Art:Supplied: Navigating our geographies, with Corrie Siegel by our side

Corrie Siegel is more than an LA-based artist; she is a communities-based artist. Her multidisciplinary exhibition, Star Tours, drives this forward: a nomadic initiative, the project ventures to unite visitors with Los Angeles' diverse landscape-- its communities, cultural diaspora, and history. A manifestation of Siegel's attention to identity and place, Star Tours approaches these universal experiences with eloquence and sensitivity. Ranging from drawings to photography to video, her work makes a resounding impact.

After returning home from university in New York, Siegel confronted a sprawling and diverse city whose terrain she struggled to navigate. In an effort to improve her sense of direction and place, she began drawing maps of Los Angeles. Her personal project mushroomed into a series of handmade maps that fused her study of cartography and micrography, an art form developed by 8th-century Hebrew scribes that integrates small text within an image. Select works from her map projects, thought-provoking, exuberant, and astonishing in their meticulousness, will be on display throughout Star Tours.

In LA #30 Lamed Aleph, Siegel explores neighborhood boundaries and her subjective relationship to them. Regions are distinguished by letters of the Hebrew alphabet whose significance we are compelled to reflect on: do they represent Jewish communities? personal narratives? collective stories? By prompting us to create our own maps, we are inclined to consider our own geographies, whether personal, cultural, or physical. We leave with an itch to chronicle.

LA #30 Lamed Aleph
Ink on paper, 2012

Through the month of January you can find Siegel at various culturally significant sites in Los Angeles. Siegel's migratory gallery, a 16-foot truck, will assume a dutiful presence throughout the project.

The project was launched at Side Street Projects in Pasadena, an artist-run organization that supports the creative endeavors of artists. Subsequent events will be held at Watts Towers, LACMA, Taco Zone, and more.

For an up-to-date list of events, click here:
Star Tours Schedule

Photos from the Side Street Projects opening, Jan. 11: