MCLA NEWSLETTER

IN THIS ISSUE:

Bill Lasarow: New MCLA Maintenance Program to Affect Hundreds of Murals

Arthur Mortimer: Kent Twitchell's Freeway Lady -- She's Back at Last!

Robin Dunitz' Regular Column: New Murals

Bill Lasarow: Mural Community Mourns Losses

Bill Lasarow: Important New Additions to the MCLA Web Site!

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NEW MCLA MAINTENANCE PROGRAM
TO AFFECT HUNDREDS OF MURALS

by Bill Lasarow

In a potentially significant shift in emphasis, the Mural Conservancy has now launched a network of neighborhood ‘Mural Observers’ as a core component of the Mural Maintenance Program (MMP). Under the program an initial selection of more than twenty ‘Neighborhood Leaders’ will help oversee a network of local volunteers who will keep an eye on about 400 murals to start. The volunteers’ ongoing observation of these murals will afford an ongoing assessment of their condition. This will serve as the basis for broader technical support for more murals than presently exists under the Mural Rescue Program (MRP). For the better part of this decade MCLA has placed much of it’s resources into building a portfolio of protected murals under the MRP. About twenty carefully selected murals have been cleaned and protected from graffiti under the MRP. For a variety of reasons--including flattening of funding support and recent problems with government agencies such as CalTrans painting over certain murals--the MRP has slowed addition of new murals under its protective umbrella during the last two years. In addition, the MCLA Board recently committed itself to a direction that would provide greater opportunities for volunteer participation, inherently limited by the number of murals covered by the MRP. Consistent with MCLA’s mission, the MMP attempts to provide an answer to both issues. How it works The Maintenance Committee, lead by MCLA Board members Art Mortimer, Mark Bowerman and Ernesto de la Loza has, in a series of open meetings attended by a number of mostly artists since the end of last year, formulated a network of ongoing Mural Observers armed with specific mural assignments and instructions. Supplied with an Inspection Request Form the volunteer Mural Observer works with the Neighborhood Leader to report to the Maintenance Committee any problems afflicting an individual mural. The Committee has supplied the twenty or so Neighborhood Leaders with a selection of 10-25 individual mural description sheets located near them. An area map, a set of Maintenance Volunteer Instructions, and some Inspection Request Forms provide each Observer with everything they need to provide informed feedback about the murals they select to keep an eye on. Mural Observers review the murals in their neighborhood with the new volunteer, all within walking distance of or a very short drive from home, and the volunteer selects a group of 4-6 of these murals to be “theirs.” The process here is casual; after making an initial inspection (right here a number of murals already suffering some degree of damage will undoubtably be identified) the Observer will then be in a position to report on changes in a mural’s condition pretty much as they occur. Up to this point the most promising thing is the sheer number of people who can take an active hand in guaranteeing the long-term viability of a significant number of public murals. The inevitable question, assuming the willingness of volunteers to help in this way, is that as a body of murals requiring one sort of help or another is assessed, how will this be dealt with? Dealing with mural maintenance MCLA’s Board has no illusions that simply because a number of murals’ condition problems are identified that all public murals will therefore be successfully maintained. How individual cases are handled will vary according to available funding, the interest of community volunteers, the exact nature of the problem, as well as the mural’s merit. Even in the case of murals that are not actually conserved, the act of documenting specific conditions over time will contribute invaluable data. Not only will this help to further define the universe of conservation issues that they face, this information will help conservation professionals sharpen their ability to anticipate them before they occur. Ideally, of course, MCLA would be able to protect all of these murals, but of course in the real world this depends on the motivation of a lot of people as well as the availability of funding. And some murals will simply not be rescuable. Once a mural’s condition has been reported to the Maintenance Committee a process begins that results in a recommendation. The Committee may invite volunteers to work at a mural site to correct a problem. Or the artist may be presented with a professional inspection report, but the work left up to him or her. Or MCLA may provide the artist with the cost of materials. And in select cases a mural may be included in the MRP and receive ongoing preservation support. Much of this is new territory, with the promise of generating more suppport for more murals than has been possible in the past. But hand-in-hand with this there is the likelihood that new issues and problems will be raised in the course of doing this. What is quite clear is that MCLA Board’s willingness to bring on whatever consequences follow from involving more people in supporting more murals.

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MURALS PROTECTED BY MCLA'S MURAL RESCUE PROGRAM

1989/90 Mark Bowerman, "Running", Hollywood Freeway at the Western Ave. bus turnout. East Los Streetscapers, "El Corrido de Boyle Heights", East L.A. at Soto St. and Brooklyn Ave. Kent Twitchell, "Seventh Street Altarpiece: Jim Morphesis", Harbor Freeway, 7th St. underpass. Kent Twitchell, "Seventh Street Altarpiece: Lita Albuquerque", Harbor Freeway, 7th St. underpass. 1991 Chicana Center Artists, "Tree of Knowledge", East L.A. at Brooklyn and Hazard. Frank Romero, "Going to the Olympics", Hollywood Freeway west of Alameda St. underpass. 1992 Alonzo Davis, "Eye on '84", Harbor Freeway, at 3rd St. ramp. Margaret Garcia, "Two Blue Whales", Venice at 12901 Venice Bl. 1993 David Botello, "Read Between the Lines", East L.A. at Olympic Blvd. and Ford. Kent Twitchell, "Strother Martin", East Hollywood at Kingsley Dr. and Fountain Ave. 1994 Noa Bornstein, "Magritte in Los Angeles", Inglewood at Imperial Hwy and La Cienega Blvd. Judith von Euer, "Flow Inversion", 100 N. Fremont, east facing outer wall of the Harbor Freeway at First St. Annie Sperling, "Mural for Peace", Silverlake at Hyperion St. and Sunset Blvd. 1995 Russell Carlton, "Heavenly Garden of Knowlege", Santa Monica Freeway west of the National Blvd. exit. Thomas Suriya, "You Are the Star", downtown Hollywood on Wilcox, south of Hollywood Blvd. John Wehrle, "Galileo, Jupiter, Apollo", downtown L.A., on the Hollywood Freeway slot, at Spring St. 1996 Rip Cronk, "Venice Reconstituted", Venice, 25 Windward Ave. Mario Torero, Rocky, El Lton and Zade, "We Are Not a Minority", East L.A. at 3217 E. Olympic Blvd. Wayne Healy, "Ghosts of the Barrio", Ramona Gardens, East L.A. at Building 2731-37 Lancaster Ave. near Murchison. Rueben Brucelyn, “Eyes”, Glendale Blvd. at the Sunset Blvd. underpass, Echo Park.