In 1971, fledgling St. Elmo Village hosted its first Festival of the Art of Creative Survival.
It was an apt name.
The artists’ colony’s current presence in Central Los Angeles shows that the founders, Roderick Sykes and his late uncle Rozzell Sykes, are very much artists who have mastered the ability to stay creative despite the hindrance of outside forces.
From a few dilapidated properties on a dusty lot 36 years ago, St. Elmo Village has become an oasis of color, from the group of homes painted in saturated scarlet with sea blue windowpanes to the central garden with a single, shady chinaberry tree and artwork crafted from found objects.
If that isn’t evidence enough, the Sykeses founded St. Elmo Village knowing neither the function of city councilmen nor the legal underpinnings of nonprofit organizations; now, it is a bustling nonprofit organization that houses artists, offers art classes to children, and presents various events for artists to show their works and for the public to enjoy them.
On Sunday, St. Elmo Village continues the tradition by hosting “Drums, Blues and Jazz,” an event that will feature drummer Leon Mobley and his band Da Lion, blues guitarist Gregg Wright, and the Phil Ranelin Jazz Ensemble.
That the event is free is indicative of an enduring philosophy that guides St. Elmo Village ““ that money should not limit people, neither inhabitants of nor visitors to the property.
“We don’t want money to stop a person from coming and participating,” Sykes said. “We need more things that are happening where the dollar is not the determining factor.
From selling painted whiskey and Coke bottles at the Festival of the Art of Creative Survival to gathering junk to create art sculptures on the grounds and hosting free events, St. Elmo Village is continually attempting to send the message that art is not contingent on money and doesn’t require the permission of others.
“We have to redefine art,” Sykes said. “Art is supposed to save us, but not the way we’re making it.”
To Sykes, the desire to cofound St. Elmo Village was not about helping others; it was about being able to express himself in an environment conducive to artists regardless of their ethnicity. He was tired of fearing violence and he was tired of visitors to shows featuring his art not speaking to him until they were told or realized that he was the artist.
“Living a life of classism, sexism, racism ““ all of these “˜-isms’ … all of these separations because of the title, image, position,” Sykes said, “and not because of your character or your heart. We decided to do something here that addressed that issue.”
Sitting comfortably on a bench near a babbling fountain crafted from a rusted wheelbarrow and plants spilling out of defunct wine caskets, Sykes explains that the end result was to create a place of artistic clarity.
Or, as Sykes put it, a place where he could think, paint and create art out of junk in a way he wanted to. Mobley, a member of Da Lion who lived for several years at St. Elmo Village, remembers the freedom the colony gave him.
“I would wake up in the morning and play drums. My upstairs neighbor was a guitarist and he had no problem with it,” Mobley said.
Mobley was drawn to St. Elmo Village because it reminded him of his musical education at the Elma Lewis School of Fine Arts in Boston under Nigerian master drummer Babatunde Olatunji. Both offered him a sense of community.
“It was an atmosphere that I felt very comfortable with,” Mobley said. “I was able to grow my creativity. I was able to form the band Da Lion.”
Da Lion is a group of percussionists led by Mobley, all of whom have studied and incorporated drumming traditions from around the world. Their focus is on the drumming practices of the cultures involved in the African diaspora, the movement of Africans around the world associated mostly with the African slave trade.
“It’s a collaboration of music from all of the places that I’ve traveled and studied with a strong vein of traditional African-American music with a strong influence of funk,” Mobley said.
Wright, who performed as Michael Jackson’s lead guitarist during the “Thriller” heyday, was introduced to Sykes through a friend who thought St. Elmo Village was conducive to his music: modern progressive blues with elements of jazz, funk, R&B and rock.
Wright first visited six weeks ago.
“I thought (St. Elmo Village) was fantastic,” Wright said. “It’s an artists’ colony right in the middle of Los Angeles. It’s amazing what you find out about Los Angeles when you get out of the car.”