Busy Past Weekend at Not A Cornfield

Special guest speakers, active and engaged members of the public, and the usual bevy of serendipitous moments were all found in abundance this past weekend at Not A Cornfield.

On the evening of August 19, 2005, the “Friday Nights @ Not A Cornfield” series debuted with a happening that began with a casual walk to the fire pit-heated outdoor amplitheater and project “eye” for greetings and refreshments. That was followed by a return stroll to the South End stage. There, in from England, visiting artists and scholars Anselm Krut and Felicity Powell presented a witty, sophisticated tag-team look at the art history of “Corn in European Painting.”

The pair projected images by and discussed a range of artists including Pieter Bruegel the Elder (see: “The Harvester”), Thomas Gainsborough, Giovanni Bellini and Francisco de Goya. Topics included madness, fertility, mythology, agricultural history, nomenclature, labor issues, and more. Not A Cornfield artist Lauren Bon and writer / curator Janet Owen joined the conversation, as did audience members.

During the evening, a large group of bicycle riders pulled up at the Not A Cornfield South Gate entrance. They turned out to be affiliated with the bicylist group Critical Mass, out for a moonlit ride. The peddlers pulled in and mingled with the other guests.

Early Saturday, “Morning, A Dance Performance at Not A Cornfield was scheduled to have occurred.


Sunday afternoon, August 21, 2005, engaments resumed. The weekly “Sundays @ Not A Cornfield” mix of Drum Circle + Corn Planting + Oral History Booth were augmented by the second installation of the 6pm Story Series. Longtime Dog Town resident and "Con Safos" literary jounral founder Ralph Lopez-Urbina appeared with Pitzer College educator and “Wallbangin’” author Susan A. Phillips to discuss the history of graffiti and the L.A. River, as well as share other local memories and anecdotes.

Lopez-Urbina, known by the nom-du-tagging, “Rafas,” recollected the cottontails and river marshes that predated the concrete channeling of the river that runs –- or ran -- through his backyard. Rafas also noted the straightforward origins of the Dog Town moniker –- a city dog pound was located nearby -- and he talked about more mischievous matters, such as tagging bridge walls with railway grease and the rite of passage of leaping 30-feet down from a bridge onto a moving train.