One day last June, Dave Williamson started getting calls and texts about pink flamingos. “What time can I pick up these pink flamingos?” read one text. Williamson was perplexed. He does like beer, quite a lot, so he thought maybe there was a connection. “Man, what did I do yesterday?” he remembers wondering. It didn’t take very many messages for Williamson to figure out something was up. He may be from El Segundo, by way of Florida, but he wasn’t born yesterday. He understood that somehow, some way, he’d been pranked. Finally, he figured it out. He found an ad, on Craigslist, with a photo ...

Recognition as an artist didn’t come until later in life for Dave Harris. It was only after he had finally settled into painting as the medium of choice that his creative endeavors began to take on a life of their own. In that space he found a reason to take himself and the work seriously in a way that he hadn’t done before. Dave and painting got along, and Spooky was born. Spooky’s first solo show was in the summer of 2019, at the now shuttered Strand Brewing Company that occupied an industrial warehouse near old Torrance. At that time, the brewery was hosting a different local artist each...

Sir Henry the Octopus first came to life at El Segundo High. His benefactor, Casey Montz, was a student at ESHS, and possessed a natural artistic gift. One day, an AP art teacher announced a special task. Students were asked to make 12 different artworks from a single theme. As his fellow students immediately started planning all sorts of deep and profound themes, Montz sat there, at a loss. He had no idea what to create. His puzzlement simmered in his mind as he went to other classes. An inveterate scribbler, he found his pencil moving almost of its own accord, doodling throughout every class...

Like the city that gave it birth, word of the El Segundo Art Walk began as a whisper. A group of artists led by Holly Socrates had the idea, back in 2015, that El Segundo’s burgeoning creative scene and its rows of low slung warehouses, wide array of businesses, and hometown vibe might be the makings of a great art walk. Hesitatingly, she began making inquiries. The enthusiasm she met surprised even her. Everyone Socrates asked said yes, businesses, artists, and a committee of art-minded folks who came together to make it happen. On the third Thursday of June in 2015, ESAW sprang to life. Th...

Sailors a few centuries ago knew the moment all too well. The outline of a ship appears, barely visible in the ocean mist. As it draws nearer, there is a moment of apprehension. The crew is weary. They’ve been out at sea, adrift, too long. Everyone wants to know: friend or foe? Finally, a shout goes up on the deck of the ship. “Hoist the colors!” A black flag shoots up the mast. The pirates have revealed themselves, and their intention – to attack. A moment something like this occurred at last year’s El Segundo Art Walk, The men who arrived on stage that day had piratical intentions. But the...

Talking to Carmen Zella, the executive director of public art agency NOW Art, is like gathering a philosopher, a businessperson, an artist, and an urban planner around a table. She jumps from talking about heady art theory and how she doesn’t own a TV because technology distracts us from staring at the sky to talking about her organization’s cash flow and referring to cities as clients. Her official bio contains her multitudes by describing her as a producer of public art. Zella grew up in Montreal. She studied theater production and design after high school, then got a job designing sets and...