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New Murals Detailed in Street Gallery Addendum
You Are the Star Shines Again in Hollywood
Mural Tours, 1996
The Problems with Urethane
Grace Clements' Newly Uncovered Mural, The Story of Music
by Robin Dunitz
Time sure flies when you're having fun...chasing murals especially. I can't believe it has already been three years since I published Street Gallery: Guide to 1000 Los Angeles Murals. While my book isn't exactly obsolete, there have been major changes since the end of 1992. That is why I decided to publish an Addendum to my book.
Eighty-five pages long, my Addendum includes corrections and destroyed murals, plus more artist biographies. The bulk of the text, however, is the description of about 200 new murals.
A number of significant new murals have been completed in just the past few months. As usual, SPARC (the Social and Public Art Resource Center, based in Venice) has been in the forefront of sponsoring some of the most meaningful. Very unfortunately, SPARC's funding for new murals was eliminated for this year. Hopefully this will only be a temporary setback for local muralism. Contact the L.A. Cultural Affairs Department, and/or the Mayor's Office to voice you support for this valuable program.
Here are a few of the past year's Neighborhood Pride: Great Walls Unlimited projects (the program SPARC sponsors):
22-year-old muralist, Eliseo Silva, created a 100-foot long panorama of 4000 years of Filipino and Filipino-American history at 1660 Beverly Blvd. in Echo Park. It is called Gintong Kasaysayan, Gintong Pamana (A Glorious History, A Golden Legacy). Many of the significant historical figures depicted are making their debut on a local wall, emphasizing how long overdue this history is. For example, Larry Dulay Itliong led the Delano Grape Strike in 1965 and convinced Cesar Chavez to join him in forming the United Farmworkers Union in 1967.
Artist Alma Lopez directed a Woman's Public Art Workshop, out of which came a mural at Plaza Community Clinic at 648 Indiana St. (near Whittier Blvd.) in East L.A. The mural, entitled Que Esconde La Esperanza? (What is Hidden in Hope?) was a collaboration between several artists and the women of Esperanza Project, mothers recovering from substance abuse. Participating artists included Sol C. Alvarez, Lupe Becerra, Isabel Mora, Patricia Soto and poet Gloria Alvarez.
Noni Olabisi is just about finished with To Protect and Serve, her forceful impressions of the Black Panther Party. Located at 11th Avenue and Jefferson Blvd., in South-Central L.A., the monochrome imagery includes scenes of the Ku Klux Klan, Bobby Seale bound and gagged during the conspiracy trial of the Chicago 7 in the late 1960s, as well as portraits of Huey Newton and Angela-Davis, and the Panther's highly regarded Free Breakfast Program. This is Noni's second mural. Her first one, Freedom Won't Wait, at 54th St. and Western Ave., dramatically captures the anguish of a community victimized by police brutality and other forms of oppression. It was painted in late 1992, after the acquital of the police who beat Rodney King sparked a violent response all over L.A.
To order a copy of the new Street Gallery Addendum, 1996, send a check for $7.50, payable to RJD Enterprises, to PO Box 64668, Los Angeles, CA 90064. That price includes sales tax and shipping. For more information, call me at (310) 470-8864. The Addendum will also be available on MCLA tours.
Published quarterly, © 1996, Mural Conservancy of Los Angeles (MCLA).
Editor: Bill Lasarow
Contributing Editors:
Robin Dunitz, Orville O. Clarke, Jr., Richard Solomon, Nathan Zakheim
Masthead Logo Design: Charles Eley.
The Mural Conservancy of Los Angeles was formed to help protect and document murals, and enhance public awareness of mural art in the greater Los Angeles area. These programs are made possible by the tax-deducible dues and donations of our members, the Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department, the California Arts Council, the National/State/County Partnership Program, and the Brody Fund of the California Community Foundation.