English instructor Seth Bardo and Cecilia Mendez ’90, a former Addison Gallery education fellow, found a moment to chat during the recent opening reception for the Addison’s winter exhibitions. Complete with California jazz music and attendees decked out in cool 1950s style, the evening captured the spirit of the exhibition Birth of the Cool: California Art, Design, and Culture at Midcentury. According to the Addison Web site, the exhibition “presents more than 150 objects that examine the painting, architecture, furniture design, decorative and graphic arts, film, and music that launched midcentury modernism in the United States and established Los Angeles as a major American cultural center.” (Photo by John Hurley)