Materials Talks #13: "Glass Towers and Demon Rum": Interpreting the Watts Tower's Ornaments

Materials Talks #13 ​“Glass Towers and Demon Rum”: Interpreting the Watts Tower’s Ornaments​ Emma Silverman, PhD, Lecturer, California State University, Sacramento

Sep 20, 2022 12:00 AM - 12:00 AM Central Standard Time

United States

The Association for Preservation Technology International, Technical Committee for Materials presents: 

 Materials Talks #13

 “Glass Towers and Demon Rum”: Interpreting the Watts Tower’s Ornaments

Emma Silverman, PhD, Lecturer, California State University, Sacramento 

 

September 20, 2022 

1:00 – 2:00 PM ET

 Between 1921 and 1954, Italian immigrant Sabato (Sam) Rodia built an elaborate structure in his backyard in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles—three hundred-foot towers and numerous smaller sculptures, all made of concrete-covered steel embedded with tens of thousands of small objects such as shells, tile, and glass bottles. This presentation analyzes Rodia’s use of ornamentation, especially ceramic tile, for the ways that it expresses his artistic vision, relates to diasporic Italian vernacular building traditions, and acts as a palimpsest of early twentieth-century material culture in Southern California.

For more information: TCM Webinar - MT13 Registration Open.pdf (memberclicks.net)