ArtWalk Magazine Issue 01 by Artwalk Magazine

Fall-Winter 2020 | $34.99

WWW.ARTWALKMAGAZINE.COM

ARTWALK MAGAZINE

Jaber

Cruz Arte Sean Kirkland Andrea Aragon Mark J. Rebennack Jules Muck Plastic Jesus Marz Pacheco Mister Toledo Justin Snyder Photo & the Downtown Mural Project

cover art by surya pinto

@mister_toledo

ARTWALK MAGAZINE

Editor-in-chief Justin Snyder

info@artwalkmagazine.com

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What is Beauty?/ Am I Pretty? Oil on Recycled Wood --> Andrea Aragon B. is an artist based in East Los Angeles, CA. She creates realistic paintings that incorporate images of close individuals & surroundings that make up her world. With the use of saturated hues and attention to the aura of her subject matter, she encapsulates the rawness within each piece she manifests.Inspired by artwork & pollution found within the streets of Los Angeles, social media and her other artistic comrades, she tries to replicate the beauty in this so-called "ugly" or "uncomfortable" world by shedding light on what makes it special..

Andrea Aragon @aaragonb_art

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Luka Barlow | @lukaweinberger

Reginav Gavrilova @reginagvrlv

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Aulona Gojani @au.lona

Amna Sohail @Asuhaill

Jealousy, 2019 54.5"x58.5" Oil & Pastel on Canvas --> Jealousy is a painting that highlights a woman lowrider who goes by the nickname "Jealousy". She is depicted alongside her Impala and her Cane Corso. The painting is centered around her, the composition building up around her. All of the imagery within the composition is specific to her life and her own experiences. The excess is meant to demand the attention of the viewer so they have no choice, but to acknowledge this woman.

Jacqueline Valenzuela @pieldemazapan

david b. flores

cruz arte

@_cruz_arte_

Justin Snyder Photo

@justinsnyderphoto

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Cari Marvelli | @carimarvelli

The key to eternity is within I visualized my destiny before my eyes - Victor Garcia Like a Phoenix from the ashes I rose @multiverse_freemind Third eye conceptuality My existence is beyond reality Pushing boundaries like my heart pumps blood through pressure A diamond in the rough Theres no map that can trace this treasure My algorithms can't be measured I'm unbreakable Many systems have classified me as uncontrollable Spirits from my ancestors guide my holistic path Hope you feel the energy I ensue through my craft Wish y'all can see what I visualize when my eyes are closed Like the beauty within when women dress for Sunday service There's more to the vessel than the eye can see It's a body of work and no one function can work without the other My physical self is temporary but my legacy will excel further I already indented my words in your heart like a piece of art Let me xzibit my god given talent Before I'm put underground I want y'all to say with gratitude look what I found. Greatness. Welcome to my dimension My name is what I want y'all to mention And if you stay long enough you will witness my ascension It's my proclamation, Thanks for the admiration. Alyse DeCavallas | @artofalyse -

Danielle Hamlett | @daniellekhamlett www.LongBeachArtWalk.com | 08

Jose Reyes | @imjosereyes

stebeigger@ | truocnateB anigeR

David Nott

Zinonos Anthony

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Natalie Moyado | @personatalieart

Geromar Hasta @gerohasta

Mary Brennan Jasmine Montgomery

Michael Stearns | @stearns.michael www.LongBeachArtWalk.com | 10

sean kirkland " I ’ V E L E A R N E D T H A T T H E I S T O K E E P P A I N T I N G " by Justin Snyder Photos via Sean Kirkland

Sean, thanks for taking the time to sit down with us and answer a few questions. Can you tell us your full name, where your from and what type of artist you consider yourself? My name is Sean Kirkland, I hail from Indio, California. I have moved around a lot during my life but consider Long Beach the city that has had the most influence on work ethic. Long Beach is an incredibly diverse city that has left an impact on the outcome of my work.

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O N L Y

W A Y

T O

It has taken me a long time to consider myself an artist, to put myself in a category is difficult, but I would have to consider myself surreal improv. I start a piece with an idea in mind without knowing where it will end up. It’s all very personal to me. I love history and how it impacts our culture in the present. I think most humble artists in general do find that moment where calling themselves an artists is strange and awkward. I guess when

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someone is referring to you as an artist in an interview like this maybe it helps a bit to overcome, at least I hope. Haha. At what age did you notice you loved art or drawing? And being history is such a theme in your work at what age did you realize you like studying history? Was it purposeful to combine these two passions? History and Art? Growing up My mother was huge on pushing the importance of..

history on me and my sisters. So it’s always been a part of my life. My mother wanted to practice the arts but wasn’t allowed to by her mother. She really pushed art history on to us. So I’ve always been a fan of art history and that lead me to my fascination iother historical subjects on my own. I’ve always loved history, it’s important. I never picked up a paint brush until I was in school at Arizona State University, I went to school to study

history, but all my friends out there were artists. So I picked it up from them. I drifted away from teaching history once I picked up a paint brush, I thought what better way to get my thoughts and ideas about history across than using my imagination. Thanks mom, for pushing you to follow your passions, I must say. How do you feel you have progressed as an artist from college until now? Do you see change in the content of your work and or your skills as a painter since college? In college I didn’t study painting or take art classes, it was mostly working with friends who were actual art students. I found my passion though them. Especially Jim McLernon. As an artists it’s the cliche thing to say that you are you own worst critic, which is true. I’m constantly criticizing my own work, I

fear and I said to myself Fahgetaboutit! I think it’s important for other artists to have work they show for everyone to enjoy and work they want to keep to themselves. When I work on a series I work on multiple pieces at a time, not just one and done. I work on about 5 paintings I rotate, let dry, and marinate to come back to with a fresh mind. I like the idea of working on a handful of pieces at once too. Im an abstract artists myself and I find if I start a piece one day and come back to it the next and i'm in a completely different mood I might ruin my piece if i force it, so i'll move on to the next one. Is this a similar idea that you have when you're working on a series? Also you said you a paint a lot, do you live in your workspace? Awesome! I’ve always admired abstract artists. It is a different state of mind to paint abstract. I have a few pieces I keep to myself that are abstract, it’s a difficult way to paint. Would love to see your work. But yes, mood swings are definitely a factor in my work, one minute I’m in the mood to paint a bird and another I’m in the mood to paint a human and the next day I’m in the mood to paint abstract. If I’m working on a piece and it gets to the point where the paint isn’t doing what I want it to do I’ll take a step back and work on something else. I try to paint everyday, if I’m not painting i'm thinking of what I want to paint next or studying photos of my work to see how I can twist it and make it work the way I want it to work. My workspace is at home, I’ve often had a fantasy of having an offsite studio space but I honestly don’t think I would get anything finished if I did. I prefer to have a live in studio, that way I can see the stuff in working on and keep it on my mind and trick myself in to seeing it with a fresh eye.

SURREAL IMPROV

think it pushes me to paint more and make myself better. There is always someone better and always someone you will hate and admire at the same time. I have definitely seen my work change over the years, but that is because I’ve worked around artists better than myself. I watched and learned their technique and applied to my own work. I’ve learned that the only way to progress is to keep painting, I try to paint every day if I can. It’s all a personal journey, I think my work progressed once I stopped comparing myself to other artists. I thinks that's a common struggle to overcome. "Comparing yourself or the work to other artists." Some artists never overcome this and find themselves never really releasing as much of their work as they could. Do you find yourself going through times where you don't show some of your work because you think it's not perfected enough, or are you pretty open to sharing your work? I have work I paint for myself to keep that for myself. I think most artists have that. It’s like my own personal collection of my work that I enjoy having around. I used to feel nervous and uncomfortable showing my work to the outside world, but I have overcome that

I agree, something about being able to wake up and see all your unfinished paintings is inspiring in a way. To touch a little on social media, I wanted to ask how you approach your time, do you find it hard to remember to record yourself painting sometimes or taking those progress shots to share on social media? I kinda feel every artists is also a professional marketer, at least the artists that are getting found. How do you approach the marketing of your art and social media in general? I think the times we live in require a little bit of social media for exposure. I try to run my Instagram as a website only because I’m too lazy to maintain a website. Ha. I’ve found that people actually enjoy watching the progress of my work, which is flattering and humbling. It’s exhausting and difficult at times to keep up with posting things but I’ve found the more I post the more I get Commission’s and make sales. So it works and keeps my addiction of painting afloat. I try to keep my Instagram as clean as possible and up to date. I want to be a relevant artist and social media has been able to keep me exposed to people I’ve never met and has also created connections I otherwise wouldn’t have had. I think that's great advice for those artists considering starting to share their work on social media. It also gives you a bit of pressure or accountability to keep up with your work and keep producing new stuff. Some of your latest stuff on instagram is great. Can you tell us a little about what your'e currently working on? Yeah, so I’ve been working on a series with birds in urban environments. Environments that I find beautiful, graffiti and gritty. In short, it deals with gentrification and people being forced out of the places they call home.

The series is called “The flight of the Conquered” I'm also working on a mini series titled “Exodusters” which comments on black cowboys from the American West.

sean kirkland

SURREAL IMPROV Instagram

@seanderojo

ARTWALK MAGAZINE

Ok ya, I can see both of those themes in your latest work. Some of those birds are super rad! I like that it has that graffiti or street art feel as well. Some of your work almost reminds me of that style Jose Parla has where he purposely makes his paintings look like it was a wall on the street. Do you have a background in street art at all or is it just a style that has incorporated itself into your work? I grew up a knucklehead writer putting up crap tags that seemed more abstract than anything. I've never had a strong hand in it, but it was more and still is the thrill of writing something where it doesn’t belong. I’ve been heavily influenced by the work of Basquiat and I feel my work reflects on his. There is also something in creating a piece that is not permanent and can be covered at anytime. Makes it more profound in my eye knowing that something doesn’t last forever.

Well, I really appreciate you taking some time to share with Long Beach ArtWalk and ArtWalk Magazine. If someone wanted to reach out to you regarding your work where they can find you? Yeah of course, I hope all I said was clear and informative. Ha. But anyone can reach me on Instagram via @SeanDeRojo and they can feel free

to slide in my DM and say what’s up. I’m always open to talk about my work or just chat with people and meet them. I currently have a series of my work “The flight of the Conquered” on display at Unlisted in Santa Ana indefinitely. You can find Unlisted on Instagram @shopUnlisted Perfecto! Thanks again Sean. Keep up the good work and we will catch up with you again in a future ArtWalk Magazine and see where your work has taken you.

Kevin LeDuff

Emerson Millsap @MRSNstencils

Sarabjit Singh Alejandra Lopez

David Weed @consumerdevices www.LongBeachArtWalk.com | 14

Zzanduza Zazz

Art Hernandez | @unknown_visualist

Jeremy Woodard

Andrew Taylor

Kat Oldershaw | @katttmandooo www.LongBeachArtWalk.com | 15

Allen Blair III

Kaoru Shibuta

Miggie Wong Natasha Patel -

Evie Zimmer

Tabitha Recek

Toria Maldonado | @toughandtender Courtney Moreno @cmo.___ Pengzhi Zhao Precious Scott Kat Atomic Carlos Lorenzana

Mureen Brown | @mureenbrownart Chelsea Kuehl

Autumn McComas

Cambria Ullom Andrew Tran

Alvaro Segura

I come from the World of Visual Effects. I have been an artist in movies like The Lion King 2019, Terminator, Antman, Pirates of the caribbean and many others. This has helped me to understand shapes and light, but in my paintings the interpretation is quite Fauvist. My Painting is an energy to drain with strokes. I grew up reading the symbolist Poets and essayists like Artaud, Baudelaire, Rimbaud, Verlaine. Writers who marked my adolescence with their interpretation of the world. They turned into images in my mind. but as a lot of painters, I'm curious about the human body, and especially the female body. For me the female body is quite indecipherable. From the energetic and spiritual point of view, her presence is never quotidian. In History, They have been judged and subdued for their magical and spiritual beauty; persecuted when showing an ankle in a medieval Middle Eastern religion. But it has also been deified. Mermaids and nymphs are born from women. It is such a strong spiritual entity that it requires evolution to understand it.

- Segura

@art_alsegura

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Nicolas Cooney @TendaiDesigns

Melisse Pinto @melissepinto

Dongpu Ling | @xestax Devin DePamphilis

Adrian Trevizo | @atrevi_art

Julia Gil | @juliagil.juliagil

- Savannah Domingue

Evan Young

Anne Sturgeon @peachpitkid

Rick Perez | goodtimerick.com

Zena-Marie Lopez | @ZmlArtforEveryone

Ketzie Diaz | @ketzie.prints

Missy Arellano | @miss.collage.mom

Kaylan Billings

Michelle Reed

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Kayla Kennedy | @kaylajean.inspired

Sam Rashba

Samantha Valenzuela @urlocalbrujascraft_

Heather Lemmon | @heatherlemmon Alixandra Gallegos

@portaleyedesigns

Shawni M. Young Carmel Katumba @thezonkygirl Marleena "Moofasa” Higgins

Eda Atay | @gazelleartstudio Paul Papanek @paulpapphoto

regina park marz pacheco @itsreginapark

@marz.pacheco

mark j. rebennack PAINTER

" I C A L L T H E M M I N I M A L I S T A C T I O N P A I N T I N G S B E C A U S E T H E Y R E A L L Y A R E J U S T A S I N G L E S W I P E O F P A I N T "

an artists or designers, but I wanted to get involved in a different art form. The lure of this is what brought me to L.A. For about a year or so I bounced around between different medium-sized production companies and eventually landed at the Disney Channel as a Production Assistant. Most of my time in that business consisted of spending 10 hours a day in my car learning the shortcuts and back-streets from the Valley to Culver City, my Thomas Guide always in my lap. Obviously this type of work didn't allow me to use my art background or talents in any way, but I did learn a lot about the different LA neighborhoods, talk radio and where every Jamba Juice was on the Westside. A friend that I had at the time had just gotten promoted to a Writer's Assistant position (and went on to a nice little stint as a sitcom writer) and he and I were working on some writing projects. Unfortunately, these never made it very far but it was a super fun exercise and a Sounds like your background in different use of creativity. Just as I was education and career has always next in line for a promotion into the Art involved art. What type of work did you do in the film industry? Were you Department the show went on hiatus and able to use your creativity in that roll? I ended up leaving to walk dogs full time. It was around this time that I started to After art school I felt like I needed a look into getting into a career in break from the visual arts. Most of my Also, having more time on my friends moved to NYC to try to make it as education. hands, I was able to start painting again. Welcome Mark, Thanks for sitting down with us today, let's get this thing started. Can you please tell me a little bit of the basics? My name is Mark Rebennack. I'm 43 years old and originally from the Midwest: Cincinnati Ohio, but I've been living in Long Beach for about 20 years. I received my BFA in Drawing and Painting from the University of Cincinnati and then moved out here to pursue a career in the film and television industry. After working for several film companies and then for a popular (at the time) show on the Disney Channel (Even Stevens), I changed my focus to education. I earned a Master's in Special Education from CSULB and have been teaching the Art class at a school for students with significant developmental disabilities for the past 16 years. I live on the East side of Long Beach with my wife, 3 kids, cat and dog.

Interesting, ya even being a PA in the industry is fun. Really get to see some of the backside of the industry and how it works. So as you got into doing more painting, did you right away know you had the talent or was it a gradual process of learning to paint and finding that you got better as time went on? How did your start to your painting get going? While I was in art school my primary focus was on painting. But being young and just stepping into this world there are so many incredible artists that influence you. That, coupled with the culture or subculture that you relate best to, I just sort of found myself gravitating toward a certain style. Of course I was learning about Art History, different movements and techniques as well as the basics of "how to draw" and "how to paint", but I was drawn to artists who sort of (on the surface) shucked all of that. These were artists like Basquiat, Phil Frost, Keith Haring and even Egon Schiele. I saw youth and energy in their work and was drawn to their styles, so naturally I would incorporate a lot of their techniques (drawing, brushstrokes, repetitive images) into my earliest work. The more I looked at artists and studied their techniques, the more I understood what I was really drawn to: the process.

Once I finally started creating art again, the process was my main focus (and very much still is). I tend to work in series. Focusing on an idea and building a body of work around that theme. My first series was all about those drawings that little boys would do in elementary school of army tanks, planes and wars. Crude little action drawings of a huge battle going on within one sheet of lined paper. I would stretch canvases or cut plywood to the dimensions of enlarged sheets of paper (up to about 5 feet by 4 feet) and paint them to look like paper (lined, college ruled, grid and legal yellow) using a straight edge and a razor blade to get the blue lines on just right. I'd then fill the paintings in with these tiny hand drawn graphite war machines. One piece has over 1100 hand drawn tiny tanks all lined up. I credit this series for "cracking the egg" and getting me back to creating and pushing my work in order to begin to uncover my thoughts, my creativity and my talents. How long will you work on a series of pieces before deciding it's time to move on to a new series. Can you tell me a little about what your current series of pieces stems from? I tend to work on a series until I feel like it has either run its course or I'm no longer inspired to focus on it. Some are fairly short lived and I think that's because once I start creating the work, it doesn't give me the desired effect on conveying my ideas as well as I had hoped. Or aesthetically I'm just not that into it.

Super interesting, I really like idea of one brush stroke equaling one breath. What type of materials are you using for your current work? Paint? Markers? Paper, Canvas? And now I'm interested to hear what a swipe painting is? Most of my work is ink on paper. I'm sort of a nerd about paper and pens. After trying out a ton of different pens, I've found the one that I like to use for these pieces. It works on raw paper as well as on my painted backgrounds. For the background colors I'll use either an ink wash, a lightly watered-down acrylic/ink mixture and most recently spray paint.

My Swipe paintings are a different minimalist take on my Exhale pieces. I call them Minimalist Action Paintings because they really are just a single swipe of paint (sometimes a swipe of contrasting colors) that match the action of one breath. I mix each color to the consistency that I like (to allow for some drips), pour it on a screenprinting squeegee and pull it across my paper in one rehearsed motion as I exhale. Ya I really like how these swipe paintings come out and that they take the same process in a way as your lined paintings, it really shows the different motion and action in each breathe. So, I think I saw you had an international show last year maybe? Have you had any recent shows? How has the covid lockdown effected your painting schedule and shows? Thanks. Yeah, I like how things tie in to each other and the connecting thread is an idea or a process. COVID had definitely turned the art world upside down and I think that it's affected a lot of artists differently. I was part of a show that opened in the UK right before everything started to shut down. It was my first international show so I was excited to be able to share my work with a wider audience, but unfortunately, the gallery had to close down mid show. The gallery owner moved the show to an online format, which was super cool of her, but seeing work online is so different than in person. I had a pretty busy Spring lined up here as well. A local Long Beach group show put on by ArtClout LB was canceled. I had also been asked and was accepted to participate in The Other Art Fair Los Angeles which is put on by Saatchi Art. This is a weekend art fair at the Barker Hanger in Santa Monica that typically draws over ten thousand viewers. I was looking forward to getting some local eyes on my work and maybe picking up some new local collectors. That fair

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was also moved online, but I was able to be featured and did an interview with the website. The fair helped me secure several sales and some contracts with hotel projects. I'll have a couple of prints of my work at the Viceroy in Santa Monica. Saatchi Art has been a great platform for me and has really helped me get through this pandemic so far. They've facilitated several sales for me from here in the US to as far away as India, the UK, France and New Zealand. I've also been pushing some unlisted pieces through my Instagram account and just trying to keep things moving while connecting with new people. Once the civil unrest sort of took center stage I was able to sell some work in order to donate the proceeds to organizations that I feel can help make the sustained and necessary changes that so many of us are advocating and fighting for. I'm still finding my way into the studio to make new work (although not as often as I'd like). With the Other Art Fair now rescheduled for November, I'm letting go of some of my larger pieces in order to make some new ones for the fair. I'm looking forward to seeing all the new work that comes out of a time like this.

Wow sounds like you really have put in a lot of effort into getting your work out there. Those shows all sound like a great way of doing it. It sounds like Saatchi art has been a great route for you getting your work sold. May I ask how you go about shipping some of your work when sold on Saatchi or even sending your international pieces out. I know a lot of artist haven't really dealt with this or have it as a looming obstacle in there future. What type of materials do you use for shipping? Any tips?

mark j. rebennack

PAINTER

Instagram

@markjrebennackart Website

saatchiart.com/mark jrebennack

I do put a lot of time into trying to share my work through venues where I think it will find the right audience. Saatchi is the perfect place for this for me. And they're incredible as far as handling international shipping. They have the process pretty streamlined so that once a piece sells, I confirm it and set up a pick-up date. I usually package my work rolled up neatly and safely in a shipping tube. A courier company picks up the package on the date I've scheduled and the rest is out of my hands. I've never had any trouble doing it this way. I've also shipped work internationally myself, and that hasn't always ended as nicely as I'd like (stuck in customs, gets there later than expected, etc.) so I always encourage my collectors overseas to go through Saatchi. They do get a percentage of the sale and they include shipping charges in the price of each piece, but it's definitely worth the financial sacrifice to not have the headache of shipping.

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That does sound pretty streamlined. I like that they send a courier to pick up the work. Well thanks so much for taking the time to chat with us and help us understand your process a little more. If someone wanted to contact you regarding creating a commission or have a question, where can they reach out to you best? Thanks for giving me the opportunity to share my work and my process. It's usually best to reach me via email at markrebennack@gmail.com. I don't list all of my work on my Saatchi page so if there's anything specific you're looking for, I may have it. I also do occasional commissions if I have the time and can get into the idea.

mister toledo pia cabanela @mister_toledo

@piacabanela

ENIZAGAM

ARTWALK

Liz Ovits | lizohphoto.com

www.LongBeachArtWalk.com | 29

May Roded | @may.roded

These works are from my Celestial Goddess Series. The sun, stars, and moon phases are represented by different women of color to show the beauty and strength that lies in diversity. I wanted to have each women represent a mother-like goddess who invoke a sense of protection and guidance through this chaotic world we live in today. - Lisa Hirata

lisa hirata @thecheekyasian

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lisa Largen @lisalargen

Grew up in Alaska, I moved to Southern California and haven't left since. Primarily living in Long Beach. I primarily use oil and acrylic paint for my art. I like to paint many different themed paintings from nature to comics. I am currently obsessed with the ocean. - Lisa

Ziba Safavian @zibasafavian

Surya Pinto

cover artist @artbysuri

Britnie Walston | bnwart.com

Eszter Csaki | @eszterpaints

Monica Sanchez

Nick Truhan Ivet Salvatierra

Steven Estrada

Paulina Dam | @river_dam

Tal Burke | @talburke

Alyse DeCavallas

Hailey Snow | @ArcticArts.Studio

tra_ttohcsyllek@ | ttohcS ylleK www.LongBeachArtWalk.com | 35

l o c a l l o n g b e a c h / L A P H O T O G R A P H E R S B Photography L Rachael @rachaelbphoto O Martin Johnson @martinrusselljohnson N Jose Diaz @pepe_vision G Hal Perry @halperry

B Santiago Cisneros @santiagocisneros_

E Michael Castro @mc_visuals_ A Justin Snyder @justinsnyderphoto C Andrew Guzman @hey_andrewg H James Mahkween @Photogenically_you

l o c a l

P H O T O G R A P H

Veronica Cruz @valexiusc

Ra'Von Simone Crawford Diego Becerra @ _diegobecerra

Hannele Lundy | hannelelundy.com Jay Park

Alfred Rosanes

Tyler Crosby

Keegan Mullin | @kmullin_art www.LongBeachArtWalk.com | 38

Ziyi Tan | ziyiart.weebly.com

Caroline Duffy @carolinegduffy

Yohanes Soubirius De Santo

Arnold Randall | @arnold.randall www.LongBeachArtWalk.com | 39

Hi Ronnie, thanks for taking some time to sit down with us and share thoughts on your latest projects here in Long Beach. So this summer as Covid 19 started to take its toll on our local Long Beach businesses and their display windows started Getting boarded up what were your thoughts on what was going on? Had you seen anything like this before? Regarding the art projects that we’ve curated during and as a response to the virus, the circumstances that the pieces were all created were unlike anything we had experienced before. It was a total upheaval of norms and daily routines and six months in, we are still navigating it on a project to project basis. This “new normal” still hasn’t felt completely normal- for better or worse. What has been an unchanging factor throughout is the community spirit in the city, not just artistically, but as a whole. It has been the silver lining. When businesses closed, artists got to help translate the resilience of businesses that have deep roots in their respective neighborhoods in a tangible and visual way. It wasn’t just beautifying spaces but using art as a common language to express that we are all in this together. It takes a village. We adapt and learn better together.

We are going to be sharing a collage of images you provided us of many of the artworks. Can you tell us the name of this collaborative effort and a little about the guidelines your artists had to follow in order to make this all work? Regarding the downtown mural project, we received a light set of concept themes from the funders that requested general themes of community and support. In the light of civil unrest though, we felt it would be a little tone deaf to not address the political and social climate that was unavoidable and extremely raw. We let artists use the space to voice their own views of the current climate and they appreciated the public display of what they, and their communities, were feeling. It was (and still is) a very complicated time. it felt good to use art as a way to let artists have a visual outlet navigate those feelings in a visceral way since pieces were being created along side larger political discourse and change.

DOWNTOWN My current seriesPROJECT (going into its 7th MURAL year) is more of a conceptual idea by Justin Snyder

that focuses on thePhotos breath.viaThis idea Ronnie stemmed from a time several years When country ago when I wassuddenly having a went lot of into protest this summer do you anxiety and frustration aboutfeel feeling theinspired cultural message to create newfrom workthat but point on notook over theon message of having direction what I wanted theto project still have focus on.orI did couldyouhardly sleep so I'd some justmydoing get upartists and ride bike paintings for 10 plus formiles the inlove painting so theofdark. I wouldandthennotcome much trying to voice there home and still feel unsettled so I opinion? would go out and run 10 miles (I'm a long distance runner anyway so this Some approach part artists is a littletook morea light normal) and still butfeelforthe thefrustration most part as theI sat majority in myof artists took an explicit political studio. Also at the time I was just stance. speak for everyone startingI can’t my meditation practice and butreading it seems like called the artist felt With a book Running obligated it wasThesuch a the Mindtoofbecause Meditation. author disruptive reactionary time. Itas a talks a lotandabout using running feltform rightof for the meditation, moment andbutto also not active address would be kind of careless really focuses on breathing. So especially the actual location betweensince my physical exertions, ofmeditation the projectand wasthis thebook, site ofI was civilsort unrest. of surrounded by this very simple idea of the breath. One day sitting in Downtown my studio,hadI hadliterally a longbeen piece of paper attacked and artists weretopainting and a pen and I decided see what with armedlook coast it would likeguards if I "drewpatrolling a breath". I thedid...and streetsthen theyI drew were another, painting.and It was an inherently political. another and I started to see this thing taking shape. Each line is one exhale. Each new line mimics the previous so that any imperfection in one line is sort of echoed in the following lines, hence the "waves". Over the course of this series I have seen my process evolve in a very natural and comforting way. I continue to push this idea in new directions, be it by adding different types of background colors and materials, pushing the size, and therefore my physical ability to breathe more deeply in order to draw longer lines or by taking the same concept and translating it into different types of work (my Swipe paintings).

What better way to get a message across than through art anyhow right. So I wanted to veer away from the project just for a moment and I have two questions that I for one am really interested in one of them and the other I think emerging artists reading this may find useful. For my first question, geared toward your mindset of someone who seems to really like to help pull people together and create community within artists. a) When did you first start realizing you had a skill with helping bring people together. Were you always this way or did an event get dropped on you once and from then on its been a part of who you are? I’m half Mexican half Guatemalan and culturally we are accustomed to gatherings that include art, food, and music (with a lot of dancing). So from a very young age I was taught that gatherings are a powerful tool to build community. My mom is a house keeper and I grew up around one of her clients who owned a sculpting school so I had the zest for art ever since then. Fast forward 20 something years and I was hosting/curating art and music events and it really opened up a bunch of doors for me, however I felt that the scene I was in was lacking something and I came to realize it was resources. That was when I realized I needed to tap into city orgs and non profits that already had already been working on what I was so passionate about but with the means and resources to achieve goals I had in mind. Through working within that structure I learned the value in working in and with teams. I think this would be a good time to mention that it was that initial structure that sparked plans of wanting to start a

nonprofit with a group of colleagues. It’s called Et Alia which means “and others” and is the ethos we strive for. There are three of us: Ashlee Orellano, Cré and myself. They’re way cooler than me but this is my perspective. Great answer, I am half hispanic myself so large family gatherings, loud late night music, dancing and pozole for the hangovers was always an important part of my life as well. b) the 2nd part of my question is from the individual artists perspective. So If you cant really remember details its fine, but I'd be super interested in hearing how you go about finding your artists to be a part of your collective or an event/project? Et Alia is nonprofit not a collective. We hope to use our resources to give artists opportunities but also to show the value in art since it is everywhere but often overlooked / undervalued.We go about finding artists by going into our our local art community. We hire creatives we’ve known for as long as we’ve been doing this and they’ve grown alongside us in their own talent. I think that’s important and a point of advice to artists: invest in your own communities because they will ultimately grow with you. Creating can seem like a solitary activity and it takes courage and vulnerability to share with others especially in the early stages but it’s worth finding people and communities because if you put time into them, they’ll put time into you. It’s the cycle that keeps all of this flourishing.

Great advice, I think you hit the nail on the head with your quote of "invest in your own communities because they will ultimately grow with you" Thanks for sharing with us on those questions, I'm wondering if you might be able to tell us what current or upcoming projects the non-profit currently is involved in? Currently we just wrapped up a project at The Goodwill SOLAC with Janet McCarthy that is the first of several projects we have planned at their headquarters which includes beautifying the classrooms of their many onsite trade programs and establishing an artist mural training space. Upcoming we have Sandbox which is a curated experience that is reflective of the current political climate and incorporates visual and culinary art. As much as we’d all love to do more events we’ve also being conscious of the virus so that one is an interesting one to navigate but its a challenge we welcome. There’s also collaborations with the MAYE center, spacetime, and community projects for MLK day.

Wow sounds like you guys have a full plate on your hands. And during covid, that's saying a lot. Well we definitely look forward to keeping an eye on these upcoming projects and I'm sure many others down the line that are yet to be dreamt. Maybe next time around well sit down with your partners and see how the rest of the covid 19 pandemic wraps up and how it affected you guys in the long run. Until we get to catch up again, thanks for taking the time to share with us today, and if artists or businesses wanted to donate to your non-profit and help supports the arts here in Long Beach through your projects where can they donate or get ahold of you? And if I'm a local long beach artist that's been looking to get involved with my art community how can I reach out to see if I can get involved?

My current series (going into its 7th year) is more of a conceptual idea that focuses on the breath. This idea stemmed from a time several years ago when I was having a lot of anxiety and frustration about feeling inspired to create new work but having no direction on what I wanted to focus on. I could hardly sleep so I'd get up and ride my bike for 10 plus miles in the dark. I would then come home and still feel unsettled so I would go out and run 10 miles (I'm a long distance runner anyway so this part is a little more normal) and still feel the frustration as I sat in my studio. Also at the time I was just starting my meditation practice and reading a book called Running With the Mind of Meditation. The author talks a lot about using running as a form of active meditation, but also really focuses on breathing. So between my physical exertions, meditation and this book, I was sort of surrounded by this very simple For both of those questions I’d idea of the breath. One day sitting in have them reach out to our email my studio, I had a long piece of paper etaliaproductions@gmail.com and a pen and I decided to see what it would look like if I "drew a breath". I did...and then I drew another, and another and I started to see this thing taking shape. Each line is one Continuation with Michelle Molina exhale. Each new line mimics the Paying the artists and curator a decent stipend previous so that any imperfection in was paramount in this project. They are a vital one line is sort of echoed in the part of our economy and some of the first to following lines, hence the "waves". suffer when money is scarce. Art has such a powerful ROI (return on investment), it is just Over the course of this series I have difficult to measure. The funders on this seen my process evolve in a very project understand that power. natural and comforting way. I The first $10k came from a couple anonymous continue to push this idea in new directions, be it by adding different downtown business owners. The second types of background colors and donation, $20k came through the DLBA materials, pushing the size, and (Downtown Long Beach Business Alliance) therefore my physical ability to directly from the City of Long Beach City breathe more deeply in order to draw Manager’s Office. Our office coordinated longer lines or by taking the same everything with the funding and payments to and translating it into everyone. That allowed everyone to begin ichelle Molinnga Beach Busineconcept M an om w ss different types of work (my Swipe promptly (some started the morning after the Downtown Lo paintings). looting) Most importantly, the funding Made/Elinorillworks expresses the support for the employment of @madebym local artists during a time of crisis. @elinordrinkery

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