\u201cIt will wake people up,”\u00a0artist Rita Letendre said about her work back in 1965. “We go along with gently rolling fields and green grass around us, never seeing. If once a week something makes us wake up and really see, then other things fall into focus and we start living,\u201d she told the Press-Telegram in an interview about the California International Sculpture Symposium at Cal State Long Beach that year.<\/p>\n
That symposium was one of the first large-scale projects in the country that connected artists with industry in a major effort to explore new technology and materials during one historic summer.<\/p>\n
The Canadian artist\u2019s contribution to the symposium was not sculptural, however. Her mural, \u201cSun Forces,\u201d is still above a walkway connecting classrooms and faculty offices on the bridge of Liberal Arts Building 5. Aggressive black, yellow and green forms fight with each other for the attention, if only but a glance, of the students walking beneath it.<\/p>\n
Cal State Long Beach announced Friday morning that thanks to a grant provided by the Long Beach Navy Memorial Heritage Association, the 22-by-21-foot mural will be conserved, extending its life on campus. The University Art Museum will lead the project as part of its conservation initiative which began 4 years ago.<\/p>\n