CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, NORTHRIDGE
THE GREAT WALL OF LOS ANGELES
An abstract submitted in partial satisfaction of the
requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in
Art General Studies
by
Judith Francisca Baca
June, 1980
The Abstract of Judith Francisca Baca is approved:
California State University, Northridge
ii
ABSTRACT
THE GREAT WALL OF LOS ANGELES
by
Judith Francisca Baca
Master of Arts in Art General Studies
The process of bringing the community and its
artists together was accomplished through the painting of
The Great Wall of Los Angeles.
The Wall, which is also
known as The Tujunga Wash Mural, is a 1360 feet by 13 feet
mural which portrays the history of California, with particular emphasis on contributions made by third-world
peoples of the state.
Local and state history was examined
for traces of Asian, Black, Chicano, and Native Americans
during various eras of California's history.
The mural
currently spans prehistoric times to the 1920's; however,
plans are in progress for the addition of a decade of history each summer until the mural reaches the projections
made for the future.
iii
As a muralist, this writer has been committed to
the processes which enable artists to become visual spokespersons for the issues that affect a community.
In direct-
ing the art project of the Tujunga Wash, the premise "vJ:as
confirmed that art products can serve societal needs.
It
has become increasingly obvious that murals do have the
capacity to effect change on an urban environment quickly
and with relatively low costs.
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
There have been several reasons why the "People's
Art Movement" has spread rapidly through the United States
and abroad.
These reasons have included an increased
social consciousness of artists, exclusion of minority and
women artists from the museum and gallery system, and the
artists' desires to broaden their reach beyond the gallery
audience.
The City of Los Angeles, California, has taken a
strong lead in the country in the production of street
murals; conservative estimates are that they number over
one thousand.
Inasmuch as a by-product of ownership of a
work of art is the power to limit a viewer's access, murals
have the benefit of belonging to no one; therefore, such
artwork is for everyone.
Many early muralists in Los Angeles have reacted
against the star system built by the art world by leaving
iv
their murals unsigned or signed by so many people that the l
artist was indistinguishable from the community team members.
Many of this writer's early (1970) murals in East
Los Angeles were not signed until it became necessary to
copyright them to ensure their protection from exploitation by commercial interests.
The application of paint to a wall surface occurs
only after the culmination of a long preparatory process,
and this was recognized as mandatory in the case of preparing for The Great Wall project.
Extraordinary care had
to be given to the selection of a site.
The objectives
and goals needed to be defined, based on known limitations
but expected benefit to the community.
A step-by-step
procedural plan had to be established.
Consideration was
given to the participants who would be involved.
The
participants in the project to date have included the following:
12 visual artists, 10 historical consultants spe-
cializing in ethnic history, and 130 multi-ethnic youth
whose ages were 14 through 21, who were referred through
the juvenile justice system and the City of Los Angeles'
disadvantaged youth programs.
This abstract will present a brief description of
the procedures which were implemented to provide the mural
for the community, and will give a brief insight into the
effects of the project.
A film,
"The Great Wall of Los
Angeles" will accompany this writen account.
v
SELECTION OF THE SITE
Selection of the site and development of the objec-'
tives were closely allied and crucial.
The location chosen
i
i
was on Coldwater Canyon Boulevard between Oxnard and Burbank
Boulevards.
Among the many reasons for this location choice:
was this director's familiarity because of its proximity to
her horne of eighteen years.
Such familiarity brought
greater understanding of the racial and cultural isolation
near the Tujunga Wash.
Within a small geographic distance,
Blacks, Chicanos, and Anglos led very separate liefstyles.
The research conducted revealed that the Los Angeles City
Planners of the early 1950's had designated the neighborhood
of Pacoima to be a low-income, minority community with
definite street boundaries.
The Pacoima Junior High School and San Fernando High
School in that area had been plagued by yearly racial violence between combinations of Black, Brown, and White youth.
The city plans had been successful in isolating racial
groups in the San Fernando Vally until recently when a large
influx of Mexican people moved into the area, and they are
currently continuing to move there.
This move causes the
formation of new barrios in addition to those dating back to'
the mission era.
Minorities comprise approximately 40 per-
cent of the Valley's population and contribute to the area's
unemployment figure of over 8 percent.
This unemployment
rate is led by youth at well over 10 percent.
vi
Since the time of the big floods of the 1930's in
the San Fernando Valley, the Los Angeles County Flood Control District has been concreting over existing dry river
beds and natural water runoff sites.
Before the tax
cut~
backs brought about by California's ''Proposition 13," the
Flood Control District had begun to reevaluate not only
the impact of these channels on soil water absorption but
also the aesthetics of hundreds of miles of concrete conduits.
The Flood Control District was considering using
existing concrete channels, which were dry most of the
year, for recreational areas.
It was in 1975 that members
of the Flood Control District approached this muralist
about the possibility of doing a mural in the channel.
OBJECTIVES
Because the site of the channel is in a relatively
neutral gang territory, it afforded the possibility of
employing youth from different neighborhoods to work on the
project.
The objective was to produce a mural that was
13 feet by one mile in length which could be added to by
new mural crews yearly; thereby creating a program that
would produce on-going employment for youth and artists
during the summer months.
The youth would be given oppor-
tunity for development of leadership abilities by returning
for second and third-year continuations of the project with
increased
respon~ibilities
and skills.
vii
A part of the objectives involved not only some
resolution of how to deal with the racism that existed, but
but how best to deal with the low self-esteem among the
youth which results from racism.
The problem of the low
self-esteem among youth would be addressed by the creation
of a successful art product which would have a significant
impact in the community.
In the process, the youth would
learn an alternative form of history which would include
formation of ethnic groups--including women in the various
groups--in a manner not taught in the public schools.
In order to approach the problem of racism, stereo- ,
typing would be addressed through two methods.
The first
method would be to foster friendship between youth of
various ethnic groups.
Crews were carefully integrated and
tasks were divided so as to create a situation of interdependence between crew members.
Secondly, crews would be
placed under the direction of an artist who would act as
their leader and also as the focus of an ethnic culture.
If the crew leader was, for example, a black woman, the
entire crew would study history as it related to black
women in California, and such images would be developed for
the mural using that theme.
The issue of stereotyping was
addressed directly by ethnic historians, including women,
through concrete visual examples in their presentations.
Follow-up discussions and improvisational games reinforced
the issues of stereotyping.
viii
Further objectives were to ensure that the participants be trained in the following:
1.
basic principals of art;
2.
specialized mural techniques;
3.
use of hand tools;
4.
use and care of heavy equipment (such as
truck spray, equipment, and scaffolding); and
5.
how to work from and read scaled blueprints.
Youth were to receive training in practical applications of mathematics and history.
The participants were
expected to learn the value of timely attendance and performance and the collective work process.
Second-year
participants were given specific supervisory and management
responsibilities.
Local community residents would be drawn into the
project
participation through attendance of community
meetings, equipment or material contributions to the mural,
or by providing historical information on local history.
Presentations of completed plans would be made to local
residents by the youth and artists.
PROCEDURES
To initiate and implement the project of The
Great Wall of Los Angeles, the order of procedures was
as follows:
ix
1.
Funding.
The first step was to generate the
necessary interest in the project from potential funding
sources.
Because of the scope of the project, there was
one funding source on which one could rely.
!
no~
A major part
of the funding would need to come in the form of donated
services and equipment from businesses, as well as from
public or private agencies.
This procedure was begun by
holding the first of a series of public meetings, with
invitations extended to the principal and dean of the local.
high school and college, local fire department captain,
councilman, the captain of the local police division, a
representative of the Los Angeles Country Flood Control,
and the U. S. Army Corp of Engineers (who acted as cohosts), as well as local community business leaders and
people of the community.
The goal was that each would con-
tribute some necessary item to the project.
did contribute except the police department.
All of them
The police
department personnel opposed the mural altogether, giving
the view that not only would the mural be vandalized in its
first month, but that the crime rate there would increase.
Because of poor accessibility into the channel
(two-and-one-half miles from the mural site to the nearest
entry ramp), along with safety factors for eighty people in
a drainage channel, solicitations were made for the following needs to be met:
(a)
daily food service for eighty;
X
(b)
a 100-gallon water tank for supplies of
fresh drinking water;
(c)
four portable toilets;
(d)
golf carts for transporting supplies up
and down the 1000-foot long mural;
(e)
a storage shed to hold over 100 gallons
of paint and supplies;
(f)
a radio system with direct links to the
Corp of Engineers for flood warnings; and
(g)
walkie-talkie systems for communications
between each artist's crew.
Three trucks were sought and obtained for use on a
daily basis for transporting youth into the channel and
hauling equipment, ten sets of rolling scaffolding, ten ladders and twenty tons of sand and bags for the sand bagging
of one thousand feet of wash to keep residue water (and its
accompanying slippery algae) from the mural site.
The process of obtaining funding took four staff
people and this art director approximately five months to
complete.
2.
Target Population.
When funding sources
became available, participants began to be identified.
·Questionnaires were drawn up, interviewing teams were
formed, and hiring criteria were layed down.
Youth parti-
cipants were selected from a target population in the San
Fernando Valley area which met poverty-level criteria based
xi
on 1977 Los Angeles community poverty levels (less than
$10,760 for a family of six).
Participants were from 14 to.
21 years of age of whom most were juvenile-justice identified; that is, at least one contact with juvenile authorities had been experienced.
Three hundred potential parti-
cipants were interviewed as to their interest in art and
their willingness to work cooperatively on a group mural
project.
These factors were weighed, together with the
need to maintain a neighborhood, racial, and sexual balance
reflective of the San Fernando Valley.
3.
Hiring of Artists.
were selected
Artist crew leaders hired
on the basis of that person's artistic abil-
ities as well as their willingness to work with youth and
artists in the situation described.
The artists would
represent different ethnic groups.
4.
Formation of Crews.
Ten-person crews were
formed and assigned the era of California history most significant to them.
5.
Research began in these crews· ..
Distribution of Leaflets.
Youth distributed
leaflets in the area with flyers announcing the project to
local presidents.
Local residents were asked to bring his-
torical and family photos or other information for inclusion into the mural.
6.
Historical Input.
A list of historical events
to be included in the mural were drawn up by each historian.
7.
Wall Preparation.
The wall was sandblasted.
xii
8.
Other Wall Preparations.
The wall was water-
blasted with high-powered water hoses.
9.
Sandbagging.
The channel was sandbagged by
all hands to dry the work area and contain the low-level
.nuisance water.
10.
More Wall Preparations.
The wall was sealed
and coated with a primer.
11.
Historical Orientations.
Intensive research
continued with historians making presentations to the
whole group.
Field trips were taken to local sites of his-
torical significance as well as to libraries and city and
newspaper archives.
12.
Developmental Meetings.
Group meetings were
held between artists and crews and historians for the
'development of the
designs~
Artists met in intensive prob-
'lem-solving sessions and planned each 100-foot section of
the mural and its interrelationship.
13.
Drawings for Blueprinting.
by youth and artists.
Drawings were made
Artists refined the drawings and
!Prepared them for blueprinting.
On the second section of
the mural, this artist refined all drawings while striving
to improve the overall continuity and composition.
14.
Blueprinting.
All designs were blueprinted
and issued to crew members for transferring.
15.
Wall Gridding.
The wall was gridded for trans-
ferring of the design and all participated in this effort.
~;
i i
16.
Painting.
A transparent wash was used to
cover the entire design before large color areas were
blocked in by all crew members with
s~all
rollers and
brushes.
17.
Specialized jobs.
As the skills of various
youth became apparent, people were selected to work on
various painting techniques such as dry brush areas, lettering, detailing, modeling, and finishing.
18.
Dedication.
A dedication was held at the com-
pletion of the mural as a local celebration and awards were
given to all of the
participants.
Recognition was given
to donors.
ARTISTIC AND SOCIOLOGICAL NEEDS
While the goal of the Tujunga Wash Mural project
included standard art educative goals such as the teaching
of the principals of design, the main objectives of the
project were tailored to address the particular needs of
youth in low-income communities.
Additional goals were to
deal with the needs of local artists and the aesthetic
environment of the local community.
Needs were assessed by the project director from
1969 through 1976.
Recognition first came through being
a classroom teacher in the San Fernando Valley (1969-70).
Next, the view was obtained as a resident muralist for the
City of Los Angeles in the East Los Angeles area (1970-74).
xiv
Finally, as Director of the City of Los Angeles Street
Mural Program (1974-77), the need for such a project as the.
Tujunga Wash Mural had become increasingly evident.
During
the latter period, over one hundred community mural projects
were developed under this muralist's direction.
These
projects were done in diverse communities citywide.
A pattern of recurring needs became apparent in
working with artists, youth, and people of the community.
The following descriptions of the problems encountered and
solutions reached will give insight into various situations:
One problem was the fact that the arts are viewed
by the major part of the city population as a pastime only
for rich people.
It is quite clear that artists are not
often viewed as workers whose skills contribute to society
in the same demonstrable way as, for example, a bricklayer
or plUmber.
As any artist knows, art is work.
Often the
·major part is manual labor, yet art is viewed as a frill.
Consequently, art projects are often the first budget items
'to be cut and last to be included.
The lack of funds for
the arts serves to keep the artists' labors invisible in
society.
Visual artists, therefore, have experienced 90
ipercent unemployment in the last thirty years.
i
It seemed obvious that one solution to the unemproblem for artists was to integrate them back
community as a worker; indeed, even to make the
spokesperson for the community.
XV
If the community
feels the impact of the artist's work, it becomes evident
that an artist can and should be paid for his labor.
has a three-fold benefit:
This
using non-art monies for the
arts, making art accessible to a broad range of viewers
including non-traditional art audiences, and reducing unemployment among artists.
The Tujunga Wash Mural employed
this concept in the hiring of twelve artists in its production.
Another problem that is evident is that low-income
communities lack access to outlets for the expression of
their collective concerns.
At community meetings held in
connection with mural approvals citywide, it was not unusual
to hear expressions of feelings of isolation and abandonment.
People believed that no one heard or cared about
the problems that plagued their communities daily.
At one
such meeting, parents showed concern about local factory
trucks endangering the lives of their childEen; at another,
parents expressed their anger at the role of the police in
the spread of gang warfare.
A total solution to such problems as the foregoing
,requires much work on the issues of public access in the
[media, and on proper political representation.
The artist
'
;can play an important role, however, in providing assist~
'ance in, first of all, clarifying the community issue, and
!secondly, in providing an articulation of the issue through
'
ithe creation of images to represent the community's view
xvi
for "broad" audiences.
Corrununity meetings were held in
connection with the planning and designing of the Tujunga
Wash, and it became obvious that these meetings contributed;
to the success of the art endeavor.
The most significant problems to be addressed in
this project were those affecting young people.
Inner-city
youth ranks highest in the nation among the unemployed.
These youth lack even the most basic job skills that could
make them employable in the job market.
Unemployment,
coupled with extremely high rates of school drop-outs, provide youth with large blocks of leisure time and few
resources to use it creatively.
This problem is compounded
by the fact that a population of youth made immobile by
their families' economic status, have formed territories
which restrict their movements even further.
Youth are
!identified with the neighborhoods in which they live, by
youth from other neighborhoods.
If a young person chooses
not to be involved in the fueds over territories, he or she
often continues to be placed in danger without the benefits
of gang "backup."
Recruitment into gangs for the assurance
,bf safety from enemies who may live as little as three to
:four blocks away, is, therefore, high.
Additional causes of
gang groupings vary culturally, but they include peer
acceptance and peer pressure, the fact that gangs serve as
'
~xtended
families, and the achievement of status and com-
~unity recognition.
xvii
Sut"iMARY
Using the theme of the history of California, a
mural was painted in a flood control channel in the San
Fernando Valley known as Tujunga Wash.
This 1360 feet by
13 feet mural is located in the concrete flood control
channel 13 feet below ground level.
The theme o.f the his-
tory of California deals particularly with
th~
contribu-
tions of Chicanos, Blacks, Asians, and Native
this includes an emphasis
A bike trail developed by the
women.
u:s.
travels the length of the
especially good.
prehistoric times
a decade of
The processes from t
e
completion of the murals to
summer of 1976 for the
the summer of 1978 for
type
of location of the Tujun
have always had
writer's belief
is this
meeting
all of the objectives
, the mural
remains unvandalized
this year
have requested
pation later.