Panoramic Vistas, Visionary Dreams

Panoramic Vistas, Visionary Dreams

Sara Velas, Founder and Director of the Velaslavasay Panorama, presents an overview of the panoramic form through the lens of utopian thought, visionary living and frontier explorations.

This illustrated lecture includes information on the only 360-degree panorama painting of Los Angeles - Sara Velas' Panorama of the Valley of the Smokes (2000), which depicts the LA basin in an era of pastoral and agricultural roots, indigenous possibility, and the foreshadowing of westward migrations. Looking at the heritage-mode of panoramas, few are non-battle paintings. Exceptions include works like Early Bourgeois Revolution in Germany (1987) by Werner Tübke in Bad Frankenhausen, an allegorical and surreal depiction of socialism, and the monumental Clear World of the Blissful (1929) by Elisàr von Kupffer.

The talk also previews the Velaslavasay Panorama’s new installation opening November 12th, 2026, Florence-In-Ruin: An Excavation, featuring a moving panorama constructed from archives related to art history, the Port of Long Beach, and the Alameda Corridor.

Tickets: $14 (in person only event)

Please email events@prs.org or phone 323-663-2167 with any questions.