From left: artist David Gilmore, 1st District Councilwoman Lena Gonzalez, artist Steve Martinez and Executive Director of the Arts Council for Long Beach Griselda Suarez. Photo courtesy of the arts council.
Officials revealed the two artists who will paint murals alongside a recently opened greenbelt next to the Los Angeles River in Downtown Long Beach.
The Drake Chavez Mural Project is the icing on the proverbial cake to create more green space in the Downtown area while engaging the community in a creative undertaking. The murals—a partnership between the Arts Council for Long Beach, the city and Councilwoman Lena Gonzalez’ office—will be installed along the western walls of the Drake Chavez Greenbelt.
In January the city held a grand opening celebration of the greenbelt, which also included the opening of a new artificial turf field. The 8.75-acre site is part of the Drake Chavez Master Plan to create a 57-acre greenbelt along the lower Los Angeles River in Long Beach.
Residents voted on mural proposals by local artists last year during an event in December. Later this month, residents will also be able to sign up as volunteers to help paint the two murals.
“Public art projects like these demonstrate that public and private collaborations can help strengthen neighborhood identity,” Griselda Suarez, executive director of the arts council, told the Post.
One of the two artists selected by residents, Steve Martinez, is known for his work combining symbols and graphic elements with realistic representations of people and nature. He stated the focal point of his project will be Native American women, according to the arts council.
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“Some of these people in our communities have never visited a gallery or museum,” Martinez stated. “Public art gives the community an opportunity to experience this [New Contemporary Art] movement first hand and perhaps discover a love for the arts they never knew they had. That spark of interest is everything to me, that spark is what got me to where I am now.”
David Gilmore, who paints vibrant portraits, caricatures and body parts, sometimes on the body parts themselves, has a “paint on everything” approach that has garnered him a variety of top-notch clients including Beyonce, MAC Cosmetics, Bravo TV and more.
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Gilmore stated his goal is to create a mural “where multicultural faces create and become the landscape … everyone is to be welcomed, everyone is celebrated, everyone is embraced, and everyone is equal.”
“I am very proud of this collaboration with Steve and David,” said Suarez. “They were very thoughtful in their proposals and their work honors the community.”
An Open Conversations event, where the arts council hosts a public forum to discuss a certain topic, will take place at 6 p.m. Monday, July 23 at the Drake Chavez Greenbelt Park. There, attendees can meet the artists, volunteer to help them as well as contribute to the arts council’s Eye on Design mosaic mural, according to the arts council.
Drake Chavez Greenbelt Park is located at 1000 DeForest Avenue.