raw materials

We are kicking things off with a bang, and Winstead Adams Projects is presenting three shows as part of the Downtown Open House 2008 and the Downtown Art Walk in June.

One of the shows, FIRST | LAST, is at what will be Raw Materials. Our very own James Adams has curated a show featuring emerging artists from Los Angeles to inaugurate our new space. But don’t worry, we’ll kick them all out at the end of the month so that we can start filling the place with art supplies.

We are also presenting two shows along with Phantom Galleries LA, located in the corner spaces at either end of 6th Street in the Pacific Electric Lofts. One is a reprise of A Deeper Shade by James Adams (heard of him?), and the other is The Stage, A World, featuring large pieces by more emerging artists.

Because there’s no possible way it could go wrong, we are hosting simultaneous opening receptions at all three spaces on Saturday, June 8 from 6-9pm. We’ll also be open throughout the Downtown Open House and for June’s Downtown Art Walk.

I spent some time today at Los Angeles City Hall getting registered for our city tax registration certificates. The other day, I sent in the paperwork for our “fictitious business name” registration using DBAStore.com, which our accountant recommended. We still have to get our seller’s permits from the state, but they don’t have a convenient office in downtown Los Angeles and we don’t really have the couple of weeks it will take for the registering by mail. That’s a task for next week.

Getting the city tax registration certificate was pretty painless. It took about an hour for my number to be called, and the clerk was patient as he helped me correct some mistakes I had made in filling out the forms, and in sorting out how many certificates we needed.

This is the empty floor plan of our space (click on it to enlarge). I’m no architect, so the measurements and layout are a bit rough, but this should be enough for planning purposes. The whole space is approximately 2400ft².

The current plan is to construct a wall in the back of the space, extending the wall of the bathroom (in the lower right) all the way across. This will create a 200ft² office/storage space.

There is a drop ceiling throughout the entire space, giving a ceiling height of about nine feet. The two grayed-out areas on the left are raised platforms behind windows. The area in the top-middle to the left of the pillar has a lower ceiling (about seven feet) because it is under a stairway.

Raw Materials is something new. This is the website and blog.