11/30/09

Pasadena Star-News 

By Janette Williams, Staff Writer

PASADENA - It was hard for artist Christian Alderete to describe his feelings Monday after seeing a blank wall where he had recently completed a colorful 60-foot city funded mural on a Northwest Pasadena storefront.

Photo Gallery: Neighborhood Enhancement Mural Program

"It was like a kick in the face," said Alderete, who spent more than two months painting the mural on ABC Nutrition in the 500 block of North Fair Oaks Avenue. "It was something living, something I hoped to see become a landmark in the city."

It's unclear why the mural, the first completed in the city's pilot Neighborhood Enhancement Mural Program and funded by a $2,500 city grant, was painted over about two weeks ago.

Alderete, who lives nearby, said he spoke Wednesday night with the store owner when he checked up on the mural following an inquiry by the Star-News. The owner was not in the store Monday and she did not respond to a request for comment left with an employee.

"I think there could have been a misunderstanding," Alderete said.

He said the owner told him someone from Pasadena's code enforcement had told her to remove certain window and other signage or risk being closed down. He speculated that she may have thought the order included the mural.

Jon Pollard, Pasadena's code compliance manager, said Monday it appeared likely there was "some miscommunication as to what was going on."

"There was a code-compliance case that indicated unpermitted signs on the business, trash and debris on the sidewalk, and an exterior wall that needs repair," Pollard said. "Some notes indicate the unpermitted signs were removed and the walls and windows on the corner building (ABC Nutrition) had been repainted."

Pollard said the report doesn't specify which wall was to be repainted.

"It doesn't indicate whether there was a direction to paint that wall (with the mural) or a different wall," he said. "There may indeed have been some communication gap...it could have been that the property owner misinterpreted the situation.

"I'd be speculating," he said, "but it's a little unusual for a code compliance officer to require a mural to be painted over."

Rochelle Branch, the city's cultural affairs manager, was shocked when told of the mural's fate Monday.

"I didn't know anything about it," she said. "We have a letter (from the store owner) guaranteeing it would stay and be kept up for five to seven years, so that's going to be a problem...You can't just get rid of things."

The mural program has a detailed application and approval process for both artists and property owners who sign up, Branch said.

"Everyone is aware there are state and federal laws, and if she did (remove the mural) it was a foolish decision on her part," Branch said, adding that she had not been contacted by anyone involved.

The Aztec-themed mural, which included Pasadena landmarks such as the Arroyo Seco and Colorado Street Bridge, was part of a presentation by Alderete to the Arts & Culture Commission at its Nov. 18 meeting.

By then, Alderete later found out, the mural had been gone for more than a week.

Commission Chairman Dale Oliver later described the mural as "spectacular."

"It also involved the people in the community, particularly the children, in terms of the creation of it," he said.

Alderete, who has completed many murals in the Los Angeles area with fellow-artist Arturo Gonzalez at the East Los Angeles Community Arts and Mural Program, said they got about 30 local kids involved in the painting.

All their names, included in the mural, were painted over.

"I was really mad, I was down," Alderete said of his first reaction to finding the mural was gone. But now the initial shock has worn off, he said, he'd be willing to do it over.

"I would love to do it again - and this time it would be a lot faster; I know what I want to do," he said. "Honestly, I do it for the art."

December 1, 2009

Los Angeles Times 

By Corina Knoll

Quetzalcoatl and Tlaloc were supposed to live together for at least five years on a Pasadena street corner, coexisting on the side of a Fair Oaks Avenue grocery store.

The Aztec deities had come together at the hands of a local artist who -- with the help of a $2,500 city grant -- painted them on a bursting-with-color mural complete with the San Gabriel Mountains and the Arroyo Seco.

But last month, in an apparent mix-up, the 60-foot-long, city-sponsored mural was whitewashed out of existence. The artwork had stood the test of time for all of three months.

According to city records, a city inspector sent a warning notice in early November to Izydor Wilchfort, the owner of the lot where the grocery store stands, about several code violations.

Rosalinda Huerta, owner of the ABC Nutrition store on the property, said a city inspector had left a message with one of her employees, warning to bring the building up to code, including painting a recently repaired portion of the wall.

She said Wilchfort never mentioned the warning letter to her.

Worried about losing her business permit, Huerta scrubbed the outdoor signage, installed new windows and put coats of blue and white paint over the Aztec- and Mayan- inspired artwork outside her door.

Huerta, 56, said the mural had been marred by graffiti and believed that covering it was part of the city's directive.

"He told me I had to clean, so I cleaned," Huerta said of the city inspector.

But a city spokeswoman said the store owner was never ordered to get rid of the mural.

"There is absolutely no way that that was part of the direction, either written or verbal," said the spokeswoman, Ann Erdman.

City officials plan to meet with Wilchfort and the mural's designer, who said he feels caught in the middle of a misunderstanding.

"My mural is completely gone -- everything from top to bottom," said Christian Alderete, 30. "I was just saddened by the whole situation."

Alderete said he had applied for the grant in February as part of the city's Neighborhood Enhancement Mural Program. He chose the ABC Nutrition store as his canvas, thinking the dilapidated building would benefit from a new look, while the pictures would inspire the predominantly Latino neighborhood.

Huerta was on board when production began in May and had signed an agreement to retain the artwork for five years.

Huerta said she never meant to upset the community and would allow a new mural on her property as long as there was no contract, the details of which she said she hadn't understood.

"I do a mistake," she said. "I don't want to be in trouble."

Creating another mural isn't a problem for Alderete. It's the hours of community collaboration that he mourns the most.

While he primed the building's cinder-block walls and laboriously chalked an outline of the pattern onto them with the help of fellow artist Arturo Gonzalez, Alderete enlisted the help of dozens of children to help finish the mural.

Over the course of three months, they met at the store to work with acrylic paints. For some, it was their first time using a paint brush. When it was finished in August, contributors were encouraged to sign their names.

"If their names go on the wall, they have a sense of pride in the community and will stop anybody they see defacing the wall," Alderete said.

Unfortunately, after ABC Nutrition's latest paint job, he said, its exterior is now a clean canvas for the kind of graffiti vandalism it had hoped to erase.

East L.A. Community Arts & Mural Program worked in 2008 with the Childhood Obesity Brain Trust in South L.A. to fulfill a HEAC grant.  Click on the title above to access the full page.

The Childhood Obesity Brain Trust grew out of a series of discussions on the issues and impact of childhood obesity in South Central Los Angeles, including a Community Dialogue/Panel with Congressman Xavier Becerra in August 2004. COBT is comprised of a group of dedicated individuals and organizations with significant experience in health promotion/ disease prevention, health care, community outreach and education, community organizing, and an understanding of the needs of special populations...  

...Market Makeover: Los Compadres Market and Restaurant - During the summer months of 2008, the HEAC team (eight youth, consultant, staff) began work to improve the healthy food environment of a local corner store. Work included moving unhealthy food items to less visible locations, fixing the produce refrigerator, removing clutter, and re-working aisles to ensure a more customer friendly environment. With the help of East Los Angeles Community Arts and Mural Program, a beautiful mural depicting healthy lifestyles and local culture was painted on the wall of the store that faces The Accelerated School. (Tagging of the formerly blank wall has stopped completely.) Two "community days" in November and December brought youth and community members together to finalize work on the store. On December 11th, the grand re-opening of the store took place with the presence of the Honorable Councilwoman Jan Perry, over 50 community members, community organizations, youth from the community and The Accelerated School, and media.

03/21/2007

The Compton Bulletin

By Allison Jean Eaton, Staff Writer

The Compton City Council last week honored local youths for their assistance in sprucing up several of the city's parks with colorful murals.

The young artists are Vanessa Frasier, Monica Johnson, Ericka Martin and Peter McGray. Not present was Bryan Johnson. All were honored with certificates from the Council.

The project was funded through grant monies and administered by the L.A. County Regional Park and Open Space District and the East Los Angeles Arts and Murals program.

Murals at Lueders and Wilson parks are complete, while work continues at others like Burrell-McDonald and Gonzales parks.

The council lauded the youths for using their time constructively to better their community.

"This is another example of what our young adults are doing in the city of Compton," said Councilwoman Barbara Calhoun.  "They are taking advantage of the avenues that are afforded to them."

City Manager Barbara Kilroy said the murals are really "brightening up the area."  And they act as a deterrent to graffiti.

"If you look at murals sometimes, you'll find that where we have murals, we don't have any graffiti, that the people who are doing the spray painting respect the work of the artists."

August 15, 2008

Click on the title above to be linked to Supervisor Gloria Molina's site regarding our second Garfield High School mural.

Spring 2006

Click on the title above to be linked to a press release regarding this mural.

October, 2004

On October 9, 2004, more than 600 local residents, elected officials and members of community organizations united to clean up nearly 3.5 square miles of the Florence Firestone unincorporated community.  In two hours, the volunteers collected 31,000 pounds of trash, completed a pollution-prevention themed mural painted by a local artist, and beautified the grounds of Edison Middle School, planting flowers and ridding the campus of trash and debris.

The Florence Firestone Beautification Event was conducted as part of the County's stormwater pilot program, which utilizes community outreach and grassroots activities to influence change in the pollution-causing behaviors of residents.  The pilot program was implemented in partnership with Supervisor Gloria Molina (1^st District) and Supervisor Yvonne Burke (2^nd District), whose districts share the Florence Firestone community.  

The beautification event marked the first effort of the Florence Firestone Task Force, a group of 20 residents and community leaders representing local businesses, schools, faith-based organizations, and law enforcement.  Members met to discuss local pollution issues and spent three months planning the beautification effort, which included litter removal, gardening projects and painting a new environmental mural.  The Task Force collaborated with County services to enhance graffiti removal and trash pick-up services, and to facilitate a Household Hazardous Waste and E-waste roundup.   Future projects and programs will be determined according to the needs of the community as the Task Force continues to meet.

In the weeks leading up to the October event, Task Force members reached out to their fellow residents, businesses, churches and schools to encourage participation. The County supported these grassroots efforts with an 8-week media campaign that utilized bilingual Can It! advertising in community newspapers, on billboards, buses and lightpole banners and on radio and cable television. 

To ensure all neighborhoods participated, the community was divided into ten clean-up zones, each led by a Task Force member.  Volunteers were encouraged to gather in the zone nearest to their home on the morning of the event. Outfitted in free Can It! campaign t-shirts and armed with trash grabbers, brooms and dustpans, the volunteers set to the streets to clean and beautify. In Roosevelt Park, Supervisors Burke and Molina joined in the activities helping volunteers paint the pollution prevention mural. Students and their families worked side-by-side at Edison Middle School to plant flowers and shrubs around the campus.

While immediate results of the cleanup were readily apparent throughout the community, our goal is that this effort will foster environmental stewardship and have a long-term impact on polluting behaviors.

"I feel that with my participation I was a positive influence in my community. It was a wonderful event and we had a good outcome, especially for being the first beautification day. I think people realized that with a little effort we can end up with huge results that make a difference," said Jeannette Godina, Florence Firestone Task Force member and resident.

Clean-up activities concluded with a community celebration hosted by Edison Middle School. Supervisors Burke and Molina took the stage to thank the Florence Firestone Task Force members, residents and students and encourage everyone to continue the clean-up efforts. KCBS weatherman John Elliott and traffic reporter Vera Jimenez served as emcees for the program that also included a performance by Roosevelt Park's cheerleading squad.

"It was important to collaborate with our neighbors to take care of our community. This was a very positive experience and I hope to continue to do this in the future," said Pablo Mejia, Florence Firestone Task Force member and resident.

With the support of the Supervisors and the Department of Public Works, the Florence Firestone Task Force will continue to build the community's pollution prevention program by educating fellow residents and facilitating neighborhood efforts.

"The Florence Firestone Beautification Event is just the beginning of what we hope will be a long-standing partnership dedicated to reducing pollution and improving the health and beauty of Florence Firestone, both now and for generations to come," said Melinda Barrett, Head of the Environmental Affairs Section, County of Los Angeles Department of Public Works.