Sabato Rodia's Towers in Watts : Art, Migrations, Development / ed. by Luisa Del Giudice.
Ballacchino, Katia, contributor.; Barra, Monica, contributor.; Bilancioni, Guglielmo, contributor.; Brown, Gail, contributor.; Ceparano, Felice, contributor.; Del Giudice, Luisa, contributor.; Epolito, George, contributor.; Giudice, Luisa Del, editor.; Harris, Paul A., contributor.; Harrison, Thomas, contributor.; Hayden, Shirmel, contributor.; Hernández, Jo Farb, contributor.; Herr, Jeffrey, contributor.; Morgan, Jeanne S., contributor.; Ruberto, Laura E., contributor.; Scambray, Kenneth, contributor.; Schrank, Sarah, contributor.; Sciorra, Joseph, contributor.; Smith, Richard Cándida, contributor.
2014
NA2930 .S233 2014eb
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Title
Sabato Rodia's Towers in Watts : Art, Migrations, Development / ed. by Luisa Del Giudice.
ISBN
9780823260669
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1515/9780823260669
Published
New York, NY : Fordham University Press, [2014]
Copyright
©2014
Language
English
Language Note
In English.
Description
1 online resource (496 p.)
Item Number
10.1515/9780823260669 doi
Call Number
NA2930 .S233 2014eb
Dewey Decimal Classification
725.97092
Summary
The extraordinary Watts Towers were created over the course of three decades by a determined, single-minded artist, Sabato Rodia, a highly remarkable Italian immigrant laborer who wanted to do "something big." Now a National Historic Landmark and internationally renowned destination, the Watts Towers in Los Angeles are both a personal artistic expression and a collective symbol of Nuestro Pueblo-Our Town/Our People. Featuring fresh and innovative examinations that mine deeper and broader than ever before, Sabato Rodia's Towers in Watts is a much anticipated revisitation of the man and his towers.In 1919, Sabato Rodia purchased a triangular plot of land in a multiethnic, working-class, semi-rural district. He set to work on an unusual building project in his own yard. By night, Rodia dreamed and excogitated, and by day he built. He experimented with form, color, texture, cement mixtures, and construction techniques. He built, tore down, and re-built. As an artist completely possessed by his work, he was often derided as an incomprehensible crazy man.Providing a multifaceted, holistic understanding of Rodia, the towers, and the cultural/social/physical environment within which the towers and their maker can be understood, Sabato Rodia's Towers in Watts compiles essays from twenty authors, offering perspectives from the arts, the communities involved in the preservation and interpretation of the towers, and the academy. Most of the contributions originated at two interdisciplinary conferences held in Los Angeles and in Italy: "Art & Migration: Sabato Rodia's Towers in Watts, Los Angeles" and "The Watts Towers Common Ground Initiative: Art, Migrations, Development."The Watts Towers are wondrous objects of art and architecture as well as the expression and embodiment of the resolve of a singular artistic genius to do something great. But they also recount the heroic civic efforts (art and social action) to save them, both of which continue to this day to evoke awe and inspiration. Sabato Rodia's Towers in Watts presents a well-rounded tribute to one man's tenacious labor of love.A portion of royalties from this book will go to support the work of the Watts Towers Arts Center.
Access Note
Access limited to authorized users.
System Details Note
Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
Digital File Characteristics
text file PDF
Source of Description
Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 03. Jan 2023)
Added Author
Ballacchino, Katia, contributor.
Barra, Monica, contributor.
Bilancioni, Guglielmo, contributor.
Brown, Gail, contributor.
Ceparano, Felice, contributor.
Del Giudice, Luisa, contributor.
Epolito, George, contributor.
Giudice, Luisa Del, editor.
Harris, Paul A., contributor.
Harrison, Thomas, contributor.
Hayden, Shirmel, contributor.
Hernández, Jo Farb, contributor.
Herr, Jeffrey, contributor.
Morgan, Jeanne S., contributor.
Ruberto, Laura E., contributor.
Scambray, Kenneth, contributor.
Schrank, Sarah, contributor.
Sciorra, Joseph, contributor.
Smith, Richard Cándida, contributor.
Series
Critical Studies in Italian America
In
Fordham University Press Complete eBook-Package 2014-2015
Fordham University Press Complete eBook-Package Pre-2014
Available in Other Form
print 9780823257973
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Online Access
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Frontmatter
Contents
Acknowledgments
introduction. Sabato Rodia's Towers in Watts and the Search for Common Ground
part 1. Situating Sabato Rodia and the Watts Towers: Art Movements, Cultural Contexts, and Migrations
Local Art, Global Issues: Tales of Survival and Demise Among Contemporary Art Environments
Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere: Structure and Performance in Rodia's Watts Towers
Sam Rodia's Watts Towers in Six Sections in Succession
Without Precedent: The Watts Towers
An Era of Grand Ambitions: Sam Rodia and California Modernism
A California Detour on the Road to Italy: The Hubcap Ranch, the Napa Valley, and Italian American Identity
The Gigli of Nola During Rodia's Times
The Literary and Immigrant Contexts of Simon Rodia's Watts Towers
Sabato Rodia's Towers in Watts: Art, Migration, and Italian Imaginaries
"Why a Man Makes the Shoes?": Italian American Art and Philosophy in Sabato Rodia's Watts Towers
Parallel Expressions: Artistic Contributions of Italian Immigrants in the Río de la Plata Basin of South America at the Time of Simon Rodia
part 2. The Watts Towers Contested: Conservation, Guardianship, and Cultural Heritage
Fifty Years of Guardianship: The Committee for Simon Rodia's Towers in Watts (CSRTW)
A Custody Case: Ownership of Rodia's Towers
Nuestro Pueblo: The Spatial and Cultural Politics of Los Angeles's Watts Towers
Reading the Watts Towers, Teaching Los Angeles: Storytelling and Public Art
Spires and Towers Between Tangible, Intangible, and Contested Transnational Cultural Heritage
part 3. The Watts Towers and Community Development
Artists in Conversation
Building Community Through Self- Awareness and Self- Expression
Simon Rodia's Watts Towers: Sociopolitical Realities, Economic Underdevelopment, and Renaissance: Yesterday and Today
afterword. Personal Refl ections on the Watts Towers Common Ground Initiative
A.1. Interview of S. Rodia, with Bill Hale and Ray Wisniewsky
A.2. Interview with Simon Rodia, by William Hale and Ray Wisniewsky "at the Towers Site, Standing Outside Rodia's House," 1953
A.3. Conversation with Sam Rodia, by Mae Babitz and Jeanne Morgan
A.4. Interviews with S. Rodia, by Ed Farrell, Jody Farrell, Bud Goldstone, and Seymour Rosen
A.5. Report on Visits to Simon Rodia, Made to CSRTW, from Jody Farrell (November, 1961), Re: A.4. Interview with Rodia, by Bud Goldstone, Seymour Rosen, Ed Farrell, and Jody Farrell
A.6. Letter to the CSRTW, by Claudio Segre [Segrè], January 26, 1962, Re: Visit in Martinez, California, January 25, 1962
A.7. "New Yorker Reporter [Calvin Trillin] Visits Rodia"
A.8. Conversations with Rodia, Report by Jeanne Morgan, September 10, 1964
A.9. Last Conversation with Sam Rodia, Report by Jeanne Morgan, December 23, 1964
A.10. Interviews with S. Rodia, by Norma Ashley- David (with Jonathan David)
A.11. Interview (Excerpts) with Rodia's Neighbors ("Pete Scanlon's in- laws"), by Bud Goldstone, Long Beach, California, 1963
A.12. Interview with S. Rodia, by Nicholas King, Martinez, California, September, 1960
Notes
Contributors
Index

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