Whose City? Public Art, Power, and Representation in Urban Landscape Blog 2

Phase 1: The Site      The reason I chose this site was because I visit little Tokyo at least once a week on my days off from work, whether I go by myself or with my brother and cousins. If you ever when to little Tokyo in LA you always notice the public art work that surrounds little Tokyo, which compose of murals, statue with plaques and the close you get to it you could read the plaque, interaction art with a rubric cubes, and also the design of the building looking like ancient Japanese villages and it makes you feel back in time if you were in Japan. When I visit I don't really pay attention of the art surrounding little Tokyo because I have a different goal when I visit, which is to go shopping. Since the announce of this project I already knew I was going to talk about the art that surrounds little Tokyo and take my time to check them out instead of walking pass by them and not giving them a second thought.  Phase 2: Field Work  "Space Shuttle Challenger ...

 Step 1 For the site I am choosing Monrovia, the city I grew up in and I am from. The artwork that I will be discussing are called public treasures. The site is important to me because it is my home where I grew up and where I live. I have never lived anywhere but here.  Step 2 1. The works I am selecting are the many bears that are placed and decorated by local artists all throughout the city. They have different makers but all have similar themes and the names are simply “Samson Bear,” with a different way it’s painted. I will list the bears photos and then the makers in step 2. 2.  There are other as well, but these are ones I chose. Traci Loving is the artist behind the Rotary Samson bear in rotary park and many others including the Samson map bear on  415 South Ivy Avenue. Samson is always the name of the bear because it has a somewhat famous past in Monrovia. It was relocated and this caused some drama in the community. The bears are mostly concentrated on Myrt...

  Growing up in Boyle Heights, I experienced public art every day. The murals throughout the neighborhood are more than colorful paintings; they tell stories about the community's history, culture, and values. I often walked or drove past these murals without realizing how much they represented the people who live there. After learning about civic engagement and public art in class, I began paying closer attention to how these murals preserve Boyle Heights' identity and why protecting them is important. PHASE 1: THE SITE I selected Boyle Heights because it is the neighborhood where I lived and spent much of my time growing up. Seeing the murals daily made them feel like a normal part of the environment, but this project helped me recognize their cultural and historical significance. Boyle Heights has a long tradition of public art that reflects the experiences of Mexican American and Latino communities. Many murals celebrate immigration, family, cultural pride, music, social ju...