Slide 1 The Great Wall of Los Angeles What is a mural? How can public murals help a community? With thousands of community murals throughout the city, Los Angeles, California has earned the reputation of being “the mural capital of the world.” The most monumental of these murals is called The Great Wall of Los Angeles. The Great Wall spans almost half a mile and stands over 13 feet high. It is, in fact, the longest mural in the world. The mural depicts the history of Los Angeles, from the time of the dinosaurs to the time of the superhighways. It also highlights the diversity of cultures in this colorful city.

Slide 2 The Great Wall of Los Angeles (Cont.) How was the idea for the mural conceived? In 1974, the Army Corps of Engineers contacted Judith Baca, artistic director and founder of The Social and Public Art Resource Center—called SPARC, for short. They asked her to create a beautiful mural to improve the appearance of an ugly flood control channel in North Hollywood. A flood control channel is a large, open, concrete structure that brings water away from the city in the case of flooding. When there are no floods, these channels are empty and often unattractive. Judith was thrilled. She had many sponsors for the project, including government agencies, businesses, and individuals who shared her dream. Finally, in the summer of 1976, production began. Judith recruited a group of 80 promising but troubled youths to help her do the work. These teens, called the Mural Makers, worked with artists, historians, scholars, and community leaders. To prepare for making the mural, the teens received art instruction, listened to history lectures, and did team-building exercises. They had to learn to work together toward a common goal.

Slide 3 The Great Wall of Los Angeles (Cont.) Before the painting could begin, there were months of planning. Judith and her design team sketched the designs. The designs were turned into large 1-foot by 2-foot drawings, which would then be transferred to the wall. But first came the heavy labor: sandblasting, water blasting, and cleaning the surface of the wall. When the surface was clean, the kids transferred the designs and painted the lines in dark blue. The sun’s glare on the massive white wall caused snow blindness, so the team applied a transparent magenta undercoat to protect their eyes. This tint also helped to harmonize the colors of the mural. The first one thousand feet of the mural were finished in 1976. Each summer for five years the team added 350 more feet, until work was finally completed in 1983. By then, the mural had consumed 600 gallons of paint and employed 400 youths. Judith called the mural a “work in progress.” She planned for the next generation of children to add their story to this visual narrative.

Slide 4 The Great Wall of Los Angeles (Cont.) The original sections of the Great Wall are now decades old. The colors are no longer vivid. Paint is peeling. The walls have been damaged by sun, earthquakes, insects, and fl ood waters. The Great Wall is in urgent need of restoration. SPARC would like to transform the Great Wall into a cultural destination for everyone to witness the history of California. In addition to restoring the mural, they are also planning to add four decades of history: from the 1960s to the 1990s. What do you think should be depicted in future sections? Unit 4, Week 3 The Great Wall of Los Angeles 1. What do the pictures on our classroom walls depict? 2. Where can you see a diversity of people? 3. Who was one founder of the United States of America? 4. What goal do you want to accomplish this year? 5. How can individuals help protect the environment? 6. Whose job involves strenuous labor, a bricklayer’s or a librarian’s? 7. If you were to tell a story about last summer, what would your narrative include? 8. Why is a sunny day more promising for a picnic than an overcast or windy day? 9. Why is it important for a judge to have a reputation of fairness? 10. What kind of work is involved in the restoration of old buildings? 11. How do sponsors help artists do their work? 12. If you transfer a picture, do you copy it or destroy it? 13. Which of these can be transparent: glass, plastic, metal, fabric, wood? 14. What forms of storytelling are visual? 15. Who would you tell if you witnessed an accident?