Ballona Creek Mural Restoration Underway
Back in 1997 when artists Francois Bardol, Lucy Blake-Elahi, and Lori Escalera (together with Culver City Middle School students) painted the mural “Postcards from Ballona” just west of Overland Avenue along the entrance of the Ballona Creek Bikeway behind the Julian Dixon County Library branch, the wonderful work of art was intended as a beautification project that featured a film strip and postcards depicting images of Culver City’s landscape, film studio history, Ballona Creek wildlife, and local vegetation. An unintended consequence was the magnetic draw it had on taggers who defaced it practically to oblivion over the years.
Biking by this morning I was at first saddened to see the entire eyesore painted out, only to be pleasantly surprised to see the scene above: a start-from-scratch project undertaken by Escalera together with community volunteers working to return the magnificent mural back to its original pristine state.
Work, which began yesterday, is scheduled to be completed Wednesday, with one of the goals being to increase public awareness in hopes of better protecting the mural from future damage.
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That is so cool! Can’t wait to see the rest of the progress.
There is an anti-graffiti coat that they can put over the finished mural. Also (disclaimer: I install security cameras) camera survellance can be installed to help nab would be graffitist and defilers of "art".
BTW that looks like a cool bikepath with all the shade trees.
philpalm, I asked one of the people working on it if the plan was to clearcoat it and they said yes. Since the bikeway doesn’t even have lights I’m pretty sure cameras aren’t part of the plan.
As to the coolness of the Ballona Creek path, I love it, but don’t let that stretch of shadiness fool you; it’s pretty out-in-the-wide-open.
[...] serving U.S. cyclists with Made in the U.S.A. products. Will observes the restoration of the graffiti-scared Ballona Creek Mural. Stephen Box attends a statewide safety summit hosted by the California Office of Traffic Safety, [...]
[...] up on my Monday post about discovering work commencing on the restoration of the “Postcards of Ballona” [...]