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Watts Towers (the tallest is 99.5 feet or 30.3 m) is considered an example of outsider art--or Art Brut--and Italian-American naïve art.
Watts Towers--tallest at 99.5 ft--built with no scaffolding, welds, bolts, rivets or drawing-board designs, by homeowner Simon Rodia, working alone in his spare time from 1921 through 1955. At Watts Towers Arts Center in Los Angeles.
Simon Rodia, Italian immigrant construction-worker and tile-setter, embedded every surface of his "Nuestro Pueblo" with tiles, bottle glass, & seashells.
Watts Towers Arts Center in Los Angeles operates a gallery, garden art studio and arts classes for youth and adults.
Details of the Watts Towers, seventeen connected structures (the tallest at 99.5 feet) and sculptural mosaics within Simon Rodia's triangular home lot, a 34-year solo project he dubbed Nuestro Pueblo.
Watts Towers--tallest at 99.5 ft / over 30 meters--built with no scaffolding, welds, bolts, rivets or drawing-board designs, by homeowner Simon Rodia working alone for 34 years, 1921 through 1955.
Parts of the Watts Towers are silhouetted in front of the setting sun, which made a wonderful appearance through the latticework of one of the towers. This amazing installation, which consists of 17 interconnected structures, was constructed by Simon Rodia over a 33-year period 1921-1954. For more about this incredible work of constructive artistry, visit www.wattstowers.us.
Photographed with Canon Digital Rebel Xti. Edited with PicMonkey.
Details of the Watts Towers, seventeen major sculptures (the tallest rising to 99.5 feet) by Italian immigrant Sabato “Simon” Rodia, all made of steel and mortar, embellished with mosaic tiles, glass, clay, shells and bottles. One of the largest structures ever built by a single individual.
(pilgrimage)
Sabado "Simon" Rodia had an idea. And for 33 years (from 1921 to 1954) he persued his idea producing one of the most unusual cultural landmarks in the city of Los Angeles. Working in his spare time and using found materials he created a series of 17 interconnected structures, the tallest reaching a height of 99 feet (30 meters). Today, the Watts Towers and it's surrounding arts complex are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Seventeen connected towers, structures, and sculptural mosaics within Simon Rodia's trangular home lot, embedded with tiles, bottle glass, & seashells, built from 1921 through 1955, working alone in his spare time and weekends.
Watts Towers has seventeen major sculptures by Italian immigrant Sabato “Simon” Rodia, built on his residential property. All are made of steel and mortar, embellished with mosaic tiles, glass, clay, shells and bottles.
Detail of Watts Towers--tallest at 99.5 ft--built with no scaffolding, welds, bolts, rivets or drawing board designs, by homeowner Simon Rodia, working alone over 33 years, 1921 through 1955.
Sculpture of Simon Rodia, creator of the Watts Towers, by Charles Dickson in 2003, at the Watts Towers Arts Center in Los Angeles.
DSC_0699 (Exhibit Q)
1727 East 107th Street, Watts, CA
View full size 1620 x 1081
NOTE: Headless Sightings were featured on The Weekly Flickr 08.01.2014
camera : Polaroid 600 Spirit
film : Impossible Project PX70 Color Shade (exposure wheel set half-way to lighten)
Watts Towers, Watts, L.A, CA.
Italian immigrant Sabato "Simon" Rodia (1895 to 1965) was a construction-worker and tile-setter. Following his divorce in Northern California in 1909, he eventually settled in Watts and bought the small house and triangular lot in 1920. There he constructed his seventeen connected towers, the tallest of which is the height of a 10-story building.
Watts, California, 2006
Last month at Freestyle here in L.A., I picked up a roll of expired Fuji Astia slide film (ISO 100) for my inaugural foray into shooting with expired film.
Finally after all these years, a visit of the Watts Towers. The result of one man's, Simon Rodia's, dedication, focus, persistence, or call it obsession, is an inspiration to every visitor.
A good description can be found here:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watts_Towers
The half hour tour is a bit short for dedicated photographers. Be prepared to take it more than once.
The Watts Towers or Towers of Simon Rodia in the Watts district of Los Angeles, California, is a collection of 17 interconnected structures, two of which reach heights of over 99 feet (30 m). The Towers were built by Italian immigrant construction worker Sabato ("Sam" or "Simon") Rodia in his spare time over a period of 33 years, from 1921 to 1954. The work is an example of non-traditional vernacular architecture and American Naive art.
From a day out shooting with QsySue.
Magnificent structure literally hand made and built by Simon Rodia in Los Angeles..It took him nearly 34 years to complete this labor of love...
Nikon Nikkormat FT slide copied by Nikon D300 + Sigma 150mm f/2.8 APO-macro DG HSM
_DSC8272 Anx2 1600w Q90
Visited the Watts Towers yesterday afternoon. This amazing installation, which consists of 17 interconnected structures, was constructed by Simon Rodia over a 33-year period 1921-1954. For more about this incredible work of constructive artistry, visit www.wattstowers.us.
Photographed with Canon Digital Rebel Xti. Edited with PicMonkey.
Camera : Ricoh Singlex TLS + CJZ Flektogon 20mm
Film : Kodak Tri-X 400 (15years expired)
Watts Towers, Watts, L.A, CA.
THE WATTS TOWERS
"The Watts Towers, consisting of seventeen major sculptures constructed of structural steel and covered with mortar, are the work of one man - Simon Rodia. Rodia, born Sabato Rodia in Ribottoli, Italy in 1879, was known by a variety of names including Don Simon, Simon Rodilla, Sam and Simon. Although his neighbors in Watts knew him as "Sam Rodilla", the official name of his work is "the Watts Towers of Simon Rodia".
Rodia's older brother immigrated to the United States in 1895 and settled in Pennsylvania where he worked in the coal mines. Rodia followed his brother a few years later. Little is known about his early life in the United States except that he moved to the west coast and found work in rock quarries and logging and railroad camps as a construction worker.
In 1921, Rodia purchased the triangular-shaped lot at 1761-1765 107th Street in Los Angeles and began to construct his masterpiece, which he called "Nuestro Pueblo" (meaning "our town"). For 34 years, Rodia worked single-handedly to build his towers without benefit of machine equipment, scaffolding, bolts, rivets, welds or drawing board designs. Besides his own ingenuity, he used simple tools, pipe fitter pliers and a window-washer's belt and buckle.
Construction worker by day and artist by night, Rodia adorned his towers with a diverse mosaic of broken glass, sea shells, generic pottery and tile, a rare piece of 19th-century, hand painted Canton ware and many pieces of 20th-century American ceramics. Rodia once said, "I had it in mind to do something big and I did it." The tallest of his towers stands 99½ feet and contains the longest slender reinforced concrete column in the world. The monument also features a gazebo with a circular bench, three bird baths, a center column and a spire reaching a height of 38 feet. Rodia's "ship of Marco Polo" has a spire of 28 feet, and the 140-foot long "south wall" is decorated extensively with tiles, sea shells, pottery, glass and hand-drawn designs.
In 1955, when Rodia was approaching 75, he deeded his property to a neighbor and retired to Martinez, California to be near his family. A fire ruined Rodia's little house in 1956. Within a few years the Department of Building and Safety ordered the property demolished. A group of concerned citizens, calling themselves "The Committee for Simon Rodia's Towers in Watts", fought successfully to save the Towers by collecting signatures and money and devising an engineering test in 1959 that proved the Towers' strength and safety.
In 1975, the committee, which had persevered the unique work of art for 16 years, gave the 'Towers and adjoining Arts Center building to the City of Los Angeles for operation and maintenance. In 1978, the Towers were deeded to the State, which undertook extensive restoration of the three main towers. . In 1985, continuing restoration responsibilities were given to the City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department and currently both the Towers and the Watts Towers Arts Center are under the operation of the Cultural Affairs Department.
While the Towers fall into no strict art category, international authorities and the general public alike have lauded them as a unique monument to the human spirit and the persistence of a singular vision. The Watts Towers, listed on the National Register of Historic Places are a National Historic Landmark, a State of California Historic Park and Historic-Cultural Monument No. 15, as designated by the City of Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission."
www.wattstowers.us/history.htm
For more: See my Set "Sky"
Close on the eastern (near) and middle (far) of the 3 towers. All of the green circles are the bottoms of 7-Up bottles Simon Rodia worked into the structure.
Finally after all these years, a visit of the Watts Towers. The result of one man's, Simon Rodia's, dedication, focus, persistence, or call it obsession, is an inspiration to every visitor.
A good description can be found here:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watts_Towers
The half hour tour is a bit short for dedicated photographers. Be prepared to take it more than once.
One of the few landmarks in Los Angeles that I had never been to before today. Built by one man, by hand, from found and collected materials, with no formal engineering knowldge. Not something anybody could do today without running afoul of every government agency in the book.
it is believed that Simon Rodia built the Watts Towers to share something he knew as a boy in Nola, Italy...the Giglio Towers that were paraded through the streets in celebration of the Feast of San Paolino (aka Giglio Festival of St. Paulinus) . The shape of the the land that the towers stand on is in the shape of a boat, and he had completed 7 of the 8 towers before he left.
Simon Rodia called his "something big" by the name El Pueblo Nuestro. We know it as Watts Towers.
Using simple hand tools, cast off materials, cement, steel rods, broken glass, sea shells, pottery and ceramic tiles, Italian immigrant Simon Rodia spent the 30 years from 1921 to 1954 creating his masterpiece.
Upon its completion, when he was about 79 years old, Simon Rodia deeded the property to a neighbor for nothing and announced that he was going away to die. He moved to a small town near San Francisco and never returned to Watts again.
In 1959, plans were made to destroy the Towers but the community rallied and they were saved. Today, restoration is in progress and the site serves as a community arts and education center as well as a monument to its creator and the people who loved it enough to save it. The Watts Towers is one of only nine works of folk art listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
A section of the Watts Towers. This amazing installation, which consists of 17 interconnected structures, was constructed by Simon Rodia over a 33-year period 1921-1954. For more about this incredible work of constructive artistry, visit www.wattstowers.us.
Photographed with iPhone 4s. Edited with Camera+.
Visited the Watts Towers yesterday afternoon. This amazing installation, which consists of 17 interconnected structures, was constructed by Simon Rodia over a 33-year period 1921-1954. For more about this incredible work of constructive artistry, visit www.wattstowers.us.
Photographed with Canon Digital Rebel Xti. Edited with PicMonkey.
Simon Rodia built Nuestro Pueblo ("Our Town"), now called Watts Towers, between 1921 and 1954, working by himself and using refuse as construction material. It is a series of towers, the tallest of which is 100 ft in height, and interconnected structures covered with mosaics and pieces of collected materials such as broken plates, mugs, and other colorful items. His dreamscape is now a historic park, with an adjacent art center.
Nikkormat FT2 slide copied by Nikon D300 + Sigma 150mm f/2.8 APO-macro DG HSM
_DSC8268 Anx2 1024h Q90 0.5k-1.5k
Magnificent structure literally hand made and built by Simon Rodia in Los Angeles..It took him nearly 34 years to complete this labor of love...
Los Angeles, CA - 22 AUG 2015
View of the Watts Towers looking west on East 107th Street.
The Watts Towers are located at 1765 East 107th Street in Los Angeles on a triangular lot that is one-tenth ofan acre, making it the smallest site in the State of California Park system.
Construction of the Watts Towers began in 1921 and continued until 1955.
The Watts Towers consist of seventeen major sculptural forms and is the largest folk art structure in the world constructed by one individual.
The tallest of the three main Towers is 99-1/2 feet tall and contains the longest slender reinforced concrete column in the world.
Sabato "Simon" Rodia, the artist who created the Watts Towers, was born Feb 12, 1879, in Ribottoli, Italy. In 1955, Rodia deed his property to a neighbor and moved to Martinez, CA, to be near his sister, where he died in 1965.
Rodia used discarded bottles, broken dishes, mosaic tiles, pottery, glass, mirrors, rocks, seashells, cooking utensils, wrought iron, scrap steel, linoleum, and other ordinary items in the creation of the Watts Towers.