5:15-6:15pm Docents available to discuss the site
6:30-8pm Artist Conversation

Awardees of the 2011 Santa Monica Artist Fellowship program join in conversation with moderator Nathan Birnbaum in this new annual series of public Artist Talks, with lively, interactive interviews and discussions of the background, processes and images from their creative work. In this second of two talks, filmmaker Meena Nanji, sculptor Phyllis Green, and painter and visual artist Analia Saban discuss their past and present works. The first Artist Talk was on February 7, 2011 and featured conceptual artist Allen Ruppersberg and photographer Diane Meyer. Small public receptions follow each talk.

Born in Kenya, Meena Nanji moved to England when she was nine and Los Angeles when she was seventeen. Her work concerns the global diaspora of post-colonial peoples and the disruption and replacement of cultural values, traditions, and ideologies that result from these migrations. She is known for her experimental and documentary work, which has won numerous awards and has been screened at film/video festivals internationally as well as broadcast on PBS stations throughout the US, and on European television. Titles include View From A Grain of Sand, an examination of the last 30 years of women's rights in Afghanistan, Voices of the Morning, a 15 minute piece about the effects of orthodox muslim law on a young women, Living in Colour, about 2nd generation South Asian youth living in Los Angeles. http://meenananji.com

Phyllis Green's work as a sculptor and animator has been exhibited extensively in exhibitions locally, nationally and internationally including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and MOCA, Shanghai. She has lectured extensively and is currently an adjunct faculty member in the Art Departments of Loyola Marymount University, U.C.L.A. and U.S.C. She is the recipient of individual artist's fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the California Arts Council, and the Pollock-Krasner Foundation. She was among the first group of artists to be awarded a prestigious C.O.L.A. grant by the City of Los Angeles in 1996. Green was appointed to the Santa Monica Arts Commission in 2000, and elected Chair in 2004. She holds an MFA from UCLA. http://www.phyllisgreen.net

Analia Saban was born in Argentina and has lived in Los Angeles for ten years, where she studied with John Baldessari at UCLA. She makes ingenious, metaphysical and yet humorous deconstructions of the elements of painting. Previous works have included cutting out all the parallel lines from a Sol Lewitt and letting them fall as they would; applying arrows to found paintings to show the direction of the brushstrokes; filling canvas with paint and letting it ooze scupturally through slashes in the fabric; and unpicking the threads from cheaply purchased figurative paintings and reknitting them into abstracts. http://www.analiasabanstudio.com

Nathan Birnbaum is a Cultural Affairs Supervisor for the City of Santa Monica Cultural Affairs Division. He previously served as Executive Director of Angels Gate Cultural Center, and as Artistic Associate at Audrey Skirball-Kenis Theater Projects, where he interviewed scientists, activists and writers as part of a popular Artist Salon program.

About the Artist Fellowship: The Santa Monica Artist Fellowship program offers five annual fellowships to individual artists to nourish and stimulate the creation of new work by Santa Monicans, acknowledge our community’s regard for creativity and innovation, and recognize excellence. The program directly supports artists so that they may dedicate themselves to the creation of new work.

Stop by early for information on the Beach House and Guest House tours by docents from the Santa Monica Conservancy before every evening event, first come, first served. PLEASE NOTE that the Back on the Beach Cafe closes at 3pm on weekdays, and there are no other food or drink facilities onsite - but the Beach House is a great place for a picnic!

Tickets are free but seating is limited and reservations are required. If you would like to attend, please reserve online. Please plan to arrive by 6:15pm to retain your reservation. Late seating, even for reservation-holders, is not guaranteed. To adjust or cancel your reservation for this event, email beachhouse@smgov.net. We appreciate your keeping in touch!

Directions: The Beach House is located at 415 Pacific Coast Highway, Santa Monica, CA 90402 on the west side of Pacific Coast Highway, a half mile north of the California Incline and a half mile south of Chautauqua Blvd. Plenty of public parking is available - enter off PCH at the Beach House Way traffic light. Parking:  Beach=Culture event parking is free after 5pm through April. The facility is also easily accessible by foot or bike from the beach bike path, although the beach closes at sunset. There is ample bike parking at racks throughout the site - remember to bring your own lock.

Other events: To view & make reservations for future free Beach=Culture events, check http://annenbergbeachhouse.com/beachculture.

General Info: For hours, events and more, visit http://www.annenbergbeachhouse.com, or call 310-458-4904. Back on the Beach Café is open weekdays 8am - 3pm (8am - 5pm weekends).