Sara Velas is an artist, graphic designer, gardener, curator and Artistic Director of the Velaslavasay Panorama in Los Angeles, CA, US.[1][2][3]
Biography
editBorn in Panorama City, Velas studied the panoramic painting style while a student at Washington University School of Art in Saint Louis, Missouri, where she received her BFA in Painting.[4] Velas’ interest in panoramas goes back to her days as an art student. She was researching the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair and became aware of the panorama paintings that entertained people there.[1] In 2000, she founded the Velaslavasay Panorama in Los Angeles, CA. Velas also served as the president of the International Panorama Council from 2014 to 2017, which meets annually to discuss the panoramic medium both historically and contemporarily and currently serves as Co-President with Molly Briggs.[5]
When interviewed in 2016 for the journal Museum Futures, Velas noted that: “A few times, I suppose I’ve not been the ideal interviewee because folks would ask me ‘Now that you’ve done this, what would you like to have happen?’ Getting at a higher pinpointed truth or ‘secret meaning.’ My genuine answer is that I want to keep working on it, tending to it and aligning its growth- similar to a garden (and also literally a garden).”[6] Ms. Velas was featured twice on episodes of Visiting… With Huell Howser for her work with the Velaslavasay Panorama (2001 & 2011).[7] An avid architectural preservationist, in 2002 Sara Velas co-authored with fellow Modcom member Meri Pritchett the first nomination in the United States to successfully grant cultural historic preservation status to a trailer park, the Monterey Trailer Park in Highland Park.[8]
References
edit- ^ a b Guzman, Richard (1 July 2015). "Los Angeles panorama theater offers quick trip to the Arctic with old art form". Press-Telegram. Archived from the original on 29 March 2023. Retrieved 22 September 2023.
- ^ "Sara Velas - About". Sara Velas. Archived from the original on 9 February 2023. Retrieved 27 September 2023.
- ^ Leibowitz, Ed (May 2004). "Panorama Mama". Smithsonian Magazine. Archived from the original on 24 March 2023. Retrieved 27 March 2023.
- ^ "Calendar - Presentation + Panorama Viewing: Sara Velas". Sam Fox School. 2015. Archived from the original on 16 August 2018.
- ^ Blinder, Alan (8 February 2017). "A Painstaking Mission to Save Atlanta's Colossal Civil War Painting". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 22 September 2023. Retrieved 22 September 2023.
- ^ "Panoramic Inquiries". Museum Futures. 25 June 2016. Archived from the original on 29 March 2018.
- ^ "Panorama Update | Visiting with Huell Howser". KCET. 28 July 2015. Archived from the original on 27 September 2023. Retrieved 27 September 2023 – via YouTube.
- ^ Reynolds, Christopher (17 September 2002). "Preservationists Discover 'Trailer Park That Time Forgot'". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Archived from the original on 17 March 2015. Retrieved 21 February 2019.