Sites of Public Memory: Murals and Other Sacred Sites in Los Angeles

COURSE CONTENT

A theoretical course taught from the perspective of an artist examining sites of public memory, murals and sacred sites in the City of Los Angeles as a basis for cultural insight, memorialization and historical preservation. This course uses urban Los Angeles as a textbook on urban space issues such as: who is the “public”; what is “public/sacred space”; what are sites of public memory; what is the value of historic preservation? The course includes both in-class lectures and weekly field trips that examine what defines a neighborhood and do different ethnic populations use public space differently.

READINGS: You are required to complete all reading assignments. The course readings can be found on the Chicana/o 191-1 website. Log in to the Social Sciences Class website located at: https://moodle2.sscnet.ucla.edu/

Under subject area, select Chicana and Chicano Studies, then select the class title under “Summer Session C” and log in. All readings are downloadable pdfs. You are to complete all readings by the listed class date. Assume all chapters are assigned unless specific instructions are provided.

We will review the readings in the context of seminar discussions and during site visits. For every seminar discussion, you will be expected to provide evidence of having worked with the text before your participation in class discussions. You are expected to apply the reading’s concepts to our site visits and further expand on the notions of public and sacred spaces, public memory and the use of urban spaces.

SITE VISITS: Students will be required to attend weekly field trips to local murals and other sacred sites. Those sites are listed on the course website and syllabus with the meeting address. You are expected to bring a form of documentation while we conduct our site visits. Documentation can be an audio recording, a video or picture taken with your cellphone or even a sketchbook or journal. We expect you to document some unique aspect of each site that we visit that can be related back to your readings. You are to include this in your weekly responses as support for your observations. You may also use this as content for your final project. Transportation to the sites is not provided. Please coordinate carpools with your fellow classmates. Exchanging phone numbers/means of contact on Week 1 is highly recommended.

1

WEEKLY RESPONSES: A weekly two-page written response paper is due after each site visit. You will be expected to turn in 4 responses due the week after each site visit. Consider the weekly reading concepts in relationship to the site visit and include your documentation. Your written responses will assist the professor in assessing your attentiveness in class and your understanding of the concepts in the lectures and site visits. Attach documentation at the end of your writing and cite as needed within your written response. You may also upload audio/video documentation to the class website or email it directly to your TA.

Criteria for Analysis in Weekly Responses: Who is the audience? Is the public monument appropriate for the site, why? Who is the sponsor? Why is it there? Who does it serve? What were the sponsors’ intentions in commissioning the work? What are the inherent values communicated? Are you convinced of those values? Does it move you? Why?

FINAL CREATIVE PROJECT or PAPER: Throughout the course, you will be expected to demonstrate progress on your project. Project proposal ideas should be submitted on week 4, August Demonstration of projects assigned during the course must be turned in when due. Work that is not turned in on time will not be evaluated.

PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT: You will earn points based on attendance, punctuality; helpful and constructive participation in class discussions; a spirit of cooperation; civil behavior; and conversation that encourages a free and democratic exchange of ideas—this is conversation that furthers critical thought and acknowledges the dignity and worth of every person.

Sites of Public Memory Murals and Other Sacred Sites

READING LIST

1. The Re-Enchantment Of Art Suzi Gablick

3. “Fortress Los Angeles: The Militarization Of Urban Space” Mike Davis

4. “Chicana/o Artivism: Judy Baca’s Digital Work with Youth of Color” by Chela Sandoval and Guissela Latorre

Signs from the Heart: California Chicano Murals. Edited by Eva Sperling Cockcroft and Holly Barnett Sanchez the Social and Public Art Resource Center and University of New Mexico Press 1993

Siqueiros His Life and Works by Phillip Stein. International Publishers New York 1994
Mapping the Terrain The New Genre Public Art, Bay Press, Seattle, Washington, by Suzanne Lacy
The Gift: The Erotic Life of Property by Lewis Hyde
Venice: A Contested Bohemia in Los Angeles by Andrew Deener, University of Chicago Press, 2012.

Botanical Los Angeles: Latino Popular Religious Art in the City of Angels by Patrick Arthur Polk. UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History 2004.

ADDITIONAL READING LIST ON MURALISM

1. SIGNS FROM THE HEART; CALIFORNIA CHICANO MURALS edited by Eva Cockcroft with a foreword by Judith F. Baca published by the SOCIAL AND PUBLIC ART RESOURCE CENTER. by the University Of New Mexico Press 1993

2

2. TOWARD A PEOPLES ART; THE CONTEMPORARY MURAL MOVEMENT By Eva Cockcroft And John Weber

10. SIQUEIROS HIS LIFE AND WORKS by Philip Stein International publishers New York 1994

15. MAPPING THE TERRAIN NEW GENRE PUBLIC ART Edited by Suzanne Lacy. 1995 (Chapter by Judith

    F. Baca)

16. SPIRIT POLES AND FLYING PIGS By Erica Doss 1995

    Chapter on the Murals of Guadalupe.

3

WEEK One: Wednesday August 7, 2013 AT SPARC

TOPIC:

Class Introduction Presentation:

TOPIC: READING

TOPIC: SITE VISIT:

Introduction – Sites of Public
Memory: Murals and Other Sacred Sites in Los Angeles

Discussion of the Requirements for the class, self-introductions and interest in the topic.

Introduction to SPARC Tour / Art, Community and Social Justice.

Lecture on Los Tres Grandes and their work in the United States

Community Cultural Development & Los Tres Grandes
Mapping the Terrain: Edited by Suzanne Lacy Chapters 3,4,6,7 Reading due by

Week Two.

City of Los Angeles Historic Core & Broadway Murals

Walking Tour of El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historic State Park and Broadway Murals. Meet at El Pueblo de Los Angeles.
Examine the founding and history of Los Angeles and its memorialization in public spaces including the Zanja Madre Aqueduct, Olvera Street, Pico House, Plaza Church, Chinese Catacombs, The deportation site of the Repatriation Act, and the America Tropical Interpretive Center.

DOWNTOWN BROADWAY: A walking tour of the Historic Core of Downtown Los Angeles that examines murals and other sacred sites such as: Victor Clothing Company Murals by East Los Streetcapers Kent Twitchell, Frank Romero, the Bradbury Building; Pope of Broadway mural by Elloy Torres, Biddy Mason Park, former site of Calle de la Eternidad mural, Broadway Botanica, The Million Dollar Theater, and Grand Central Market.

Examine the Founding of Los Angeles at the Old Pueblo, the Siqueiros interpretive center, the evolution of the Calle de Eternidad into Broadway.

“Siqueiros and Three Early Murals in Los Angeles” by

WEEK Two: Wednesday August 14, 2013
Off Site Class: Meet at El Pueblo de Los Angeles, 125 Paseo De La Plaza, Los Angeles CA 90012.

TOPICS:

READINGS:

4

WEEK Three: Wednesday August 21, 2013
Off Site Class: Meet at the Great Wall of Los Angeles: 12900 Oxnard St, Van Nuys CA 90041

READING:

Shifra Goldman.
“Fortress Los Angeles: The Militarization of Urban Space” by Mike Davis
“Siqueiros: His Life and Works” by Philip Stein, Chapters 3, 5 and 9.

TOPIC: SITE VISIT:

Methods of Community Cultural Development: Great Wall of Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley

The Great Wall of Los Angeles Mural: one of Los Angeles’ true cultural landmarks and one of the country’s most respected and largest monuments to inter-racial harmony, the Great Wall is the signature work of SPARC; a landmark pictorial representation of the history of ethnic peoples of California from prehistoric times to the 1950’s, conceived by SPARC’S artistic director and founder Judith F. Baca. Begun in 1974 and completed over five summers, the Great Wall employed over 400 youth and their families from diverse social and economic backgrounds working with artists, oral historians, ethnologists, scholars, and hundreds of community members. We will visit The Great Wall of Los Angeles and examine both the methodologies for the production of the monument and its historical content.

Great Wall of Los Angeles Walking Tour Guide Additional Articles TBA

ASSIGNMENT #1 DUE – READING RESPONSE FOR El PUEBLO/BROADWAY

TOPIC: The Digital Mural: Community Engagement Through Digital Technology and the Pico Union/Koreatown neighborhoods

FOCUS:

Digital Murals | Community Engagement through Technology: “Gente del

Maiz” at Miguel Contreras Learning Complex, “Migration of the Golden

People” at CARECEN, “Seeing through Others Eyes” and “Tiny Ripples

of Hope” at RFK

5

SITE VISIT:

READING:

Tour digitally-hand rendered murals by Judy Baca and SPARC including Gente del Maiz at the Miguel Contreras Learning Complex; Migration of the Golden People at CARECEN; Tiny Ripples of Hope & Seeing Through Others Eyes at Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools. Examine community engaged process through digital art collaborations. Discussion of Mural Ordinance, the future of muralism and preservation, and the possibility of digital mural pedagogy.

“Chicana/o Artivism: Judy Baca’s Digital Work with Youth of Color” by Chela

Sandoval and Guissela Latorre

ASSIGNMENT #2 DUE – READING RESPONSE FOR THE GREAT WALL OF LOS ANGELES/SAN FERNANDO VALLEY

WEEK Five: Wednesday September 4, 2013 At SPARC

TOPIC:

FOCUS: SITE VISIT: READINGS:

Venice Murals

WPA To Murals of Venice. Individual Properties of Murals Venice Murals
Selected Chapters of Venice: A Contested Bohemia in Los Angeles by Andrew Deener, TBA

ASSIGNMENT #3 DUE – READING RESPONSE FOR PICO UNION/KOREATOWN and DIGITAL MURALS COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT THROUGH DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY

TOPIC: Coarse Review: Discussion

ASSIGNMENT #4 DUE – READING RESPONSE FOR VENICE MURALS

FINAL DUE: In-Class Presentations / Final Reports

Final Project: Students may choose a creative project or a 6-10 page paper on a subject addressed during the course. Your creative project can be a 20 minute presentation to the class on any site of public memory or sacred site studied during the course. You may work in pairs or individually to make a visual presentation of your selected site.

If you choose to prepare an individual 6-10 page paper, your format should be: MLA, double-spaced 12pt. font, Times New Roman, 1 inch margins. Papers must be submitted by the end of class.

WEEK Six: Wednesday September 11, 2013 AT SPARC

6