Rhythm and Flow: Connecting to the LA River with Deborah Caiola

Rhythm and Flow: Connecting to the LA River

This December, multimedia artist Deborah Caiola invites participants into a collaborative art-making experience that reimagines Los Angeles through the eyes of the river itself. Together, we will explore how the river witnesses, remembers, and responds to the city around it. We will attune ourselves to the flow of the river, discovering its rhythms reflected in music and art as inspiration for our creative expression.

The session will be a guided, meditative art dance, a reflection designed to quiet the mind and deepen our sense of presence. Incorporating sound as an anchor, we will tune into the rhythms and sensations that arise when we listen as the river might.

Participants will translate these impressions into visual form—drawing, painting, and collaging an individual panel. In the final stage of the workshop, we will join these panels together, revealing a unified, collective vision shaped by many perspectives flowing into one.

Tickets operate on a pay-what-you-wish basis; we suggest a $20 donation to help support our continued arts programming, but any amount you can contribute is appreciated!

River Sessions : “Kiki’ing with the River”

Kiki’ing with the River is an outdoor, artist-guided series along the Paayme Paxaayt (aka the LA River) that celebrates queer resilience and community activism through social sculptures and creative engagement. Each session highlights regional LGBTQIA2S+ artists and Indigenous culture bearers, featuring performances, sound, and multimedia installations that explore the balance between nature, control, and liberation. Co-curated by Tiffany Naiman and Juan Silverio, the series amplifies the voices of diverse and resilient queer communities.

About the artists

Deborah Caiola is an artist and educator based in Los Angeles. Trained at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art in painting and the figure, she has won numerous awards including the Leeway Foundation’s Transformation Award. Interested in Network Theory as it is applied through science, sociology, and art, her goal is to investigate the visual correlation between the systems we create and those which exist in nature; how they mirror each other and are rooted in interdependence. She is inspired by the intricate networks of human connection, the invisible threads that bind us, and the stories that emerge from our relationships.  Caiola works passionately to champion feminist ideals and social justice through her art. Her work embodies transformation and encourages those who engage with it to reflect on relationality and connection.