Shana Nys Dambrot

Sure, everyone loves the dinosaurs and the dioramas, but beyond the paleontological and zoological wonders, the L.A. County Natural History Museum is also a haven for gemology enthusiasts, and really for anyone who loves a crazy-looking rock....

Some 70 exhibitors will occupy Barker Hangar this weekend — not only commercial galleries, but also independent artists, collectives, nonprofits, schools, artisanal presses, publishers and booksellers — bringing works from the medium’s 19th century origins to its cutting edge in the 21st, from digital to analog, paper to video, and books to sculptural objects....

With some 400 original drawings and storyboards, the exhibition also features a series of public workshops on manga-inspired character design and story development. And while the show is on view through March 28 at Japan House in Hollywood, Urasawa is delivering new Yawara! stories every other week, in a nod to the serial structure of manga universes....

Desert X is less of an art fair and more of a biennial land-art festival, with site-specific artworks happening at something like 20 wildly varied sites across Coachella, Desert Hot Springs, Indian Wells, Indio, Palm Desert, Palm Springs, Rancho Mirage and the Salton Sea, on view from Feb. 9 through April 21. Until this morning, this edition’s roster of participating artists had been a closely guarded secret....

An ongoing series of Q&As with some of L.A.’s most fascinating contemporary artists. This week it’s photographer Sal Taylor Kydd, whose unconventional throwback processes and techniques result in platinum prints that are romantic and timeless as objects, and evocatively depict shared moments between humans and the natural world....

In case you didn’t get enough during regular hours, the L.A. Art Show has a couple of VIP events by way of afterparties — one downtown in a unique gallery presentation at a salon; the other at the historic Culver Hotel. But it’s the “unofficial official” area gallery crews that throw open their doors to the public with celebratory gusto, to offer beer-sponsored, and mostly free, after-hours fun to aisle-weary art travelers....

An ongoing series of Q&As with some of our most fascinating contemporary artists, introduced in their own words. This week it’s Erin Currier, an artist whose unique process involves traveling the world and expressing her love for the planet and its peoples not only in her striking images but in her process, which involves recycling collected trash for use as her materials....

Since its founding in 1897, Judson Studios has grown both its operational footprint and the scope of its technical skills. Now run by the family's fifth generation, Judson also has been working with contemporary artists, expanding the studio’s core business from traditional religious and midcentury-modern fabrication and restoration to include a fresh category of creative collaboration and experimentation....