My Calendar

June 2, 2019

SECRET INLAND EMPIRE: A CONVERSATION WITH CATHY ALLEN, PHIL YEH, LUKE JACKSON AND LARRY BURNS

SECRET INLAND EMPIRE: A CONVERSATION WITH CATHY ALLEN, PHIL YEH, LUKE JACKSON AND LARRY BURNS


June 2, 2019

Giant apple-slice-painted rocks. The McDonald’s Museum’s twelve-foot mural homage to San Bernardino. In all the stunning, peculiar, and non-traditional ways it wants, the Inland Empire feeds art right into our every day lives! Larry Burns' new book, Secret Inland Empire, explores the intersection of art and commerce. Join us for a lively discussion moderated by Burns in conversation with Cathy Allen, Phil Yeh, and Luke Jackson, on creative ingenuity and inspired community. This event will be held Sunday, June 2, at 1:30 p.m., at the Barbara and Art Culver Center of the Arts downtown, located at 3824 Main Street, Riverside.

Cathy Allen is primarily a mixed-media assemblage sculptor, but also explores site-specific installations, earthworks, altered books, experimental sound, and performance art. Her most recent creation is Sunvale Village, a Mojave Desert based multi-media work that includes sculptural installations and written narratives about a community for the small. She has an MFA degree from The Claremont Graduate University and a BFA degree from Otis/Parsons Art Institute, and is currently a Fine Arts professor for Copper Mountain College in Joshua Tree, CA.

Phil Yeh, founder of Cartoonists Across America & the World, has painted murals in 49 states and 18 countries since 1985. Most of his murals promote literacy and creativity and are done in 1 -13 days. The murals on the outside of the McDonald’s museum in San Bernardino have been painted for the last 7 years and focus on the history and geography of the area. Yeh also writes and draws graphic novels and paints watercolors.

Luke Jackson is an artist and entrepreneur native to Riverside California. He is a founding member of Mind & Mill, curator of Toil Gallery and owner of Frequency Factory Studios. After returning home from school in Hollywood, he set out to build more art and music infrastructure in his hometown and share native talent abroad. With the goal of bridging the gaps between art and commerce, he spends most of his time working with artists and musicians to bring their ideas to life and inject them into the world. If art is to serve a community, it must be facilitated by that community.

Larry Burns draws inspiration and ideas from the heady mixture of sights, sounds, peoples, and places of his hometown, Riverside, California. He is an active community leader, booster, and all-around fan of the recreation, entertainment, arts, and culture ready to be discovered across the Inland Empire. He fears and welcomes a future run by sentient robots, and wonders what they will talk about and do for fun when they are in charge. He is a founding member of the Inlandia Institute, a non-profit literary organization. He teaches English at Riverside City College and Humanities at Southern New Hampshire University. His second book with Reedy Press Publishers, Secret Inland Empire, is available through Barnes & Noble and other booksellers in May 2019.

Limited seating. To reserve a seat, please email Inlandia@InlandiaInstitute.org.

Conversation will be followed by light refreshments, book sales, and signing. This event is free and open to the public.