A Visit to the Watts Towers

"If a man who has not labeled himself an artist happens to produce a work of art, he is likely to cause a lot of confusion and inconvenience." (Calvin Trillin in the New Yorker in 1965.)

I taught bookbinding to two groups of high school students yesterday. The first group met at LACMA. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to walk around LACMA as I had about an hour to get to the Watts Towers for the second group. I made it just in time and was met with the most amazing sight (see the photos above.) When I was done picking my jaw up off of the ground, I saw my students waiting for me.

"I had in mind to do something big and I did it."-Simon Rodia

I taught both groups outside in a park area (in twenty years of teaching this was a first for me and I loved it!) I really enjoyed teaching the high schoolers and I think they had fun, too. 

Before I left, I wandered around the Towers and really enjoyed what I saw. I also loved how some of the houses across the street also had a lot of mosaics as well as other artwork on their homes. Thanks for taking the tour with me!

More on the Watts Towers:

Watts Towers Official Page

Watts Towers US

Watts Towers on Wikipedia

Simon Rodia

Watts Towers on Independent Lens (a documentary)