Overview

A multi-faceted exploration of Sabato Rodia's Watts Towers provides an insightful, panoramic study of the man, his monuments, and their cultural/social/physical environments. The extraordinary Watts Towers were created over the course of three decades by a determined, single-minded artist, Sabato Rodia, a highly remarkable Italian immigrant laborer who wanted to do something big. Now a National Historic Landmark and internationally renowned destination, the Watts Towers in Los Angeles are both a personal artistic expression and a collective symbol of Nuestro Pueblo--Our Town/Our People. Featuring fresh and innovative examinations that mine deeper and broader than ever before, Sabato Rodia's Towers in Watts is a much anticipated revisitation of the man and his towers. In 1919, Sabato Rodia purchased a triangular plot of land in a multiethnic, working-class, semi-rural district. He set to work on an unusual building project in his own yard. By night, Rodia dreamed and excogitated, and by day he built. He experimented with form, color, texture, cement mixtures, and construction techniques. He built, tore down, and re-built. As an artist completely possessed by his work, he was often derided as an incomprehensible crazy man. Providing a multifaceted, holistic understanding of Rodia, the towers, and the cultural/social/physical environment within which the towers and their maker can be understood, Sabato Rodia's Towers in Watts compiles essays from twenty authors, offering perspectives from the arts, the communities involved in the preservation and interpretation of the towers, and the academy. Most of the contributions originated at two interdisciplinary conferences held in Los Angeles and in Italy: Art & Migration: Sabato Rodia's Towers in Watts, Los Angeles and The Watts Towers Common Ground Initiative: Art, Migrations, Development. The Watts Towers are wondrous objects of art and architecture as well as the expression and embodiment of the resolve of a singular artistic genius to do something great. But they also recount the heroic civic efforts (art and social action) to save them, both of which continue to this day to evoke awe and inspiration. Sabato Rodia's Towers in Watts presents a well-rounded tribute to one man's tenacious labor of love.

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9781322965239

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Reviews

Sabato Rodia's Towers in Watts: Art, Migrations, Development is one of the most exciting collections of essays I have read in a long time. It does so much more than explore the fascinating history of Rodia's unique creation; this volume truly captures the rich, variegated, diverse, and transcontinental human drama surrounding the Towers. This book approaches Rodia's Towers much like a visitor would, by taking them in from a distance and then close-up, seeking various angles and perspectives and exploring their setting. This approach makes reading Sabato Rodia's Towers in Watts an experience and a journey of discovery where, in the end, the mysteries merge into a grand revelation of the nature of human creative aspiration. -Paul D'Ambrosio, President and CEO, Fenimore Art Museum & The Farmers' Museum Sabato Rodia's Towers in Watts offer a rich array of perspectives on the creative work of the eccentric immigrant laborer who created one of the most mysterious landmarks of Los Angeles. Whether they are interested in untrained artists, folklore, immigration, cultural and class politics, historical preservation, Italian American life, or multi-cultural neighborhoods and their identities, readers will find unique and diverse provocations in this this lovingly and astutely assembled book. -Donna Gabaccia, Professor of History, University of Minnesota. . .'Sabato Rodia's Towers in Watts: Art, Migration, Development presents rich perspectives from academics, writers, artists, city administrators and community organizers. -UCLA Magazine This book invites readers to develop an appreciation for the nontraditional art that Simon Rodia's towers so heroically represent.. . Above all, beyond its scholarly and informative impact, this book can inspire a broadrer vision of human creativity. -Paul Von Blum, Truth Dig

Author Information

Luisa Del Giudice is an independent scholar, former university academic (University of California Los Angeles, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia), public sector educator (Founder- Director of the Italian Oral History Institute), and community activist. She has published and lectured widely on Italian and Italian American and Canadian folklife, ethnology, and oral history, and has produced many innovative public programs on Italian, Mediterranean, regional, and folk culture, and local history in Los Angeles. In 2008 she was amed an honorary fellow of the American Folklore Society and knighted by the Italian Republic. She is the coordinator of the Watts Towers Common Ground Initiative.

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