July 23, 2025 #1 Local News, Information and Event Source for the Century City/Westwood areas.

One Night Only: Installation-Activating, Opening Performance at Lake Enchanto

As part of the Santa Monica Mountains’ Arts in Parks program, Los Angeles painter Kim West has installed a new work in the beautifully decaying, empty 650,000-gallon pool at Peter Strauss Ranch. West’s project includes a washy, fractured mural of over 100 feet of gestural and abstracted poppies, a play structure-cum-easel with attached “layer paintings,” a color stained ladder, painted fire pits, and light elements that together form an installation about memory, loss and layers.

At 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, June 3, 2017, the installation will be activated – and permanently altered with shears and flames – in a one night only collaborative site-specific performance by Heidi Duckler Dance Theatre and experimental sound artist Davy Sumner. ­­

West is a painter best known for her murals in the downtown Los Angeles Arts District, including her 5-story Only One Way Through on Hauser Wirth, which has been described as “dreamlike” by the New York Times. The work in LAKE ENCHANTO is a natural evolution of West’s studio practice, which she states, “engages with memories, creating fractured realities with washy landscapes and color-forward botanical motifs that become allegorical events.” LAKE ENCHANTO literally and figuratively expands on notions of what happens when sacred memories begin to fade.

From the pool’s adjacent terraced hillside, three female dancers from the Heidi Duckler Dance Theatre, dressed in vintage bathing suits and caps, will descend in billows of color just as the sun dips behind the Santa Monica Mountains. As the dancers enter and move throughout the chipped, dripped, and aqua patinaed pool, their choreography guides the audience to rotate with them, sundial-style, around the crater’s center platform. Their movements are accompanied by composer Davy Sumner’s amplification of nature sounds, old-time-pool-side-music, and sonically manipulated physical elements of the pool itself.

“As part of their performance, the dancers’ choreography will move them to the climbing play structure, where they will peel back the attached layer paintings, revealing the stained under-works for the first time. As they peel, pull and tug to remove the top painting layers, they also cut, rip and tear – thus rendering some work into fragmented forms, which will be distributed as mementos to audience members,” says West. “Other works will be delivered to the pool’s platform fire pits, where dancers will tend flames and form a ritualistic pyre.”

Following the LAKE ENCHANTO performance, National Park Service Ranger Anthony Bevilacqua will lead a short talk on the Night Sky, the Cosmos, and our collective connection to the stars.

The performance is free and open to the public, with RSVP tickets for the performance required. Following the performance, the altered installation will remain on site and open to the public during park hours through September 30, 2017.

Lake Enchanto

Related Posts

(Video) Where great minds grow at The Willows Community School

July 22, 2025

July 22, 2025

The Willows, a DK-8 co-educational school, enrolls 474 students from 57+ zip codes annually. As a balanced, progressive educational leader, experiential learning,...

Mayor Bass, Veterans Demand Troop Withdrawal as Marines Exit City

July 22, 2025

July 22, 2025

Bass, alongside California State Senator and Marine Corps veteran Caroline Menjivar, condemned the deployment as “unnecessary, unprecedented, and unconstitutional.” Los...

Investigators Probe Marina del Rey Site in Deadly LA Sheriff’s Facility Explosion

July 22, 2025

July 22, 2025

The explosion, which occurred Friday morning at the training academy, claimed the lives of Detectives Joshua Kelley-Eklund, Victor Lemus, and...

James Baldwin’s Work and Legacy Explored at Billy Wilder Theater

July 21, 2025

July 21, 2025

The evening features a live reading by actor Mark Antony Howard of an excerpt from Baldwin’s “The Devil Finds Work,”...

What We Know So Far About the Santa Monica-Linked Explosion That Killed Three Deputies

July 20, 2025

July 20, 2025

The probe traces back to Thursday, when residents of an apartment complex on the 800 block of Bay Street in...

County Offers $58M in Parks Grants, Hosts Info Session Wednesday

July 20, 2025

July 20, 2025

The grants aim to enhance park equity, access, and environmental benefits, with awards ranging from $100,000 to $4 million The...

Century City Chamber Seeks Nominees for 25th Women of Achievement Awards

July 20, 2025

July 20, 2025

The event, announced Monday, will feature keynote speaker Vanessa Fukunaga, CEO of Engel & Völkers Snell Real Estate and publisher...

(Photos) See Inside This $60M Holmby Hills Mansion Inspired by a Madrid Museum

July 20, 2025

July 20, 2025

Soaring 30-foot ceilings, adorned with 400-year-old Moorish columns and 16th-17th century Florentine carvings, greet visitors Nestled on the prestigious 133...

Venice Family Clinic Slams HHS Funding Restrictions as Assault on Immigrants

July 18, 2025

July 18, 2025

HHS announced on July 10 that it would restrict access to programs like community health centers, Head Start, and other...

Former Hammer Museum Director Receives Getty Prize, Awards $500,000 to NPR

July 18, 2025

July 18, 2025

Philbin’s tenure at the Hammer saw the launch of the Hammer Projects series and the Made in L.A. biennial, alongside...

LAX Metro Transit Center Boosts K Line Ridership, Overall Metro Sees Slight Decline

July 18, 2025

July 18, 2025

The station completes the K Line, allowing continuous service from Expo/Crenshaw Station to Redondo Beach and enhancing regional connectivity through...

Salt & Straw Celebrates Ice Cream Week with Strawberry Shortcake Waffle Cone Through the Weekend

July 18, 2025

July 18, 2025

The item launched nationwide, available with any ice cream flavor or as an exclusive sundae featuring Strawberry Honey Balsamic ice...

Man Arrested in Brentwood for Impersonating Firefighter During Palisades Fire

July 18, 2025

July 18, 2025

The suspect faces at least 28 criminal counts—including 23 felonies—spanning incidents from 2023 to May 2025 Federal and local law...

Study Highlights Economic Impact of Cap-and-Trade Extension in Los Angeles

July 18, 2025

July 18, 2025

Governor Gavin Newsom and legislative leaders are pushing to reauthorize the program this year, citing its role in generating 287,000...