Highland Park Public Art ヾ(๑’’๑)ﾉ • *✰

Leo Minger

ART 3170

Section 2

Highland Park Public Art

    PHASE ONE: 

            The site of my research was the Highland Park/York Boulevard area. Being the neighborhood I have grown up in, I chose this area because I feel that there is a lot of art and artistic value attached to the community. There were murals that have existed for longer than I have been alive, and there are murals that change frequently and never last more than a few years. Community members used to crochet covers onto metal bike racks and have decorated trees with flowers, or graffitied their names and logos on the sidewalk. Even the signage on many of the businesses nearby have been hand-painted. I wanted to document what my community has been able to produce. 

    PHASE TWO:      

Current state of "Junior's DISCOUNT". Temporal artwork located on York Boulevard. Often depicts popular cartoon characters (in the past; Spongebob Squarepants, Hello Kitty, Dora the Explorer, Jessica Rabbit). Community members have shown a preference for art styles more aligned with official art, as well as for characters from more mainstream children's media.  

 Hand-made piñatas displayed in store. 

  

(Right): Handmade stickers on sign. Lettering appears to have been directly painted onto sticker. 

Spray-painted stencils on sidewalk, York Boulevard

 

 Bob Baker's Marionette Theatre, York Boulevard. Puppet manufacturing accredited to Karina De La Cruz. Holds positive community opinion and offers artistic value to Highland Park, popular attraction for locals and tourists.  

Electrical box, York Boulevard, painted by Charlotte Hildebrand,

commissioned by City of Los Angeles

Very important in community opinion. Holds historic and sentimental value, viewed as a mural that encompasses the "meaning" of Highland Park, according to locals.

 Scribble mural, on York Boulevard. Replaced previous murals, created by Kardona. 

Paz Y Amor store mural. Located on York Boulevard. 

Commissioned by Paz Y Amor and created by 

 Artwork displayed in open house in Highland Park. Artist unknown. 

Super A ofredna and skeleton grocery-bag dress.

Located at Super A Foods supermarket, created by unknown employees

      

    PHASE THREE: 

            Highland Park has long housed a community of artists. It was a key location for creative individuals to reside in during the Arts and Crafts Movement, but the majority of these residents were White. Following the 1940s, the White population fled the neighborhood, and Highland Park became a primarily Latino community. The 1980's also saw an influx of Salvadoran and other Central American refugees, and this was the community that I saw reflected in the community's public art. Murals in the area often depict Latinoamerican or Indigenous individuals. Several more center around cartoon characters popular with Latino children (such as Dora the Explorer). Cultural values can also be found in public artworks that display the Virgin Mary, as she is extremely significant within Mexican culture, being that Catholicism and Christianity are very present in Mexico. Franklin High School used to display a "welcome" message in several dozen different languages, promoting diversity and inclusivity. In more recent decades, gentrification has led to the production of more business-centered murals, and more hand-painted signage to advertise newer stores. 

   PHASE FOUR: 

            I have a lot of appreciation for the art produced by my community, but I do miss art projects that were created without commission, such as the crocheted bike-rack covers and the flowers strung around trees. I wish more citizens were allowed to create their own art. A more tangible proposal, however, would be to commission a new painting for the electric box near Montessori PreSchool. The art box has been graffitied over and reverted to a blank slate, and I would really love to see it painted with a message that preserves the culturally diverse community that built Highland Park.