Putting community connection and support on display, Murals of La Jolla celebrated another year of public art with a “Parking Lot Party” Sept 27.
Murals of La Jolla is a project of the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library originally initiated by the La Jolla Community Foundation in 2010, commissioning large-scale art for public spaces around La Jolla.
The latest event gathered eight of the program’s mural artists and dozens of advisory committee members, donors, and other supporters underneath the latest installation of Rex Southwick’s “The Scripps Gill Loggia” at 7905 Herschel Ave.
Murals of La Jolla’s Executive Director Lynda Forsha thanked attendees for continuing the program, support for which “has been nothing short of extraordinary.”
Public art “is a powerful and transformative force that has the capacity to shape the identity of a community, foster cultural enrichment, and promote social connections,” Forsha said.
“The Scripps Gill Loggia” has a particular connection to La Jolla, depicting an image of early La Jolla benefactress Ellen Browning Scripps’ home, South Molton Villa, designed in 1916 by architect Irving Gill and now home to the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego.
London-based Southwick, who visited La Jolla while undertaking a residency at the Palm Springs Museum of Art, said his time in La Jolla made it apparent that his mural should “be tied to La Jolla… because it’s a very interesting place.”
After spending time among the La Jolla Historical Society’s archives, Southwick became intrigued by the relationship between Gill and Scripps, as many buildings in the area commissioned by Scripps were designed by Gill.
“I love architecture because it’s contextual,” Southwick said. “It’s to do with where things are built and how you involve yourself in that space.”
Southwick’s paintings often juxtapose ideas of class and labor, he said, within the framework of his appreciation for architecture.
Analyzing how American houses are built led Southwick to wonder who lives in, operates, and works in them, he said. “There’s a lot of maintenance going on here. … I liked the dialogue of how people respond to buildings when they own it [and] when they don’t.”
During his exploration, Southwick dug “into class and status and why we build what we build in the pursuit of modernism.”
Public art like the murals “often challenges norms and encourages viewers to think differently,” Forsha said. “It can inspire creativity, provoke thought, and stimulate discussions. Public art enriches our lives.”
All of Mural of La Jolla’s pieces – which now total 45 murals with 17 on display, as works are hung for two to four years – are privately funded and installed on private property.
“This secret formula allows us to move with remarkable agility,” Forsha said. “Our innovative approach to public art makes Murals of La Jolla truly unique.”
