MARLA KOOSED
Art Advisor
“Marla is a consummate professional. Her ideas, attention to detail and follow-through were exceptional. Overall, a ‘win-win’ for all parties involved.”
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about
Marla Koosed is a nationally recognized art advisor with critical expertise assisting private and public sector clients in all aspects of art project and programming – from concept and development to coordination and management. She is based in Los Angeles.
A young dancer activates one of several sculptures within Punctuation Station, a public artwork by Jeff Kopp for Westfield Culver City. One of four performances in the ‘1988’ series, highlighting Culver City’s Art in Public Places program as part of the City’s Centennial celebrations.
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TESTIMONIALS
“Marla created a digital art wall that had never been done before anywhere in North America, yet with no blueprint for this type of program within a healthcare setting, Marla took on the challenge and made it happen.”
“Marla not only curated and managed a series of six successful exhibitions, but also revamped gallery procedures, contracts, marketing and employee policies. Any organization that hires this creative and thoughtful individual is extremely fortunate.”
“With regard to public art, Ms. Koosed has a uniquely balanced view, based on experience, between public agency, developer, artist and audience. She is a tireless autodidact who makes attending lectures and exhibits and tours a priority, especially those pertaining to Los Angeles’ contemporary art scene. From her perspective as former Commissioner she understands and appreciates firsthand the challenges and rewards of creating artworks and art experiences within the public sphere.”
“We had an extraordinarily creative, productive, and enjoyable series of conversations about the ways in which public art and the public can be brought together in a commercial context. The experience working with Marla helped to advance the concepts of public art and mixed-use development in important ways.”
“The best example of Marla’s work is in West Hollywood, where she filled our expansive location with oversize collage murals of Hank O’Neal’s iconic 1970’s New York gay pride images. The GAY DAY murals brought to life our commitment to the local gay community.”
One of eight dancers performing in the windows of Platform, set against the public artwork Technicolor Drip by Jen Stark. The street level audience was unified with the dancers above by listening to a soundtrack broadcast to their phone. One of several citywide performances in the ‘1988’ event series.
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PROJECTS
GAY DAY PHOTO MURALS
Researched potential artwork commissions for 3 new stores within the Tender Greens Restaurant Group. For the West Hollywood store, oversaw artist selection, image selection, custom site-specific photo mural production and installation of murals composed from Hank O’Neal’s Gay Day photo series.
‘1988’ public art performances
For the city of Culver City, as part of their centennial year celebration, produced ‘1988,' a four-part site-specific series highlighting the Art in Public Places Program, Ordinance. Key components included: permanent public art and the performing arts, working with the City staff to select highlighted permanent artworks, and hiring of Heidi Duckler Dance Theatre to create site-specific choreography for each public work site. Multiple performances took place highlighting 6 public artworks, with recorded or live music. Each event concluded with a public Q&A between the visual artists, dancers and choreographer. The series was filmed to provide the City with an archival document. Additionally, rehearsals were open to the public, which provided opportunities for community members to experience the choreographic process.
ROBOT SCULPTURES
Curated a temporary, site-specific Westfield Culver City sculpture exhibition and film (showing the sculptor’s process), which aired on a screen above the exhibition and simultaneously on Westfield Culver City’s social media sites. Also created a family educational event with the artist as an additional component of the successful exhibition.
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Selected to conduct research and provide a feasibility study to assist the developer, Jim Suhr and Associates, with their decision on how to fulfill Culver City’s APPP requirement. Completed research, performed outreach to new media visual artists and provided multiple unique concepts for the site-specific space within the development, including budgets and multiple partner presentations.
welcome media artwall
For Roundtree Visuals, selected to be the Media Artwall curator for Providence Saint John’s Heath Center. The Media Artwall provided an unusual curatorial framework in which to exhibit local community artworks from artists and arts collectives. Providence Saint John’s Welcome Media Artwall won top honors in 2010 for the Use of Art in the Patient Environment.
mfa conversations parts I, II and professor dialogs
Brewery Artwork Association’s Curator of Exhibitions at the I-5 Gallery, Brewery Arts Complex. Curated a 3-part series of MA/MFA shows surveying the graduate programs in Southern California. MFA Conversations Part I: UC Irvine, Claremont College, Cal State University: Fullerton, Northridge, San Bernardino, Los Angeles and Long Beach; MFA Conversations Part II: Art Center College of Design, University of California: Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, San Diego, Riverside, Otis College of Art and Design and CALARTS; Professor Dialogues: faculty from aforementioned schools. Public programming occurred with all exhibiting artists throughout the series.
Viewer engages with a unique self portrait from the exhibit, MFA Conversations Part I.
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UNIQUE EXPERIENCE
WORK
Marla has worked for several of the nation’s leading Real Estate Developers and operators of Regional Shopping Centers, implementing their Specialty Leasing Programs nationwide for nearly 20 years.
She has also conducted artist research for multiple public art commissions, assisted with artist communications and documentation, for the highly respected public art consultancy firm Isenberg & Associates.
Marla’s depth of experience provides her with a unique skill set coupled with an acute sensitivity to the needs of her clients, a rarity within the art advisory community.
THE COMMUNITY
Marla was appointed to the Culver City Cultural Affairs Commission and served for 8 years. During her tenure, she was Chair for 3 years, Vice-Chair for 3 years and served 8 years on the public art subcommittee, an experience that directly informed her work on revising the Art in Public Places Program Ordinance. Inspired by the Otis Report on the Creative Economy, Marla spearheaded Culver City’s first Creative Economy Report, a landmark study of the significant relationship between economic development and the creative community.
ART ADVOCATE
Marla was a Culver City Cultural Affairs Foundation Board Member for 7 years, with two years as Board Chair, and initiated and coordinated Architecture Talks, a 3-part fundraising series that highlighted the Art as Architecture component of the Art in Public Places Program.
WORLD VIEW
Marla travels extensively to view the best examples of site-specific installations, public art projects and attend highly respected international and national exhibitions for inspiration.