A 40-foot spire of telescoping steel and bronze ascends into the sky and announces the entry to this station. Prominently appearing on the tower collar is the number 42, which commuters and sports fans alike will recognize in conjunction with the gold baseball as references to Jackie Robinson, a long-time Pasadena resident and the first African American to break the “color line” in professional baseball.
Frida Cano (E Line) is inspired by a local artist, writer and curator who brings the social issues of our times to light.
Overlooking the main entry lobby to the Metro facility, the brightly hued artwork comments upon the San Gabriel Valley.
For this artwork, Michele Asselin has created luminous portraits of an urban planner, mechanic, bus operator, rail security officer and other professions. The artist found inspiration in the personal and professional stories that drew her subjects to Metro.
For “Former Location/Contemporary Portrait” at Valley College Station, photographer Laura London Recreated black and white contemporary portraits on porcelain enamel steel feature nearby historic locations of rock ‘n’ roll history and reference the styles and fashions of the times.
In For Your Intellectual Entertainment, a thirty foot wire-mesh hand is poised to launch, with the help of a slingshot, a giant “paper” airplane off one end of the platform.
“The valuable services provided by essential workers and the power of arts and culture are heightened during challenging times.”
Field of Poppies by Christie Beniston integrates a lace-like pattern of poppies into a 96-foot section of the steel mesh perimeter fence at Metro’s operations and maintenance facility in Monrovia.
Project Description Romero’s Festival of Masks Parade is a sixty-foot curved mural located at the west end of the Wilshire/Normandie Station. This colorful and festive mural depicts the annual parade of masks held along Wilshire Boulevard each fall. Many characters in full regalia stroll along the Boulevard including a Chinese dragon, people in African masks, a Native American eagle dancer, a Korean traditional dancer, a group from a Brazilian carnival, a giant calavera puppet, a marching band and bagpipe player, and the scarecrow from The Wizard of Oz. A bright red convertible leads the parade. In the mural’s background one can see a sampling of local architecture: the Craft and Folk Art Museum, an art deco camera store, the Brown Derby, the El Rey Theatre, Bullock’s Wilshire and the May Co. Building. The whole scene is framed by a sky that goes from night to day, with a bright moon and tall slender palm trees. Artist Statement “I selected this theme because the parade is a popular event which celebrates the rich multi-ethnic cultural traditions of Southern California …
Abstract art utilizes a visual language of shape, color, and line to depict a composition devoid of recognizable things from nature.
Jim Isermann’s Failed Ideals is composed of six stained-glass windows installed into the portholes of the station pylons.
To mark the historic opening of the first phase of the Expo Line, now E Line (Expo), and to welcome new transit riders to the neighborhood, Metro celebrated the many contributions of the South Los Angeles community and its rich ethnic diversity in a series of light pole banners installed along Crenshaw Blvd. between Exposition and Vernon.
Artist Pat Ward Williams used people in transit as the subject for her artwork “Everyday People” at the Lake Avenue Station.
Patrick Nagatani’s collage mural addresses the idea of transportation from an individual to a global perspective. Over 500 postcards of transit images from 1900-1995 together form a view of the edge of the earth seen from space.
A constant observer of city life, Ronald Llanos presents snapshot sketches of everyday activities in this artwork for Expo/Western Station.
Gonzalez’s imagery illustrates the history of the Ballona Creek and the local area’s deep history, with references to Tongva homes and villages, the Mission and Californio periods as well as the film industry.
Project Description Travelers, encountered by the artist at Union Station, are captured in hyper real lighting and transformed into everyday icons in a celebration of mundane moments that would otherwise be overlooked. Artist Statement “I’m interested in exploring the character of historically significant sites by shooting a series of environmental portraits of the people who live and work in those locales. Union Station is the beating heart of the vast urban physiology of Los Angeles and its commuters and travelers are a microcosm of the surrounding city and county.” About the Artist SAM COMEN is a documentary photographer and has received Forward Thinking Museum and Santa Fe Center for Photography Project Launch grants and a Communication Arts Photography Annual Award. He has exhibited his work nationally in solo and group shows. Display year: 2014 – 2015 Locations: No longer on display
Echoing the vibrant color scheme which dominates the Westlake/MacArthur Station, intense blues, reds, and yellows are woven together in two ceramic tile murals which enrich the mezzanine end walls.
Roberto Delgado considered the station’s surrounding communities of Cypress Park, Montecito Heights, Lincoln Heights, and Highland Park and was impressed by the vitality of the people’s Mexican culture.
Inspired by the famous Mexican song from yesteryear, El Niño Perdido Alejandro de la Loza sculpted a bronze statue of a mother and child which hangs over the entrance Mariachi Plaza Station.
This artwork focuses on the musicians who played at the stadium and the promoters (radio deejays and TV personalities) who organized and hosted these events.
Mendoza designed colorful and dynamic ceramic work as the finish of the columns on the lower level of Firestone Station where passengers make bus/rail connections.
At the corner of Cesar E. Chavez Avenue and Vignes Street, Christine Ulke’s artwork for the exterior of the Division 13 Bus Maintenance and Operations Facility in downtown Los Angeles commemorates an iconic sycamore tree that stood for approximately 400 years three blocks south of the building site.
Artist Michael Davis inlaid the Sunset/Vermont Station floor and walls with granite patterns of celestial orbits and metal etched with spheres containing medical symbols and microscopic images of life forms, a reference to the iconography that is commonly shared by astronomy and medicine.
Honoring the selfless community service of the many individuals in our periphery, Ebony depicts daily Metro-rider Ebony Wilson, who is LAUSD’s hearing secretary and the admission director of a scholarship program for urban youth.
