Art

La Ballona Elementary School adds mosaic

WAVE NEWSPAPERS — The mosaic was installed in early February on La Ballona’s exterior wall.

Published

6 years ago

February 27, 2019

By Wave Staff Report

CULVER CITY — If you’ve driven down Washington Boulevard in the past week, you may have noticed another La Ballona Creek. This one isn’t rushing with rainwater, but rather gushing with broken tiles, mortar and grout.

Earlier this school year, La Ballona Elementary School set out to create, well, La Ballona – in mosaic tiles.

“We have such a vibrant community,” said La Ballona parent volunteer Ajae Clearway. “The blank brick wall in front of our school just wasn’t representing us.”

So, the parents decided to use that brick wall as a canvas for something that beautified not only the school, but was an eye-catching piece of art that passers-by could enjoy as well.

“We wanted to go with the theme of Ballona Creek, movement and water,” Clearway said. They enlisted the help of local mosaic artist and art therapist, Tabitha Fronk, who is a personal friend of some La Ballona parents.

Fronk is a resident artist at Westminster Elementary School in Venice. She made the project possible by initiating a collaboration with Westminster, which houses an art studio that can safely handle the dust and debris of mosaic-making. Then, Fronka reached out to Gonzalo Duran of The Mosaic Tile House in Venice to create the initial design based on La Ballona’s flowing water concept.

Once the design was created, La Ballona needed the materials to turn its artistic vision into an artistic reality. Clearway posted a request for tile donations online. Within a week, the Culver City community rallied and provided enough tiles for the entire mural. Tile donations came from school projects, residential neighbors and businesses.

“The great thing about making mosaics is that we can use donated tiles — ones that are left over from projects, or flawed in some way,” Clearway said. “If the pieces are already broken, that’s even better.”

The school also received a Parks Enhancement Program Grant from the Culver City Parks and Recreation Department to cover additional materials such as mortar and grout.

The school drew on La Ballona PTA’s Ruth E. Ewing Fund for the Arts to cover its remaining costs.

Fronk and Westminster Elementary School Principal Barry Cohen allowed La Ballona families to come into Westminster’s studio and build the mosaic over three weekends. Everyone at La Ballona was invited to participate.

“More than a dozen families went over three weekends to break tile, arrange tile, glue, grout and clean,” Clearway said. “The kids thoroughly enjoyed breaking the tile and using a toothbrush to clean the grout at the end. The adults got into the arranging of the tile, much like building a puzzle. We even had a Culver City High School student volunteer.”

“We are excited about this partnership with Westminster,” said La Ballona PTA President Marti Paez. “We are so grateful for their generosity and for trusting our community with their space. We are also immensely grateful to Tabitha, whose advocacy for children is a true passion.”

The mosaic was installed in early February on La Ballona’s exterior wall facing Washington Boulevard. Paez added.

“This entire project from start to finish has been such a hit that we are planning to continue next year and add more mosaic beauty to the front of the school.”

This article originally appeared in the Wave Newspapers.

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Griot Theater Company Presents August Wilson’s Work at Annual Oratorical Featuring Black Authors

The performance explores the legacy of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson whose 10-play Century Cycle chronicles the African American experience across the 20th century, with each play set in a different decade. “Half a Century” journeys through the final five plays of this monumental cycle, bringing Wilson’s richly woven stories to life in a way that celebrates history, resilience, and the human spirit.

Published

4 months ago

February 17, 2025

Oakland Post

Late playwright August Wilson. Wikipedia photo.

By Godfrey Lee

Griot Theater Company will present their Fifth Annual Oratorical with August Wilson’s “Half a Century,” at the Belrose on 1415 Fifth Ave., in San Rafael near the San Rafael Public Library.

The performance explores the legacy of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson whose 10-play Century Cycle chronicles the African American experience across the 20^th century, with each play set in a different decade. “Half a Century” journeys through the final five plays of this monumental cycle, bringing Wilson’s richly woven stories to life in a way that celebrates history, resilience, and the human spirit.

Previous performance highlighting essential Black American authors included Maya Angelou, James Baldwin, and Lorraine Hansberry with Langston Hughes.

The play will be performed at 3:00. p.m. on Feb. 20, 21, 22, 27, and 28 at 7:00 p.m., and on Feb. 23 at 3:00 p.m.

For more information, go to griottheatercompany.squarespace.com/productions-v2

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Activism

MLK Day of Service Volunteers Make Blankets and Art for Locals in Need

“Everyone has an opportunity to participate,” said Glenda Roberts, kinship support care program manager at CCYSB. “Our nonprofit organization and participants recognize how important it is to give back to the community and this is serving. As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stated, ‘Everybody can be great…because anybody can serve.’”

Published

5 months ago

January 18, 2025

Oakland Post

Photo courtesy of the nonprofit.

By Kathy Chouteau
The Richmond Standard

The Contra Costa Youth Service Bureau (CCYSB) and Bethlehem Missionary Baptist Church (BMBC) are collaborating with a team of volunteers for a Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service, Monday, Jan. 20 that will wrap the community’s most vulnerable people in warm blankets and provide them with an uplifting gift of art.

Volunteers will kick off their activities at BMBC at 11 a.m., making blankets for the unhoused people served by the Greater Richmond Interfaith Program (GRIP) and art for those in convalescence in Richmond.

Others will get to work preparing a lunch of chili, salad, a veggie tray, and water for participants, offered courtesy of CCYSB, while supplies last.

“People of all ages are welcome to participate in the MLK Day of Service,” said Roberts. Volunteers can RSVP via phone to Glenda Roberts at 510-215-4670, ext. 125.

CCYSB Boardmember Jackie Marston and her friends donated the materials and supplies to make the blankets and art projects. The nonprofit is also providing the day’s complimentary lunch, as well as employees to volunteer, under the direction of CCYSB Executive Director Marena Brown.

BMBC, led by Rev. Dr. Carole McKindley-Alvarez, is providing the facility for the event and volunteers from the church, which is located at 684 Juliga Woods St. in Richmond.

Located in Richmond, CCYSB is a nonprofit youth advocacy organization that serves eligible children, youth, and low-income families with a variety of wraparound services so they can thrive. Programs include academic achievement, youth mentorship, truancy prevention and direct response.

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Art

Vandalism at Richmond Ferry Terminal Saddens Residents

Residents have been lamenting the destruction online. Ellen Seskin posted photos of the vandalism to the Facebook group, Everybody’s Richmond, on Jan. 12, saying she encountered it while out on a walk. “It was on the sidewalk, the street, the doors to the ferry, even in the art installation and the ‘stone’ benches,” she said. “I reported it but knowing how slow they are about getting things done — I just know that the longer you leave graffiti, the more likely they are to spray it again.”

Published

5 months ago

January 18, 2025

Oakland Post

Graffiti mars the walkway at the Richmond Ferry Terminal. Photo by Kathy Chouteau, The Richmond Standard.

The Richmond Standard

“This is why we can’t have nice things,” stated the post on NextDoor.

The post referenced images of graffiti at the Richmond Ferry Terminal. Not just on the terminal, but also on public artwork, on trail signs, on public benches and the boardwalk.

On Wednesday, the Standard stopped by to see it for ourselves. The good news was that it appears the graffiti on the terminal and on the artwork, called Changing Tide, have been cleaned for the most part. But graffiti remained abundant in the area around the relatively new ferry terminal, which opened to the public just six years ago.

Graffiti artists tagged benches and the boardwalk. Cars that had done doughnuts in the street marked the cul-de-sac just outside the historic Craneway Pavilion.

A ferry worker told us the graffiti had been there since before he started working for the ferry service about a week ago.

A member of the Army Corps of Engineers who did not want to be named in this report called the scene “sad,” as “they’d done such a nice job fixing it up.”

“It’s sad that all this money has been spent and hoodlums just don’t care and are destroying stuff,” he said.

It wasn’t immediately clear how soon the graffiti would be removed. The Standard reported the graffiti to the city’s graffiti abatement hotline. We were prompted to leave a message reporting the address and location of the graffiti.

“It was on the sidewalk, the street, the doors to the ferry, even in the art installation and the ‘stone’ benches,” she said. “I reported it but knowing how slow they are about getting things done — I just know that the longer you leave graffiti, the more likely they are to spray it again.”

In the comment section responding to Seskin’s post, local attorney Daniel Butt questioned why there aren’t cameras in the area.

On Nextdoor, one resident suggested searching to see if the tags match any accounts on Instagram, hoping to identify the perpetrator.

On its website, the City of Richmond says residents should graffiti immediately call Public Works graffiti removal and/or Code Enforcement at 510-965-4905.

Kathy Chouteau contributed to this report.