Vincent Price might be a familiar name to Angelenos, with the famous actor’s involvement and philanthropy in the area stretching back decades. The Vincent Price Art Museum at East Los Angeles College is just one of his lasting legacies in the San Gabriel Valley, a 9,000 piece collection grown from the original 90 artworks Price and his wife, Mary, donated in 1957.
In September, the Vincent Price Art Museum opened its current exhibition We Place Life at the Center / Situamos la vida en el centro, featuring Los Angeles-based Colombian artist Carolina Caycedo. Inspired by Caycedo’s work, which challenges us to consider our land stewardship amidst the unsustainable demand of natural resources under capitalism, the exhibition highlights the intersection of art and environmental justice. It features not only 35 artworks in various mediums produced by Caycedo, but also 30 more works from artists and environmental movements within Caycedo’s network.
Several of the works were created for the project, which expands beyond the museum exhibit to a publication coming in 2025 and a series of educational programs done in partnership with ELAC. As part of ELAC, the Vincent Price Art Museum often works with departments and faculty at the college to involve students in the process of everything from creating art to curating an exhibit.
For We Place Life at the Center / Situamos la vida en el centro, Caycedo connected ELAC with an environmental group to offer a special six-week interdisciplinary course and travel program to Mexico City’s Xochimilco, where students spent a week learning about sustainable water practices in Mexico.
The research, development, and implementation of the program started in 2021 and the exhibit will run until March 2025. During the exhibition’s run, the Vincent Price Art Museum and ELAC have scheduled a slate of programs available to the public including artist talks, exhibition walk-throughs, film screenings, art and seed exchange workshops, student programs, and additional offsite events. In 2025, environmental leaders and community scientists will come together for a program led by Caycedo, organized together with the USC Wrigley Institute for Environment and Sustainability, to “strengthen hemispheric solidarity action networks, mobilize political thought through art, and foster collaboration with local contingencies and partners,” according to the Museum.
With six galleries, the museum is currently working on updates to its space to have an artist-in-residence exhibit and other permanent exhibits for the community. In addition to We Place Life at the Center / Situamos la vida en el centro, the permanent collection displays artworks from ancient civilizations in Central and South America. The permanent collection is grown from Vincent Price’s original donation to the on-campus art gallery at ELAC.
With each exhibition, the Vincent Price Art Museum brings to life the original vision of Vincent Price: teaching students about art, and using art to teach students about the world. Hataya Tubtim, Interim Executive Director at the Vincent Price Art Museum Foundation, describes it as a “community-based museum.”
“This museum belongs to all of the surrounding community members,” she said, “Alhambra, Monterey Park, East Los Angeles. For many residents in the San Gabriel Valley, we’re the closest art museum. And it’s free!”
The museum works closely with ELAC to create more opportunities for students to learn about and get involved in the arts. Every year, it holds a student show in collaboration with the art department. Every other year, the student exhibition is open to students from all of the nine campuses in the LA County Community College District.
“Our exhibitions are really focused on uplifting local artists who reflect our communities,” Tubtim shared. “East LA, Alhambra, Western SGV are primarily Asian American, and we have our Latinx communities, so our exhibitions really reflect that demographic makeup. We’re uplifting students, community members, and artists. Simultaneously, we’re showing the world how special our community is and how much impact we have on the world.”
The museum is free and open to the public Tuesday through Saturday. For more information on the current exhibit and upcoming programs, visit vincentpriceartmuseum.org.
