#[wrd // narrative 3]

[wren-devereaux]

3:27 AM

“I’ve got her.” Wren mumbled so softly she wasn’t sure Dylan heard her over the sounds of their daughter’s hungry cries, especially since she still felt him shifting in their bed. “Sleep, Dylan, I’m serious.”

“Just going to the bathroom.” His voice was thick with sleep, hoarse as he tried to whisper despite the fact that Ivy was wide awake and still screaming. Wren rose from the bed as well, crossing his path as he went to the en suite and she went to the baby’s bassinet.

“Shh, baby, it’s okay. We’ll get some milk.” She promised softly as she lifted Ivy and cradled her against her chest. The crying ceased as soon as they were skin to skin and Wren dropped a kiss to the top of Ivy’s head before carrying her down the hall to the nursery.

She turned on the nightlight and white noise machine as she walked in, speaking softly to Ivy about nothing and everything, mostly to keep herself awake, as she changed the baby’s dirty diaper first. The pair then got situated in the rocker, the hungry baby latching quickly. Throughout the feeding, Wren sat with her eyes closed but continued to speak softly to her daughter, telling her stories from her childhood and the things from it she hoped to emulate for Ivy. When Ivy was finished, Wren stood and held her against her shoulder, patting her back and swaying around the room. It was only then that she noticed the figure looming in the doorway.

“How long have you been there? You were supposed to go back to sleep.” She chastised, rolling her eyes despite the fact it wasn’t bright enough for Dylan to see it.

“I tried. Couldn’t sleep.” He told her as he shrugged himself off the doorframe and entered the nursery proper. Coming up behind Wren, he pressed a kiss where the curve of her neck met her shoulder, opposite the side of their daughter before going to the other side and pressing a longer kiss to the top of Ivy’s head.

“Plus, I don’t want to miss anything.”

[foryourart]

Image courtesy of Matthew Marks Gallery. 

Thursday, November 2

Diane Arbus, Nan Goldin, Peter Hujar, Matthew Marks Gallery (West Hollywood), 10am–6pm.

Art Matters Fall 2017, Santa Barbara Museum of Art (Santa Barbara), 10–11:30am.

Kourtney Roy: Enter as Fiction: CALIFORNIA, KM Fine Arts Los Angeles (Culver City), 11am–6pm. 

Pablo Vargas Lugo: Seascape, Laguna Art Museum (Laguna Beach), 11am–9pm. 

FANTASIA, ARTAMO GALLERY (Santa Barbara), 12–5pm.

Been Dark Uines Noon Concert, CalArts (Valencia), 12–1pm.

Untested Address Event Series, Klowden Mann (Culver City), 1–4pm.

MFA 2018 Preview Exhibition, UCLA (Westwood), 5–8pm.

Suzanne Lacy and Pablo Helguera in Conversation, AD&A Museum, UC Santa Barbara (Santa Barbara), 5–6:30pm.

Galeria Perdida: Oh is it, expert, Todd Madigan Gallery (Bakersfield), 5–7pm.

Artist and scholar walkthroughs: Nao Bustamante, Hammer Museum (Westwood), 6pm.

Walton Ford: Calafia, Gagosian (Beverly Hills), 6–8pm.

MOCA Music: DJDS, DJ Frosty, WYLDEFLOWER, and Deejay.fm​, MOCA Grand Avenue (Downtown),  6–9:30pm.

Malik Gaines book release, Ooga Booga (Chinatown), 6–8pm.

Around Town and Day of the Dead Altar, Laguna Art Museum (Laguna Beach), 6–9pm.

Greg Kahn: Havana Youth, Annenberg Space for Photography (Century City), 6:30pm.

2017 Common Field Convening Los Angeles, Japanese American Cultural & Community Center - JACCC (Downtown), 6:30pm. Through November 5.

Contents Under Pressure No. 1 | Presenting Johnny Quintanilla, Oliver Laurent Salon (Beverly Hills), 7–10pm.

Ism, Ism, Ism: Cine reciclado, MAK Center for Art and Architecture (West Hollywood), 7pm. $7–10.

CraftNight: Día de los Muertos: Workshop with Marcus Kuiland-Nazario, Craft and Folk Art Museum (Miracle Mile), 7–9pm. $10.

Liam Young on Adrián Villar Rojas, The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA (Downtown), 7pm.

ARTIST TALK: PATRICK MARTINEZ, Art + Practice (Leimert Park), 7–8:30pm.

RUSSELL LECTURE > MIGUEL CALDERÓN, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (San Diego), 7pm.

BFA II Solo Dance Concert, CalArts (Valencia), 7–9pm.

Paul Brach Lecture Series: Mara McCarthy, CalArts (Valencia), 7pm.

This is Bob Hope…, Palm Springs Art Museum (Palm Springs), 7pm. $75–100.

Ayer Es Hoy, Hammer Museum (Westwood), 7:30pm.

Latinas Out Loud: ¡Pa’rriba!, Hammer Museum (Westwood), 7:30–10:30pm.

Dancenorth/Lucy Guerin Inc.: Attractor, CAP UCLA (Westwood), 8pm. Also November 3.

JOSHUA LIGHT SHOW, The Broad (Downtown), 8pm. Through November 4.

Verónica Peña, PØST (Downtown), 8pm.

Friday, November 3

Encounters, Utopias, and Experimentation: From Pre-Columbian Tenochtitlan to Contemporary Buenos Aires, The Getty Center (Brentwood), 9:30am. Through November 5.

Docent Guided A+D Walking Tours: The Architects and Visionaries Who Built Palm Springs, Palm Springs Art Museum (Palm Springs), 9:30am. Fridays and Saturdays until April 2018. $25.

Bob Van Breda: Lost & Found, Palm Springs Art Museum (Palm Springs), 10am–5pm. 

STORY TIME AT THE FOWLER, Fowler Museum (Westwood), 11:30am–12:30pm.

Sound Tracks: A Musical Conversation, Santa Barbara Museum of Art (Santa Barbara), 12–1pm.

LECTURE: JEROME SILBERGELD ON CHAEKGEORI (KOREAN SCREEN PAINTING), Fowler Museum (Westwood), 2–3pm.

Jonas Wood: Interiors and Landscapes, David Kordansky (Mid-City), 6–8pm.

Closing reception: Skip Arnold | Stephen Neidich, ltd los angeles (Mid-City), 6–8pm.

Ellen Gallagher. Accidental Records, Hauser & Wirth (Downtown), 6–8pm.

Mikael B: Momentum, Mondrian Los Angeles (West Hollywood), 7pm.

Erica Ryan Stallones: STAR DECK Academy, elephant (Glassell Park), 7–10pm.

Priced Out, Los Angeles Poverty Department (Downtown), 7pm.

In Person: Pablo Vargas Lugo, Laguna Art Museum (Laguna Beach), 7pm; reception, 6pm.

Deirdre Sullivan-Beeman: Girls, Girls, Girls, La Luz de Jesus Gallery (Los Feliz), 8–11pm.

Nightmusic 8, CalArts (Valencia), 8–10pm.

Andrew DeGraff and Down Time, G1988 (Koreatown), 7–9pm. 

Saturday, November 4

Landscape as Catalyst: Lawrence Halprin's Legacy and Los Angeles, A+D Architecture and Design Museum (Downtown), 9:30am–4pm.

Point/Counterpoint: Contemporary Mexican Photography, Museum of Photographic Arts (San Diego), 10am–5pm. 

Fall Yoga Series, Women’s Center for Creative Work (Frogtown), 10:30am–11:30am. $12–15.

Gallery Talk: Astrid Preston & Rose-Lynn Fisher, Craig Krull Gallery (Santa Monica), 11am.

Grand Avenue Arts: All Access, Grand Avenue (Downtown), 11am–5pm.

Workshop: INHABITANTS, A Physical Theatre Activation Lab with Gema Galiana + Emily Meister, Pieter (Lincoln Heights), 11:30am–3pm. $35.

Performance - Human Nature: Sonic Botany, The Huntington (San Marino), 12–1pm.

ROJO: A Cochineal Natural Dye Workshop with Mimi Haddon, Craft & Folk Art Museum (Miracle Mile), 1–4pm. $60–70.

Aztlán to Magulandia Curator-Led Tour & Book Signing, UCI Claire Trevor School of the Arts (Irvine), 1–3pm.

Docent-Led Tour, Claire Trevor School of the Arts (Irvine), 1–2pm.

Can This Marriage Be Saved?, Proxy Gallery (Westchester), 2–4pm.

Alex Israel: Self-Portrait, Mixografia (Downtown), 2–4pm.

California Mexicana: Land Into Landscape, Laguna Art Museum (Laguna Beach), 2pm.

Día de los Muertos Themed Printmaking Workshop with Art Division at Fisher, USC Fisher Museum of Art (Downtown, 3–6pm.

Video Art + Film Festival: La Esperanza, ESMoA (El Segundo), 3–5pm.

Miguel Rio Branco: Out of Nowhere and Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle: The Garden of Delights, Christopher Grimes Gallery (Santa Monica), 4–6pm. 

Courtney Murphy: A Night In New Paintings and Eric Nash: BLVD, Skidmore Contemporary Art (Santa Monica), 4–6pm.

Elias Hansen, Not Right Now, Anat Ebgi (Culver City), 4–6pm.

Film: Through the Repellent Fence, Laguna Art Museum (Laguna Beach), 4pm.

Coastal / Border Performances, Angels Gate Cultural Center (San Pedro), 4pm.

ADC Welcome Back Road to Rio Party!, Palm Springs Art Museum (Palm Springs), 4–6pm. $45.

Christian Rex van Minnen: Mourning Wood in Liminal Dawn, Richard Heller Gallery (Santa Monica), 5–8pm.

Sarah McEneaney and Ann Toebbe: Home Work, Zevitas Marcus (Culver City), 5–8pm.

ektor garcia: cochi, Visitor Welcome Center (Koreatown), 5–9pm.

Gala Porras-Kim: An Index and its Histories, Commonwealth and Council (Koreatown), 5–8pm.

WRDSMTH: I'd Like To Have a WRD With You, Fais Do-Do (West Adams), 5–10pm. $5–75.

44th Annual Día de los Muertos celebration, Self Help Graphics & Art (Felicitas and Gonzalo Mendez High School, Downtown), 5–11pm.

Phyllis Green: Life After Life After Life, Chimento Contemporary (Downtown), 5–8pm.

Jeremy Blake: Station to Station, Mel Davis: Meet Me in the Usual Place, and Miriam Schapiro, Honor Fraser (Culver City), 6–8pm.

ICY & SOT, Thinkspace Gallery (Culver CIty), 6–9pm.

Queer Califas: LA Latinx Art, Plummer Park (West Hollywood), 6–9pm.

Guy Yanai: Barbarian In The Garden, Praz-Delavallade Los Angeles (Miracle Mile), 6–8pm.

Victoria Colmegna: Broken Ego, Park View (MacArthur Park), 6–8pm.

Ty Joseph, Gloria Delson Gallery (Downtown), 6–10pm.

Bunnie Reiss: Space Angels, Superchief Gallery LA (Downtown), 6–11pm.

Khipu, Body, Line: A Writing in Space, Getty Center (Brentwood), 7pm.

ARMANDO LERMA: Dreamland and the Discovered Paintings of Joseph Ernst and Philipp Lachenmann Part II, ACE Gallery (Miracle Mile), 7–10pm.

J.A.W. Cooper: Familiars, Flora and Fauna, Viscera, La Luz de Jesus (Los Feliz), 7–10pm.

LAndscape, Monte Vista Projects (Downtown), 7–10pm.

Amy Green: Drench, PØST (Downtown), 7–10pm.

Miami-Dutch: Traffic in the Square, Club Pro Los Angeles (Downtown), 7–11pm.

Nora Riggs: Fancy Hand, QUEENS LA (Montecito Heights), 7–10pm.

Keynote Lecture: William Deverell, Laguna Art Museum (Laguna Beach), 7pm; reception, 6pm.

Unnatural Selection, Automata (Chinatown), 8pm.

Ballroom B- Oren Pine BFA Mid-Res Recital, CalArts (Valencia), 8–9pm.

2017 Art+Film Gala Honoring Mark Bradford and George Lucas, LACMA (Miracle Mile).

Sunday, November 5

Really?, Wilding Cran Gallery (Downtown), 1–3pm.

Similar Sunlight, Gait (Downtown), 1–4pm.

FAMILY JAM: SALVADOR AND SAMBA WITH VIVER BRASIL, Fowler Museum (Westwood), 1–4pm.

ArtCenter College of Design Open House, ArtCenter College of Design (Pasadena), 1:30–4:30pm.

Art & Nature Family Festival, Laguna Art Museum (Laguna Beach), 2–5pm.

Rediscovered Botanical Treasures from the Smithsonian and the Hunt Institute, The Huntington (San Marino), 2:30pm.

Talking to Action Book Launch + Roundtable Conversation, Otis College (Westchester), 3–5pm.

Escenas Latinas: Changing the Narrative, Hammer Museum (Westwood), 3pm.

Imagination, Place & Possibility: A Conversation with Curator Lowery Sims and Amalia Mesa-Bains, Craft & Folk Art Museum (Miracle Mile), 3pm.

Heidi Zuckerman: Conversations with Artists, Hauser & Wirth (Downtown), 3–5pm.

ELLEN GALLAGHER IN CONVERSATION WITH LACMA CURATOR CHRISTINE Y. KIM, Hauser & Wirth (Downtown), 3pm.

Presentation: Janine Antoni in Dialog with Artwork from Relational Undercurrents, Museum of Latin American Art (Long Beach), 3pm.

Nikki Maloof: Chauve-Souris and Nerve Center, The Pit (Glendale), 4–7pm.

Big City Forum - community dinner with RootDown LA, Blue Roof Studios (South Los Angeles), 5–9pm.

Juan Bastos: California Portraits, Denenberg Fine Arts (West Hollywood).

Monday, November 6

Kip's Desert Book Club: The Talker by Mary Sojourner, Copper Mountain Mesa Community Center (Twentynine Palms), 7pm.

Too Clever by Half: What We Learn from the Mistakes of Great Literary Characters, Getty Villa (Pacific Palisades), $7:30pm.

Talk: The Director’s Series: Michael Govan and Cheech Marin, LACMA (Miracle Mile), 7:30pm.

Pre-release benefit screening of Disney • Pixar’s Coco, Atlantic Times Square (Monterey Park), 8pm. $25–60.

Tuesday, November 7

Film: High Flyers, LACMA (Miracle Mile), 1pm.

Radical Women Walk-through: Micol Hebron, Hammer Museum (Westwood), 6pm.

Wednesday, November 8

CULTURE FIX: SARAH K. CHENAULT ON CREOLE JEWELRY OF AXÉ BAHIA, Fowler Museum (Westwood), 12–1pm.

FOWLER OUT LOUD: UCLA MUSIC OF CHINA ENSEMBLE, Fowler Museum (Westwood), 6–7pm.

South of the Border panel discussion, The Loft at Liz’s (Mid-City), 7–9pm.

Petra Collins in conversation with Miranda July, ARTBOOK @ Hauser & Wirth (Downtown), 6–8pm. 

Por que somos e não somos tropicalistas: Moving image from Recife, Brazil, Human Resources (Chinatown), 7–9pm.

Chasing Coral, Hammer Museum (Westwood), 7:30pm.

Soundbath With Chakra Crystal Singing Bowls Series, Women’s Center for Creative Work (Frogtown), 7:30–8:30pm. $16–20.

Distinguished Fellow Lecture - The Lords Proprietors: Land and Power in 17th-Century America, The Huntington (San Marino), 7:30pm.

[wren-devereaux]

It was the first birthday in Wren’s life that she didn’t wake up to the smell of freshly baked cinnamon rolls or a trail of flowers leading her to the giant balloon arch in the kitchen where her parents waited to dote on her with affection and gifts. It wasn’t the first tradition that had been broken since “the event”, as Wren had dubbed Wingard’s gala in her head, and it certainly wouldn’t be the last.

Instead of the sweet scent of nostalgia slowly rousing her from her slumber, Wren was woken up abruptly by the incessant vibrating of her phone on her nightstand. Eyes still closed and half asleep, she grinned to herself, assuming the call was one of her girlfriend’s to be the first to wish her an official happy birthday and gossip about last night’s party, and answered the phone with as much enthusiasm her groggy hangover would allow.

“Miss Devereaux?” The voice on the other end was definitely not Lola or Lenna. Wren sat up straight in her bed, running her fingers through the tangled mess of blonde locks on her head and pushing them out of her face. Blinking a few times to wake herself up more thoroughly, the voice repeated her name, this time with a hint of irritation.

“Yes. Hi, hello. Who’s speaking?” She finally replied, voice hoarse from lack of use and yelling most of the night over the music and fireworks.

“This is Jennifer Briggs, with the Miami-Dade Police Department. I’m sorry to have to make this call to you so early on a holiday but we need you to come down to the station. We’ve recovered your father’s body.” The phone slipped from Wren’s hand and onto the bed. She could hear the muffled voice of Jennifer Briggs into the comforter, once again saying her name. It felt like she couldn’t breathe and her vision was fuzzy before fading.

“'I'm not going to pass out.” Wren told herself as she tried to steady her breathing. “Compartmentalize.” She reminded herself, a tactic she used to get through the panic attacks when James died. Picking the phone back up, she brought it to her ear.

“What do you mean you recovered his body?” She said, her voice shaking as she tried to keep calm despite feeling the tears that were burning behind her eyes. “Where? What happened? What about my mother?” The questions were spewing out of her mouth in a jumbled mess, one on top of the other and they were the only thing that kept the impending sobs at bay.

“Miss…we’ll be happy to answer all your questions down at the station.”

The call ended and Wren stared at the now locked and dark screen of the phone cradled in her hands. The tears broke through, splattering off the screen until she had run completely dry a couple hours later. Her relationship with her father had been tumultuous in the past few years, to say the least, but there had been twenty years before that where he had been her hero. She wanted him to pay for what he had done, but not with his life. Wiping the screen clean, she unlocked her device and made two calls before getting dressed to go down to the station.

First, she called Jason. He might have been associated with Wingard but he was also the only lawyer Wren knew and if there was one thing the True Crime genre boom had taught her, it was that you didn’t go to the police station without a lawyer. Guilty or not.

Second, she called Damon but was met with his voicemail, which was too full for her to leave him a message so she followed up with a text.

Did they tell you they found his body?