Steffie Nelson | style and culture journalist

Desert Storm: Art in Joshua Tree and the Coachella Valley

W MAGAZINE • Feb 1, 2017

The drive from Palm Springs to Rancho Mirage isn’t what you’d describe as scenic: The landscape shifts from explosively verdant flora and palm tree colonnades to tan stucco boxes, asphalt, and scrub. But Neville Wakefield,... Read More

ART / BOOKS / SPIRITUALITY

Exploring The Wild Unknown With Kim Krans

BODHI TREE JOURNAL • Jan 1, 2017

As Kim Krans sees it, the “deep psyche” is always trying to tell us things, and tarot is just one way to tune in and listen. A Portland, Oregon-based artist, Krans is best known as... Read More

BOOKS / COSMIC L.A. / WELLNESS

A Bodhi Tree Grows in Los Angeles

BODHI TREE JOURNAL • Nov 11, 2016

Since the dawn of the 20th century, before the first movie studio staked its claim in the Southern California sun, Los Angeles has been a haven for alternative spiritual practices. With the arrival of the... Read More

ART / COSMIC L.A.

Planet Queen: Lita Albuquerque On Art and The Cosmos

East of Borneo • Feb 26, 2016

Throughout a four-plus decade career, the Malibu-based artist Lita Albuquerque has engaged in an ongoing, epic dialogue between earth and sky—from early desert installations like Spine of the Earth (1980), a “terrestrial painting” invoking the... Read More

COSMIC L.A. / SPIRITUALITY

The Rise of Guru Jagat, Kundalini Yoga’s New Star

LOS ANGELES MAGAZINE • Dec 1, 2015

To anyone who has walked into a Los Angeles yoga studio, the scene this Wednesday morning would be familiar: white walls hung with Tibetan silk tapestries that depict various incarnations of the Buddha; leafy plants... Read More

BOOKS / COSMIC L.A. / SPIRITUALITY

The Witching Hour: The Occult In An Age When There Are No Secrets

L.A. REVIEW OF BOOKS • Nov 13, 2015

IN 1692, BARKING LIKE A DOG, pretending to fly, or erupting in a spasmodic fit was seemingly enough to get a teenage girl in Salem, Massachusetts, branded a witch and hanged, as depicted in Stacy... Read More

COSMIC L.A. / FASHION / SPIRITUALITY

Glam Rocks: L.A.’s New Crystal Movement

W MAGAZINE • Oct 1, 2015

Every Friday night, local artists, chefs, screenwriters, fashion designers and the odd indie celebrity like the French singer, Soko, file into the Sweat Spot, a dance studio in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles,... Read More

ART / EVENTS / TRAVEL

On a Dark Desert Highway: The Manifest Destiny Billboard Project

East of Borneo • May 28, 2015

Driving on the freeway, usually wanting to be someplace far from wherever we are at any given moment, we fixate on the speedometer, the exit signs, the lines in the road: proof that we are... Read More

ART / CULTURE / EVENTS

The Distinct Californication of Paris Photo Los Angeles

T MAGAZINE/NY TIMES • May 1, 2015

With nearly 200 art fairs on the international cultural calendar, it’s no surprise that art-world denizens have a case of fair fatigue. Paris Photo L.A., however, seems to have the cure for what ails them.... Read More

ART / BOOKS / DESIGN

The Colorful History of California Graphic Design

T MAGAZINE/NY TIMES • Dec 1, 2014

Louise Sandhaus’s new book, “Earthquakes, Mudslides, Fires & Riots: California & Graphic Design 1936-1986” ($55, Metropolis Books), is a collection of visual artifacts as eclectic as California itself. The volume begins in the year that the... Read More

ART / BOOKS / COSMIC L.A. / CULTURE

Cameron, Witch of the Art World

LOS ANGELES REVIEW OF BOOKS • Oct 8, 2014

Pale and slender, she is wrapped in a black and white shawl that once belonged to Rudolph Valentino, a Spanish comb fanning out from her fiery red hair. Slowly, she lifts the long, fringed lashes... Read More

ART / COSMIC L.A. / EVENTS

“The Mothership” Lands in Downtown Los Angeles

T MAGAZINE/NY TIMES • Jan 20, 2014

Currently eight and a half months pregnant with her first child, the artist and curator Carly Jo Morgan has been exploring themes of motherhood since long before her own was imminent. Years ago, she designed... Read More

BOOKS / COSMIC L.A. / CULTURE

Aldous Huxley’s Brave New L.A.

LOS ANGELES REVIEW OF BOOKS • Nov 22, 2013

FIFTY YEARS AGO, on November 22nd, 1963, in his home at the top of Mulholland Highway beneath the first “O” in the Hollywood sign, the British author, psychedelic pioneer and visionary thinker Aldous Huxley lost... Read More

ART / CULTURE / TRAVEL

Highland Fling

W MAGAZINE • Feb 1, 2013

With its elegant, Commune-designed interiors and fresh, market-driven cuisine, the restaurant Ammo has been luring art world power players and tastemakers to a semi-desolate stretch of Highland Avenue near Santa Monica Boulevard for more than... Read More

ART / COSMIC L.A. / EVENTS

Seeing Stars

PASADENA MAGAZINE • Aug 1, 2012

Since it was built in 1904, astronomers and scientists have been documenting the mysteries of the cosmos at Mount Wilson Observatory. It was here, in the Angeles National Forest at an elevation of 5,700 feet,... Read More

ENTERTAINING / FOOD / GREEN

Food For Thought

PASADENA MAGAZINE • Apr 1, 2012

Steve Rudicel grew up at the historic Zane Grey Estate, a rambling 18,000 square foot Mediterranean-style mansion in Altadena, the former home of the famed Western novelist. When his father died in 2004, Rudicel, a... Read More

ART / BOOKS / COSMIC L.A. / CULTURE

L.A. Woman

LOS ANGELES REVIEW OF BOOKS • Jan 16, 2012

In Eve Babitz’s third book, Sex and Rage, the main character Jacaranda Leven comes upon a black-and-white photograph hanging in a grand Hollywood penthouse apartment, next to “a David Hockney swimming pool, and a huge... Read More

ART / COSMIC L.A. / CULTURE

Everyone Into the Pool

T MAGAZINE/NY TIMES • Nov 11, 2011

Wednesday night, beneath an inverted five-pointed star hanging from the ceiling of the Masonic Lodge at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles, the artists Jonah Freeman and Justin Lowe presented “Shadow Pool: A Natural... Read More

CULTURE / FILM/TV

Ann Roth: Craft Queen

VARIETY • Sep 23, 2011

Some call her the doyenne of costume design, but Ann Roth herself prefers the term “broad.” Turning 80 next month, Roth may be the oldest working costumer in the business, but she’s flaunting blue toenails... Read More

ART / COSMIC L.A. / FILM / MUSIC

Brian Butler’s Magick Act

T MAGAZINE/NY TIMES • Jun 1, 2011

For the Los Angeles artist Brian Butler, magic (or “magick,” as the case may be) is as modern as technology. Certain teachings may be ancient, he notes, but that doesn’t make them any less relevant.... Read More

COSMIC L.A. / GREEN / LIVING

Just Don’t Call Them Communes

GOOD MAGAZINE • Apr 1, 2011

Today we’ve got reality TV stars and struggling actors in superhero costumes, but in the early ‘70s even stranger, more exotic creatures roamed the boulevards of Hollywood: the 100+ members of The Source Family, a... Read More

FILM/TV / MUSIC

Sofia Coppola and Thomas Mars

VARIETY • Nov 17, 2010

It comes as little surprise to learn that Sofia Coppola, a filmmaker for whom music often plays a scene-stealing role, enlisted Phoenix, the French rock band fronted by her boyfriend Thomas Mars, to score her... Read More

CULTURE / FASHION

Yves Saint Laurent at the Petit Palais

LOS ANGELES TIMES • May 30, 2010

To wander through the Yves Saint Laurent retrospective at the Petit Palais in Paris is not just to receive an infusion of fashion history and a privileged peek into the wardrobes of some of the... Read More

ARCHITECTURE / BOOKS / DESIGN

Arts & Architecture Redux

C MAGAZINE • Nov 1, 2008

Its pages may espouse the principles of modernism and minimalism, but in its presentation, Taschen’s Arts & Architecture, the Complete Reprint 1945-67, is as maximal as it gets – in the publisher’s standard fashion. After... Read More

BOOKS / COSMIC L.A. / SPIRITUALITY

The High Priest of Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES TIMES • Jun 21, 2008

Last Sunday evening at the Silent Movie Theater, a clip from the 1938 astrological murder mystery “When Were You Born?” was shown as part of an “Occult L.A.” program curated by the author Erik Davis.... Read More

ART / COSMIC L.A. / CULTURE / FILM/TV

Rebirth of the Cool

SWINDLE • Jul 15, 2007

In the spring of 2006, the Centre Pompidou in Paris launched the splashiest exhibition of L.A. modern art the world has seen to date, “Los Angeles 1955-1985: Birth of an Artistic Capital,” featuring 350 works... Read More

BOOKS / COSMIC L.A. / MUSIC

Back to the Garden

LA Weekly • May 30, 2006

Money may not buy you love, but $2.4 million can buy you prime real estate on “Love Street” – which is the name of a song Jim Morrison wrote about living in Laurel Canyon in... Read More

Smoke Signals: Incense for Every Style

Refinery29 • Feb 1, 2015

For many, the idea of incense evokes nothing so much as college dorm rooms and hippie shops that smell more like car air freshener than exotic spices. But lately that stigma has started to lift,... Read More

ART / BOOKS / DESIGN

The Colorful History of California Graphic Design

T MAGAZINE/NY TIMES • Dec 1, 2014

ART / FASHION

Gary Baseman Collaborates with Coach for Spring 2015

W MAGAZINE • Dec 1, 2014

During Coach’s heyday in the 1970s and ’80s, the C might as well have stood for “classic” or “collegiate.” But Stuart Vevers, Coach’s new creative director, has a decidedly different agenda for the brand: “Making... Read More

COSMIC L.A. / FASHION / FILM

Cosmic L.A. Style: Stargazing with Miss KK & Friends

LOS ANGELES MAGAZINE • Oct 28, 2014

On Sunday night, in the shoe designer Jerome Rousseau’s elegant Hollywood studio, a colorful community of artists gathered to celebrate the debut of MissKK: A Sister Collaboration, a clothing line by costumer, stylist, and designer... Read More

ART / BOOKS / COSMIC L.A. / CULTURE

Cameron, Witch of the Art World

LOS ANGELES REVIEW OF BOOKS • Oct 8, 2014

MUSIC / TRAVEL / WELLNESS

What Warpaint Packs on Tour

T MAGAZINE/NY TIMES • Aug 7, 2014

When Warpaint returned to Los Angeles in July after a two-month tour that spanned the western hemisphere, Emily Kokal, one of the all-female quartet’s vocalist/guitarists, would often find herself wandering the hills of her Echo... Read More

ART / DESIGN

Videre Licet: Furniture Glam Enough for Hollywood

T MAGAZINE/NY TIMES • Jul 22, 2014

President Obama sits behind a custom walnut desk of their design in his private study, and François-Henri Pinault and Salma Hayek’s Paris apartment is illuminated by their light boxes, but until now, the design partnership... Read More

COSMIC L.A. / EVENTS / FILM

Dennis Hopper’s “The Last Movie” Screens at Paris Photo

T MAGAZINE/NY TIMES • Apr 28, 2014

Three of Dennis Hopper’s four children — Marin, Ruthanna and Henry — gathered at Paramount Studios with Hollywood friends like Andrew and Luke Wilson and Todd Phillips (director of the “Hangover” franchise and friend of... Read More

ART / COSMIC L.A. / EVENTS

“Veils” Celebrates the Art of the Obscured

T MAGAZINE/NY TIMES • Apr 4, 2014

As its name suggests, “Veils” — a 40-artist group exhibition opening Saturday in the West Adams neighborhood of L.A. — offers interpretations of the physical act of concealment. But the show’s curators, Jhordan Dahl and... Read More

ART / COSMIC L.A. / DESIGN / FASHION

Cosmic L.A. Style: Coryander Friend and Parachute Market

LOS ANGELES MAGAZINE • Mar 21, 2014

Spring is in the air, and this weekend Parachute Market is celebrating the season with “Let There Be Light,” the third installment of this curated design fair. The brainchild of set designer and vintage dealer... Read More

COSMIC L.A. / FASHION / SPIRITUALITY

Cosmic L.A. Style: Designer and Vintage Connoisseur Katy Rodriguez

LOS ANGELES MAGAZINE • Mar 12, 2014

Resurrection, the bi-coastal vintage boutique that Katy Rodriguez founded with her partner Mark Haddaway, just celebrated its 18th birthday. During those years, Rodriguez launched her own clothing line, co-curated a collection of rare 20th century fashion... Read More

ART / COSMIC L.A. / FASHION

Tune In, Try On: L.A.’s Psychedelic Sixties Boutiques

LOS ANGELES MAGAZINE • Jan 24, 2014

San Francisco might own 1967’s Summer of Love, but L.A.’s trippy season went on long after that – just like its eternal sunshine. The late ‘60s here saw love-ins in Elysian Park, acid tests in... Read More

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