COMMUNITY-BASED ART
In the greater Los Angeles area and in cities across the country, gentrification pushes poor people out of their homes, causes irreparable harm to small, family-owned businesses, and exacerbates already existing income and racial disparities.
Community-based art led, created, supported by and for the community, designed by community-based artists is one way we demonstrate our commitment to transforming the distribution of economic resources in our society, inspiring a new commitment to social practice, and demonstrating solidarity among communities in need in Los Angeles.
We also believe that engaging youth in public art and social practice creates safe spaces and a pipeline of community-based artists committed to creatively transforming their communities.
WILMINGTON TOWN SQUARE & BEAUTIFICATION PROJECT
Rigorous community engagement in this historic community led to a beautification made by and for Wilmington community members. Curated and managed by Transformation Arts and LANI-Los Angeles Neighborhood Initiative, the project includes mosaic murals in six archways designed by lead ceramic artist Katy Katz, as well as two large-scale wall murals painted by local artists Gelson Lemus and Breanna Quintero. The community was engaged in all phases of the process, from outreach at public gathering places to online surveys, and finally, with a winter holiday grand opening and activation event.
Youth from the Wilmington Teen Center participated in 17 classes on the design, production and finishing of ceramic tiles as well as photoshop principles. Their mosaics became part of the finished mural and their stories were documented by award-winning filmmaker, Nadine Mundo. QR codes linking to these videos are embedded in the completed mosaic murals for future generations of the community.
Phase II of this project funded by City Council District-15 is currently underway to install four additional murals at public & education facilities in Wilmington.
DOWNTOWN MAR VISTA BEAUTIFICATION PROJECT
The Downtown Mar Vista Beautification Project consists of five permanent murals and streetlight neighborhood-identifying medallions on Venice Boulevard west of the 405 Freeway (1.2 miles). A series of virtual community outreach meetings during the pandemic allowed the community to select mural themes, colors, and artist designs. This project was developed on behalf of City Council District-11 and LANI-Los Angeles Neighborhood Initiative.
Selected artists are DJ N3ff, Kelly Perez, Jen LaVita, Sei Shimura, and Jessica Shandler..
The streetlight medallions were installed with fabrication services from Studio 111 in 2022.
ALEX/ALEXA PROJECT
This multi-disciplinary poetry/visual art project is about a transgender youth coming out to their mother. The project was installed in three solar-powered bus shelters on Venice Boulevard west of the 405 Fwy between Inglewood Blvd - Centinela Ave. Philosopher’s Stone Poet founder, Chase Yi, created a three-part series of poems for this project. Local artist Gus Harper provided the visual art from his series entitled "Identity Crisis".
The fabrication was design-to-print on aluminum panels by SpeedPro LA. Installation was completed by JCDecaux in 2018.