Goin on a nature hunt - join the City Nature Challenge
Marianne Marugg
Spring brings an exciting change of seasons, but it is even more welcome after the isolation of this last year and the severe winter weather we rarely see. Many folks are venturing out to enjoy the spring sunshine and may be looking for ways to spend time in nature with family.
The local Big Country Master Naturalist group is joining the City Nature Challenge in an international urban bioblitz, or search for wild plants and animals, in Abilene and its surrounding areas.
City Nature Challenge began in 2016 with a friendly competition between teams from the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. During the 2018 Challenge, more than 41,000 participants made 815,000 observations of living organisms. In 2021, groups from more than 350 cities worldwide, including Abilene, will participate.
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“Yoshitomo Nara”
A three-decade survey of works by the Japanese artist, on view through July 5. | TIMES REVIEW
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 5905 Wilshire Blvd., L.A. Closed Wednesdays. $10-$25; ages 12 and younger are free; advance timed-entry tickets required. (323) 857-6010. lacma.org
Also on view: “Not I: Throwing Voices (1500 BCE–2020 CE),” exploring ventriloquism in art (through July 25); “Cauleen Smith: Give It or Leave It,” multimedia works by the L.A.-based artist (through Oct. 31); “Bill Viola: Slowly Turning Narrative,” room-sized video installation (through June 27); “Vera Lutter: Museum in the Camera,” images of the LACMA campus (through Sept. 12); “Fiji: Art & Life in the Pacific” (through May 12); “Do Ho Suh: 348 West 22nd Street,” installation re-creating the artist’s New York apartment in sheets of translucent polyester (through May 16).
Welcome to The Wild! At last, something to do on Saturday night that doesn’t involve Netflix. For just one night, a forest will appear in downtown Los Angeles, part of an outdoor digital light show called “Luminex: Dialogues of Light.”
At one site, look for a building-size projection of trees from different perspectives, one looking down on lush canopies, the other looking up from the intricate root system. Japanese artist Akiko Yamashita’s artwork is inspired by her grandfather, who committed himself to planting trees in landscapes left empty after World War II.
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Turkish artist Refik Anadol has also created a pop-up natural wonder for the city. His work transforms “the invisible patterns of wind in and around L.A. into a series of poetic data sculptures and projects them on the facade of the Desmond building in downtown L.A.,” an online statement says.