Art in the Streets (Video and Photos)

I recently took my 6-year-old daughter with me to buy stamps at the . As we stood beneath the massive, original mural, she giggled.

“You know one of the best things about our town?” She said. “There is art everywhere! People even paint on the walls!”

She’s right. For a small town, South Pasadena is big on the visual arts. Our business district shares space with numerous galleries and art studios. Each year, the city closes streets to traffic and opens them to several arts and crafts fairs. 

This past May, the encouraged not only art appreciation but art participation. Sponsored by and the , the event featured a city-wide invitation for residents to create a series of painted sculptures called “3-D Graffiti.” You might have noticed a few of the cheerful sculptures around town. (Right now, you’ll find several of them at the entrance of .)

The is known for its excellent test scores, but don’t let the brainy kid reputation fool you. In addition to academics, South Pas school kids enjoy a variety of art programs enthusiastically presented by teachers, parents and Artists in Residence as well as classroom art docents. Projects go far beyond crayons and glue, too. Student art shows feature works in clay, mixed media and even found objects.   

It’s nice to be part of such a creative community. All over the city, you’ll find lasting reminders of South Pasadena’s rich artistic history. 

During the Great Depression, Federal Relief Agencies put many South Pasadena residents to work on projects ranging from building the control channel to adding pathways and patios to . The powers-that-be realized that communities not only needed structures to have good function—they also needed them to have beautiful form.

With that in mind, when South Pasadena’s post office was built in 1936, the Treasury Relief Art Project commissioned artist and former postal clerk John Law Walker to create the lobby mural. The scene—a Concord mail coach—was familiar to the brand new South Pasadena postmaster, George Hugh Banning. He had recently authored a book on the subject called Six Horses.

The resulting work was a meaningful addition to an otherwise utilitarian place. Walker’s painting didn’t assist with the business of mail. It didn’t deliver packages or sort letters. But at a time when the majority of citizens were struggling just to make ends meet, it offered beauty and inspiration. It still does.

 is a treasure trove of more beautiful, inspirational art. In 1930, the celebrated USC professor of sculpture Merrell Gage created a series of classical friezes representing famous books to be placed on the library exterior. They still adorn the original building facing El Centro. On the Oxley side, you’ll find two of Gage’s stone carvings. One is a rendering of St. George and the Dragon; the other is a whimsical Spanish galleon. Soon, Gage’s recently restored stone casting known as will be installed on the Oxley patio.

Inside the library, you’ll find stained glass by Judson Studios, playful children’s murals by Leo Politi, and numerous paintings by South Pasadena artists Zolita Sverdlove and Jean Tryon. The library’s most recent addition is an elaborate architectural mosaic in the Children’s Room, created by celebrated artist Jolino Beserra.

The library encourages kids (and their parents) to explore the textural piece or, as my daughter puts it, to “go ahead and touch it because that’s what you’re supposed to do.”

Another piece of public art you can’t help but touch is Mission Station’s impressive Walking Man sculpture. Officially titled Astride Aside, the 10 foot bronze sculpture was created by artist Michael Stutz.

“The daily ebb and flow of life reveals a drama accentuated in my work," Stutz explained in a statement at the work's 2003 installation.

"Using organic forms, I explore the dichotomies between permanent and impermanent, public and private, external and internal, to create an intimate and humane ideal. Light plays through the latticed forms of the woven sculptures, blending line, movement, time and the body. Focused, hand-wrought, craftsmanship reveals a yielding openness that invites viewer interaction,” he continued. 

Viewer interaction? I’ll say! The sculpture doubles as a kid’s jungle gym, a bench and a convenient spot to put a plate of food on Thursday nights. It's a great example of how public art can be inspirational as well as accessible.

Los Angeles is notorious for destroying public art. Sometimes destruction is due to the “progress” of new construction. Other times, it comes from vandalism partnered with apathetic city government. I find it encouraging that South Pasadena treasures and maintains its public works of art—from the 1970s Girl Scout mural in the Arroyo Drive tunnel to the Ostrich Farm mural at Oxley and Mound.

South Pas seems to recognize that art adds soul to an otherwise utilitarian cityscape. 

Come to think of it, perhaps an artist should have been consulted for the ongoing Fair Oaks construction project. But that’s an entirely different column.

For Laurie Allee’s photo slideshow of South Pasadena public art, click on the video above. 

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