“Water Writes” Launches in Los Angeles
Collaborative mural unveiled at Waiting for Superman-featured KIPP LA Prep (KIPP Academy)
By Haily Zaki via LatinoLA
Estria Foundation (www.estria.org) – an Oakland-based non-profit that raises social consciousness for critical human and environmental issues through public art projects – announces the launch of “Water Writes,” the Foundation’s first major initiative.
The Water Writes campaign will travel to ten cities around the planet over the span of ten months creating original murals that will express different perspectives of communities highly affected by water issues. The campaign aims to educate and empower communities to express their voice visually through public art. Water Writes launches in Los Angeles with the unveiling of the first collaborative mural on March 19, 2011 at the KIPP LA Prep (KIPP Academy), a charter school recently featured in Davis Guggenheim’s “Waiting for Superman” documentary.
KIPP LA Prep is located at: 2810 Whittier Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90023-1527; (323) 264-7737
“Writing is street art term for changing the color of a surface,” explains Estria Foundation founder and artist Estria Miyashiro. “Writing, or visually communicating through public art, is the most basic and simple form of free speech. The Estria Foundation is based on the idea that writing has the power to reinvent spaces, and in turn, reinvent people. Our goal with the Water Writes campaign is to empower communities around the world to use public art as a platform for change and to inspire action in the defense of water.”
The Estria Foundation takes a community building approach to creating Water Writes series of murals. In Los Angeles, the Foundation tapped into the city’s rich and vibrant street art community to ensure that the history and culture of East Los Angeles were incorporated into the mural.
Partners included SPARC (Social and Public Art Resource Center), Mobile Mural Lab, Casual Play, Environmental Justice Coalition for Water, Friends We Love, Graffiti Saved My Life, Las Moscas Productions, Mictlan Murals, and Trust Your Struggle Collective.
As part of their science curriculum, students from the KIPP Academy participated in workshops that educated them about water issues. The workshops culminated in an interactive art experiment with the Mobile Mural Labʼs perpetually changing mobile canvas (a big truck). Students were able to try their hands at expressing a message visually through art and learned basic techniques in mural production.
Simultaneously, local artists Erin Yoshi, Vyal Reyes, Raul Gonzalez, and Ricardo Estrada (all East Los Angeles natives) also participated in workshops which served to frame their ideas for the mural and facilitated sharing their experiences, cultures, and history. Once the artists had formed the storyboard for the mural, they painted together over the span of ten days.
“Painting a mural is truly a community building experience,” explains Program Director Nancy Hernandez. “The artists each brought a little piece of their history and their water story to the table. And by practicing with the Mobile Mural Lab, students of the KIPP Academy got to taste a little bit of the mural magic with us.”
The inaugural Water Writes mural will be named and unveiled on March 19th. The KIPP Academy will host a pop- up community fair from 1pm to 4pm. Mobile Mural Lab will exhibit the KIPP Academy students’; mural and offer other interactive art activities. Press are invited to attend from 12 noon to 1pm. The community fair is open to the public.
From Los Angeles, Water Writes will head north to Oakland, CA. Other communities on the Water Writes campaign include: the Navajo Reservation in Window Rock, AZ; Beirut, Lebanon; Honolulu, HI; Manila, Philippines; El Salvador; Bogota, Colombia; and Arcadia, CA.
Estria Foundation is an Oakland, CA-based non-profit that raises social consciousness about critical human and global environmental issues through collaborative public art projects. In the battle to be heard, public art is a visual microphone for impacted communities. Water Writes is an international mural and community building campaign that aims to inspire action on global water issues. Estria Foundation supports public art for social change.
KIPP LA Schools is a non-profit organization that operates five elementary and middle public charter schools in under-resourced communities in Los Angeles. KIPP LA Schools is part of the nationwide KIPP (Knowledge Is Power Program) network of 99 schools in 19 states and Washington, D.C.
