:

Critical studies in Italian America

Notes:
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Introduction: Sabato Rodia's Towers in Watts and the search for common ground / Luisa Del Giudice -- Part I: Situating Sabato Rodia and the Watts Towers : art movements, cultural contexts, and migrations. Local art, global issues : tales of survival and demise among contemporary art environments / Jo Farb Hernandez ; Everybody knows this is nowhere : structure and performance in Rodia's Watts Towers / Guglielmo Bilancioni ; Sam Rodia's Watts Towers in six sections in succession / Paul A. Harris ; Without precedent : the Watts Towers / Thomas Harrison ; An era of grand ambitions : Sam Rodia and California modernism / Richard Cándida Smith ; A California detour on the road to Italy : the Hubcap Ranch, the Napa Valley, and Italian American identity / Laura E. Ruberto ; The Gigli of Nola during Rodia's times / Felice Ceparano ; The literary and immigrant contexts of Simon Rodia's Watts Towers / Kenneth Scambray ; Sabato Rodia's Towers in Watts : art, migration, and Italian imaginaries / Luisa Del Giudice ; "Why a man makes the shoes?" : Italian American art and philosophy in Sabato Rodia's Watts Towers / Joseph Sciorra ; Parallel expressions : artistic contributions of Italian immigrants in the Rio de la Plata Basin of South America at the time of Simon Rodia / George Epolito -- Part II: The Watts Towers contested : conservation, guardianship, and cultural heritage. Fifty years of guardianship : the Committee for Simon Rodia's Towers in Watts (CSRTW) / Jeanne S. Morgan ; A custody case : ownership of Rodia's Towers / Jeffrey Herr ; Nuestro Pueblo : the spatial and cultural politics of Los Angeles's Watts Towers / Sarah Schrank ; Reading the Watts Towers, teaching Los Angeles : storytelling and public art / Monica Barra ; Spires and towers between tangible, intangible, and contested transnational cultural heritage / Katia Ballacchino -- Part III: The Watts Towers and community development. Artists in conversation : R. Judson Powell, John Outterbridge, Charles Dickson, Betye Saar, Kenzi Shiokava, Augustine Aguirre, Artist's Panel moderated by Rosie Lee Hooks (Saturday, October 23, 2010,121 Dodd Hall, UCLA) ; Building community through self-awareness and self-expression / Gail Brown ; Simon Rodia's Watts Towers : sociopolitical realities, economic underdevelopment, and renaissance: yesterday and today / Shirmel Hayden ; Afterword: Personal reflections on the Watts Towers Common Ground Initiative / Luisa Del Giudice -- Appendices. A. Conversations with Rodia, 1953-1964. Interview of S. Rodia, with William Hale and Ray Wisniewsky, Watts, 1953 ; Interview with Simon Rodia, by William Hale and Ray Wisniewsky, "At the Towers site, standing outside Rodia's house," 1953 ; Conversation with Sam Rodia, by Mae Babitz and Jeanne Morgan, Martinez, California, September, 1960 ; Interviews, Part A, B, with S. Rodia, by Ed Farrell, Jody Farrell, Bud Goldstone, and Seymour Rosen, Martinez; and University of California, Berkeley ; Report on visits to Simon Rodia, made to CSRTW, from Jody Farrell (Bud Goldstone, Seymour Rosen, Ed Farrell and Jody Farrell), Martinez and Berkeley, California, October 17, 1961; and San Francisco Museum of Art, October 19, 1961 ; Letter to the CSRTW, by Claudio Segre [Segrè], Re: Visit with Rodia in Martinez, California, January 25, 1962 ; "New Yorker reporter visits Rodia," report to the CSRTW, Re: Interview with Simon Rodia and relatives, by Calvin Trillin, Nicholas King, Jeanne Morgan, and Beniamino Bufano, Martinez, California, August 30, 1964 ; Conversations with Rodia, report by Jeanne Morgan, Re: Visits in Martinez, California, May 20, June 15, July 5, August 10, September 10, 1964, and comments on New Yorker visit of August 30, 1964 ; Last conversation with Sam Rodia, report by Jeanne Morgan, Re: Visit in Martinez, California, December 22, 1964 ; Interviews with S. Rodia, by Norma Ashley-David, Martinez, California, March [1964?] ; Interview (excerpts) with Rodia's neighbors, by Bud Goldstone, Long Beach, California, 1963 ; Interview with S. Rodia, by Nicholas King, Martinez, California, September, 1960 -- B. CSRTW campaign to save the Watts Towers (Online Appendix). Nancie Cavanna song lyrics, "Please don't tear down the Towers" ; Campaigns to save the Watts Towers : correspondence ; Miscellaneous documents ; Miscellaneous digitized documents -- C. In their own words : interviews with Luisa Del Giudice, 2009 (Online Appendix). Jeanne S. Morgan, Former Chair of the CSRTW ; Interview with Brad Byer, I build the Tower filmmaker and S. Rodia's great-nephew ; Edward Landler, I build the Tower filmmaker ; Rosie Lee Hooks, Watts Towers Arts Center Director -- D. Conference and festival programs and illustrations (Online Appendix). University of Genova Conference poster, 2009 ; University of Genova Conference program, 2009 ; Watts Towers Common Ground Initiative : art, migrations, development, UCLA Conference poster, 2010 ; Watts Towers Common Ground Initiative : art, migrations, development, UCLA Conference program, 2010 ; Watts Towers Common Ground Initiative : Art, Migrations, Development, Festival poster, 2010-11 ; Watts Towers Common Ground Initiative : Art, Migrations, Development, Festival illustrations ; Watts in Italy, Summer 2011, illustrations.

Summary:

The extraordinary Watts Towers were created over the course of three decades by a determined, single-minded artist, Sabato Rodia, a highly remarkable Italian immigrant laborer who wanted to do "something big." Now a National Historic Landmark and internationally renowned destination, the Watts Towers in Los Angeles are both a personal artistic expression and a collective symbol of Nuestro Pueblo--Our Town/Our People. Featuring fresh and innovative examinations that mine deeper and broader than ever before, Sabato Rodia's Towers in Watts is a much anticipated revisitation of the man and his towers. In 1919, Sabato Rodia purchased a triangular plot of land in a multiethnic, working-class, semi-rural district. He set to work on an unusual building project in his own yard. By night, Rodia dreamed and excogitated, and by day he built. He experimented with form, color, texture, cement mixtures, and construction techniques. He built, tore down, and re-built. As an artist completely possessed by his work, he was often derided as an incomprehensible crazy man. Providing a multifaceted, holistic understanding of Rodia, the towers, and the cultural/social/physical environment within which the towers and their maker can be understood, Sabato Rodia's Towers in Watts compiles essays from twenty authors, offering perspectives from the arts, the communities involved in the preservation and interpretation of the towers, and the academy. Most of the contributions originated at two interdisciplinary conferences held in Los Angeles and in Italy: "Art & Migration: Sabato Rodia's Towers in Watts, Los Angeles" and "The Watts Towers Common Ground Initiative: Art, Migrations, Development." The Watts Towers are wondrous objects of art and architecture as well as the expression and embodiment of the resolve of a singular artistic genius to do something great. But they also recount the heroic civic efforts (art and social action) to save them, both of which continue to this day to evoke awe and inspiration. Sabato Rodia's Towers in Watts presents a well-rounded tribute to one man's tenacious labor of love.

ISBN:

9780823257966 (cloth ; alk. paper)
0823257967 (cloth ; alk. paper)
9780823257973 (paper ; alk. paper)
0823257975 (paper ; alk. paper)

Subject:

Rodia, Simon, 1879-1965.
Simon Rodia's Towers (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Cultural property Protection California Los Angeles.
Cultural property Italy.
Buildings
Cultural property
Cultural property Protection
Watts (Los Angeles, Calif.) Buildings, structures, etc.
Los Angeles (Calif.) Buildings, structures, etc.
California Los Angeles
California Los Angeles Watts
Italy

Form/genre:

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Added entries:

Del Giudice, Luisa, editor.
Critical studies in Italian America.

Holdings:

Location: Library main 289780
Call No.: BIB 232407
Status: Available