East Los Streetscapers grew out of the Chicano Mural Movement of the 1960s and 1970s,[1] a strand of muralism that "began as an arm of struggle of claiming urban space"[2] 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.[3]
In 1969, Botello co-founded Goez Art Studio, "the first"
Chicano art studio,[4] 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
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.”[ 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,[5] and East Los Streetscapers has also sponsored projects for barrio youth.
Artworks
The collective used
St. Louis, Missouri, and Bellingham, Washington. Their work is characterized as "multicultural, strong, dynamic, colorful, site specific, and compositionally dramatic in line and texture."[7]
In a departure from acrylic and tile murals in 2002, Wayne Healy and East Los Streetscapers installed the 12-foot tall oxidized steel and dichroic glass public art sculpture Read, Reach, and Realize at the courtyard entrance to the Buena Vista Branch Library in Burbank, California.[8]
Murals
Title
Year
Location
Chicano Time Trip
1975
2601 North Broadway, [[Lincoln Heights, Los Angeles, California|Lincoln Heights] & Daly St], exterior
Corrido de Boyle Heights
1984
5 puntos corner, 1301 Brooklyn Place, Los Angeles, CA & N Indiana St, exterior
Education Suite: Arte, Ciencia y Filosofia
1981
Helen Bailey Library at East Los Angeles College, 1301 Avenida Cesar Chavez, Monterey Park, CA 91754, interior stairway
Filling Up on Ancient Energies
1979
Shell Gas Station, Soto St. and 4th St.,
Boyle Heights
, exterior
Gateway to Manifest Destiny
1982
Victor Clothing Company, 240 South Broadway, Los Angeles, first floor interior
Hacia Date Al Norte
1991
Outdoor Products, 3800 Mission Road, Lincoln Heights, interior of employees' cafeteria
La Sombra del Arroyo
1996
Gateway Transit Center, exterior
Life Flows at Aliso-Pico
1983
Aliso-Pico Multipurpose Center, 1505 East 1st Street, Boyle Heights, exterior
Moonscapes I-V
1979, 1987
Department of Motor Vehicles, 11400 West Washington Blvd., Culver City, exterior
El Nuevo Fuego
1985
public art mural, Victor Clothing Company, 240 South Broadway, Los Angeles, exterior[9]
^Name change: "Los Dos" is Spanish for "The Two", which, once the group expanded, was no longer applicable.
References
^Healy, Wayne Alaniz. "History". East Los Streetscapers website. East Los Streetscapers. Archived from the original(JPG) on 2011-07-10. Retrieved 2008-01-09. The roots of E.L.S. reach back to the Chicano Mural Movement of the 1960s and 70s.
^"EAST LOS STREETSCAPERS". Lamurals.org. Los Angeles Mural Conservancy. Retrieved 2008-01-09. 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.
^Gonzalez, Jose Luis. "Bio". Goez Art Studio. 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{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |url= (help)
^"East Los Streetscapers". USC Library Archival Collections. University of Southern California. Archived from the original on 2007-11-27. Retrieved 2008-01-09.
