East Los Streetscapers

East Los Streetscapers Public Art Studios is a muralist art collective and fine art studio based in East Los Angeles, California. Its members have executed over twenty murals and large-scale public artworks, primarily in the Los Angeles area.

History

East Los Streetscapers grew out of the Chicano Mural Movement of the 1960s and 1970s,cite web
last =Healy
first =Wayne Alaniz
title = History
work = East Los Streetscapers website
publisher = East Los Streetscapers
date =
url = http://www.eastlosstreetscapers.com/images/history_01.jpg
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doi =
accessdate =2008-01-09
quote = The roots of E.L.S. reach back to the Chicano Mural Movement of the 1960s and 70s.] a strand of muralism that "began as an arm of struggle of claiming urban space"cite web
first = Cockroft
last = Eva Sperling
title = Contradiction or Progression: The Mainstreaming of a Mural Movement
work = ZoneZero Magazine
publisher = ZoneZero
date =
url = http://www.zonezero.com/magazine/essays/distant/zcontra2.html
format = HTML
doi =
accessdate =2008-01-09] for Chicanos.

It was founded by Wayne Alaniz Healy and David Rivas Botello in 1975.

Alaniz and Botello met in elementary school, and when in the third grade, collaborated on a mural. However, they lost touch when Botello's family moved to nearby City Terrace. [cite web
last =
first =
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = EAST LOS STREETSCAPERS
work = Lamurals.org
publisher = Los Angeles Mural Conservancy
date =
url = http://www.lamurals.org/MuralistPages/Streetscapers.html
format = HTML
doi =
accessdate = 2008-01-09
quote = Botello and Healy did their first mural together about dinosaurs in the third grade, but soon afterwards Botello's family moved a mile away to City Terrace from their East Los Angeles neighborhood. It wasn't until they were adults, and both were doing murals on their own, that they met again and decided to renew their collaboration.]

In 1969, Botello co-founded Goez Art Studio, "the first" Chicano art studio,cite web
last = Gonzalez
first = Jose Luis
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Bio
work = GoezArt.Com
publisher = Goez Art Studio
date =
url = http://goezart.com/default.htm
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doi =
accessdate = 2008-01-09
quote=Goez Art Studio and Gallery in East Los Angeles; (1) which was the first art studio and gallery in the country to dedicate its resources to Chicano art and artists] with Jose Luis Gonzalez and Juan Gonzalez. In 1973, he painted "Dreams of Flight", one of the early murals at Estrada Courts.

In 1968, Healy earned Bachelor's degrees in aerospace engineering and mathematics from Cal Poly Pomona. He went on to earn a Master's in mechanical engineering from the University of Cincinnati in 1973. He began working with Mechicano Art Center in East Los Angeles, and in 1974, painted the mural "Ghosts of the Barrio" at the Los Angeles housing project Ramona Gardens. He has since earned a Master's of Fine Arts from California State University, Northridge and created numerous screen prints with Self-Help Graphics & Art.

In 1975 Healy and Botello teamed to form Los Dos Streetscapers. They were soon joined by other artists such as George Yepes, Paul Botello, Rudy Calderon, Rich Raya, Ricardo Duffy, Charles Solares and Fabian Debora, which occasioned the renaming of the group to “East Los Streetscapers.”cref | Name change While collaborating artists have come and gone, Healy and Botello have remained the core of the group.

In 1990, Healy and Botello founded the Palmetto Gallery to provide exposure for younger artists.cite web
first = Cockroft
last = Eva Sperling
title = Contradiction or Progression: The Mainstreaming of a Mural Movement
work = ZoneZero Magazine
publisher = ZoneZero
date =
url = http://www.zonezero.com/magazine/essays/distant/zcontra2.html
format = HTML
doi =
accessdate =2008-01-09
quote = In 1990 they founded the Palmetto Gallery, a work and exhibition space for younger artists as well as for themselves.]

East Los Streetscapers have also sponsored projects for barrio youth.

Work

The collective used acrylic paint as the primary medium for their early murals, but later incorporated such media as hand-painted tiles, cast bronze, and porcelain-enameled steel. Murals outside of Los Angeles include projects in San Jose, California, Santa Maria, California, Houston, Texas, St. Louis, Missouri, and Bellingham, Washington. Their work is characterized as "multicultural, strong, dynamic, colorful, site specific, and compositionally dramatic in line and texture." [cite web
last =
first =
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = East Los Streetscapers
work = USC Library Archival Collections
publisher = University of Southern California
date =
url = http://www.usc.edu/libraries/archives/arc/lasubject/records/id25.html
format = HTML
doi =
accessdate = 2008-01-09]

Murals

Notes

*cnote|Name change|"Los Dos" is Spanish for "The Two", which, once the group expanded, was no longer applicable.

References

See also

*Arts and Culture of Los Angeles
*Self Help Graphics & Art

External links

* [http://www.eastlosstreetscapers.com/ East Los Streetscapers] Official site
* [http://home.att.net/~rpmurals/ "Some murals by East Los Streetscapers"] , Pictures of murals in Los Angeles
* [http://www.fabianspadedebora.com "Fabian Spade Debora"] , Art from muralist Fabian Debora