East Los Luv - A Public Art Project for the Love of East L.A.
A community-based collaborative mural and interactive public art project by Los Angeles artist Stephanie Mercado.
Mission
To create a vibrant and eclectic mural that uplifts, empowers, and celebrates the surrounding community’s cultural contributions. Increase representation of East Los Angeles residents through public art, and inspire the viewer through cultural affirmation and an artistic experience.
Vision
To create a community-based collaborative mural that includes icons and symbols, cultural references, family photos, and oral histories from locals. This mural will reflect the community through direct engagement and inclusion, resulting in a collage-based artwork that highlights the diversity of East Los Angeles.
Eastlosluv.com
A multilingual website designed and built by the artist to share information and documentation about the project. The site includes updates, workshops, resources, and a virtual gallery showcasing the work of community members. Visit Eastlosluv.com to learn more about the project.
Co-Create Workshops
Art-making workshops with community members from Los Angeles and Los Angeles County. Participants are given coloring sheets that prompt one to describe what is important to them about family, place, food, and their personal experience. The coloring sheets are interactive and include blank areas to include photos of family, places, or things. The elements can then be arranged into collages to make each work unique.
Coloring and Collage Activity Sheets
Artist designed coloring and collage activity sheets with themes to prompt participants to consider what or who they would like to honor, or see included in the East Los Luv Mural. Participants can add photos, drawings, or hand-written anecdotes about what East LA means to them. Activities can be downloaded from Eastlosluv.com/resources
East Los Luv Lesson Plan
A free guide for teachers and teaching artists to share this project with their students. The goal is to increase the voices of youth in this project and to advance art education through public art. Teachers are encourage to submit student artworks for inclusion in the community art virtual gallery.
Community Art Virtual Gallery
The East Los Luv Virtual Art Gallery features artwork made by community members using the East Los Luv coloring and collage activity sheets. The artworks can be viewed on the site Eastlosluv.com/gallery. Submissions are being accepted indefinitely to grow the archive of the project.
SOCIAL MEDIA COMMUNICATIONS
Community engagement can take many forms and social media is a great tool to reach many people world-wide. I recognize that people move around and have roots or family in East Los Angeles. East Los Luv uses social media as an engagement tool to share updates about the project, calls to action, and create points of connection through art. Follow @Eastlosluv on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.
MURAL PRODUCTION
I am actively converting photo submissions to illustrations for inclusion in the East Los Luv mural. The design of the East Los Luv mural will be a printmaking-based collage featuring images submitted by community members. The design once approved, will be painted on a substrate that will be installed upon the completion of the building in 2023.
Public art can be more than the final art product installed in a public space. The East Los Luv public art project strives to engage community members and create community around the arts. It seeks to empower people through cultural affirmation and art education. East Los Luv is a long-term project that may eventually include other commissions received by the artist in the City and County of Los Angeles. Questions and inquiries can be emailed to [email protected]