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Photos by Asia Morris.<\/em><\/p>\n These five Long Beach residents were invited to contribute to the second and largest POW! WOW! Long Beach yet, where more than 20 murals were painted throughout the city by artists from around the world.\u00a0<\/p>\n Last year, Jeff McMillan was the sole Long Beach artist invited to paint during POW! WOW! Long Beach<\/em>, a fact that many locals lamented. This year, the street art festival has not only expanded its reach throughout the city, but it seems like the local artists have also stepped up their game and risen to the occasion, some painting larger than they\u2019ve ever painted before.<\/p>\n Read below to learn about each of the murals painted and how the artists went about creating their works on an epic scale:<\/p>\n David Van Patten<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n David Van Patten\u2019s first POW! WOW!<\/em> Experience has been one of over 100 tedious hours, learning to paint on a large scale and guiding the dozens of community members who showed up to help in the right direction. It\u2019s almost a story in itself how very Long Beach Van Patten\u2019s experience turned out to be.<\/p>\n \u201cOne local guy had a really cool lightning bolt T-shirt, and I commented to him that I liked it, and he literally took the shirt off his back and gave it to me,\u201d said Van Patten. \u201cPeople have been very generous\u2014the building tenants bought me pizza, Berlin caf\u00e9 has given me free coffee and lunch all week, people have brought me beer, even weed, and lots and lots of people have helped out with the painting in color process including random people of the neighborhood who I don’t even know.\u201d<\/p>\n Inspired by The Beatles’ Sergeant Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band<\/em> album cover, he inserted a lot his own characters into the larger-than-life size cast, now immortalized with Van Patten\u2019s paint brush. The mural is finally finished, just not by the artist\u2019s standards. If you happen to be walking or driving down Broadway Thursday morning, you might see Van Patten leaning over the roof, touching up the sun in the top right corner.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a bullshit little touch up that no one will notice, but I will lose sleep over it if I don\u2019t fix it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n After the sun is done, the artist plans to enjoy a well-earned rooftop cigar, to be had while \u201cstaring down at the city like a gangster.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The mural is located in the alley at 425 Broadway.<\/em><\/p>\n Gail Werner<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Werner\u2019s Native American background and affiliation with the Southern California-based Cupe\u00f1o, Luise\u00f1o and Kumeyaay tribes informed her mural, now gracing the side of the Super Suds Laundromat on the corner of Alamitos Avenue and Appleton Street.<\/p>\n As a Long Beach resident since the early ’80s, when she ventured here to earn a Master of Fine Arts at Cal State Long Beach (CSULB), the painter and printmaker was understandably a little anxious about blowing her usually intricate style up to greater proportions.<\/p>\n \u201cI was very nervous,\u201d she said. \u201cYou anticipate all the problems leading up to these things, but once [I] started, you\u2019re not worrying about all those things as much.\u201d<\/p>\n The larger-than-life Rock wren perched above the painted plants based upon the artist\u2019s collection of dried yucca pods, is an inspiration garnered from the tribal songs, called bird songs, that describe the journey of a migration.<\/p>\n \u201cEach song is different,\u201d Werner explained. \u201cSome are related to creation stories, but the main thing I like is they\u2019re talking about the migration of the birds, but they\u2019re actually people. They lose their homes[…] or decide to leave, but it\u2019s all the things that they see on their migration, the mountains, the desert, the night sky. I like the fact that it\u2019s about this journey and what they\u2019re seeing on this journey.\u201d<\/p>\n Werner was helped by CSULB alumni, while the Department Chair of Native American Studies proposed that she take on the project. The artist\u2019s mural is truly a Long Beach gem worth checking out.<\/p>\n The mural is located at Super Suds Laundromat at 250 Alamitos Avenue.<\/em><\/p>\n The Draculas\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n The Draculas were formed unofficially during the inaugural POW! WOW! Long Beach, when Jeff McMillan was invited to paint a mural larger than he ever had before, and enlisted the help of friend, illustrator and production design teacher at Cal State Long Beach, Gary Musgrave.<\/p>\n The duo would work on McMillan\u2019s haunted cranes, located in between the Hyatt Regency and the Long Beach Convention Center, late into the night. Thus the two dubbed their collaborative effort after the nocturnal character.<\/p>\n \u201cThere’s just something that happens at night that appeals to us,\u201d said McMillan. \u201cWorking when the majority of the city is sleeping is great. It’s totally quiet and peaceful, the phones aren’t ringing, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are slow and it’s usually pretty cool, temperature-wise.\u201d<\/p>\n McMillan and Musgrave are also illustrators, their days often jammed with freelance jobs and other projects, so working at night has been ideal for the duo. This year\u2019s mural also took on a dark theme that McMillan describes as \u201ceerie nature.\u201d The new mural at the Westin Hotel features a different animal and a moody night time scene.<\/p>\n \u201cThe most exciting thing to me is cranking on a mural for a week straight,\u201d said McMillan. \u201cSeeing it transform day by day. And of course seeing all the other murals in progress and being around creative people all week. That’s the best part, just getting inspired and being blown away by the talents that POW! WOW! brings.\u201d<\/p>\n The mural is located at the Westin Hotel at 333 Ocean Avenue.<\/em><\/p>\n Sket One<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n The largest wall this illustrator, street artist and designer has painted is now inside the Long Beach Arena, as the only indoor mural painted during this year\u2019s festival. Andrew Yasgar, better known as Sket One, was originally slated to paint a wall at the Edison Apartments on Long Beach Boulevard. However, this piece is a hidden gem of sorts, as only those entering the space for an event, as well as its staff, will be able to see the vibrant work of art.<\/p>\n His background with design, cartooning and graffiti is reflected in the piece, as well as his love for color play, while the artist is also aiming to guide his mural work to become a bit more obscure.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause I\u2019ve been doing all these murals lately, I\u2019m trying to shift more to an abstract interpretation of these elements,\u201d he said. \u201cWithout making it adolescent-looking. I want it to convey fun, to be impactful, yet I want to be a little more obscure instead of it just being my normal cartoon stuff coming through.\u201d<\/p>\n The first POW! WOW! Long Beach<\/em> might have had two local artists painting walls last year, however Sket One opted for the festival\u2019s Hawaii outfit because he couldn\u2019t miss his daughter\u2019s graduation back east, he said. Needless to say, he\u2019s proud to be painting during this home festival.<\/p>\n The mural is located within the Long Beach Arena, part of the Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center, located at 300 East Ocean Boulevard.<\/em><\/p>\n![\"DSC](\"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/DSC_1095.JPG\")
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