Watts Towers

"I had in mind to do something big and I did it."—Simon Rodia
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Constructed between 1921 and 1954/55 by Italian immigrant Simon Rodia, the Watts Towers have become an iconic monument to the city.

The collection of seventeen structures, which Rodia himself called Nuestro Pueblo (“our town”), were erected by hand and made of steel rods wrapped in wire mesh and coated with cement. Embedded into nearly every inch of the environment are shards of ceramics, bottles tiles, shells, and other scraps—often brought to Rodia by others in the neighborhood.

Owned by the State of California and managed by the City of Los Angeles, The Watts Towers are a National Historic Landmark and one of the most widely recognized works of art to come out of Southern California in the last century.

LACMA has partnered with the City of Los Angeles’s Department of Cultural Affairs toward the preservation of this landmark work of art. Throughout 2011 LACMA’s Conservation Center will develop a comprehensive plan for the long-term preservation of the Towers.

1st Quarterly Report
2nd Quarterly Report
3rd Quarterly Report

The museum will also focus its efforts on raising both funds and awareness around the Towers, including reaching out to other local institutions for their expertise and recommendations in support of LACMA’s efforts.

 

Image: 2011 © Museum Associates

Funding for the planning phase was made possible by a grant from

Conservation Center at LACMA
Conservation Center at LACMA

LACMA conservators will be working onsite at Watts Towers, overseeing day-to-day conservation needs & developing a long-term strategy for preserving them for future generations.

Established in 1967, LACMA’s Conservation Center was the first of its kind on the West Coast. Researchers, scientists, & specialists at the Center work to conserve not only the 100,000 objects in LACMA’s collection, but those of other institutions as well.

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Watts House Project
Watts House Project

Under the direction of artist Edgar Arceneaux, Watts House Project is an ongoing collaboration in which artists and architects work with families in Watts to improve their homes and energize the neighborhood. LACMA sponsors the Garcia House, where architects Escher GuneWardena and artists Slanguage Studio (Mario Ybarra Jr. and Karla Diaz) are working with the Garcia family to develop plans for their home.

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Watts Towers Art Center
Watts Towers Art Center

Located adjacent to the Watts Towers, the Watts Towers Art Center (WTAC) provides diverse cultural enrichment programming through tours of the towers, lectures, exhibitions, and studio workshops for teachers and students. The WTAC also runs the Charles Mingus Youth Arts Center, which offers music classes to young area residents.

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Art Programs with the Community
Art Programs with the Community

As part of its ongoing education initiative Art Programs in the Community: LACMA On-Site, LACMA has entered into a partnership with Los Angeles Unified School District 7, which stretches from downtown to Watts. Through LACMA On-Site the museum educates teachers, students, and families in a variety of programs at the museum, in the schools, and in local libraries.

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The Towers

Directed by William Hale

We are grateful to be able to share this 1957 film about Watts Towers and Simon Rodia.

Produced by Rembrandt Films, William Hale and Antonio M. Vellano.

Run time: 12 minutes

Remastered 2010 by Over the Moon Productions

Join Us in Watts

July 27, 2011

Down at Watts Towers, a LACMA conservation team has been assessing Simon Rodia’s monument for several months. The team is working on an inventory of detached ornaments that have fallen from the Towers over time; securing loose or endangered elements; performing a thorough condition survey of the lower part of the monument; researching appropriate conservation materials, and monitoring cracks, to name just a few of their current activities...

Q&A with Artist Alison Saar about Her Connection to Watts Towers

February 20, 2012

I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Alison Saar, a sculptor who is a native Angeleno, over tea and coffee at Ray’s on LACMA’s campus. I wanted to ask her about the lifelong relationship she has had with the Watts Towers. She comes from a family immersed in art: Her mother, Betye Saar, is also an artist and her father, Richard Saar, was an art conservator. The family’s connection with the Towers began with her maternal great-grandmother, a resident of Watts, and continued with her mother, who saw Simon Rodia’s work in progress, before being passed along to Alison and even now to Alison’s children...

Video

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