Artist Samm Kunce’s artwork explores ideas gathered from science and literature. The celebration of inherent beauty of natural materials is a recurrent theme in her work. Kunce’s tile mural at the 1st and Hill St. entrance to the Civic Center station runs the length of the curved planter bed wall.
This selection of photographs, titled In the Ether (2015) documents the flora from two local sites: Crown Coach Yard, a 40-acre industrial brownfield in downtown Los Angeles, and the canyons around the artist’s home in Glassell Park using a century-old field camera and an early photographic process called wet plate.
Throughout the 13.7 mile Metro L Line (Gold) route, artist Beth Thielen strategically embossed images she created onto the concrete retaining walls, overpasses, and sound walls along the journey from Union Station to the Sierra Madre Villa Station.
Project Description John Divola designed terrazzo paving areas and porcelain enamel steel panels for station platforms. The design elements for this station involve images of dogs chasing cars. The terrazzo ellipses are dog run sequences and the enamel panels are individual dogs frozen in motion. Artist Statement “I hope to bring a sense of dynamic movement while providing a simple iconic identity for the station.” About the Artist JOHN DIVOLA has a Bachelor of Arts from California State University, Northridge and a Master of Fine Arts from the University of California, Los Angeles. He has taught photography and art at numerous institutions including California Institute of the Arts, and currently teaches as Professor of Art at the University of California, Riverside. Divola’s work has been featured in more than fifty solo exhibitions in the United States, Japan, Europe, Mexico, and Australia. Among Divola’s Awards are Individual Artist Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship, a Fintridge Foundation Fellowship, a City of Los Angeles Artist Grant and a California Arts …
The stylized treatment of forms and figures are inspired by Mexican and Chinese cut paper folk art traditions and Japanese woodblock prints, which were meant to honor farm workers.
Project Description In 2001, artist Eileen Cowin inaugurated the program with a series of photographs titled, I see what you’re saying (train of thought). These black and white, larger than life, close-up images of eyes and mouths felt separated from their overall context of a continuing narrative. “Eyes” view, witness, notice, watch and spy while “mouths” talk, pout, utter, and express. In viewing these photographs, we were reminded of our habit of looking at others and reading stories into what we see. As we wait, travel, stand or sit, we daydream and those around us weave into our imagination. Artist Statement “The ‘gestures’ in these images are plainly seen, but remain ambiguous… These scenes ride the edge between the real and the unreal, between social commentary and personal fantasy.” About the Artist EILEEN COWIN is an artist who uses photography as a medium. She has been the chair of the Photography Department at California State University at Fullerton for many years. Her Bachelor of Science is from the State University of New York, New Paltz, and Master …
In a reflection of the universal motif of flight as spiritual journey, Jonathan Borofsky’s I Dreamed I Could Fly is an interpretation of the artist’s dreams of soaring above ground. The six fiberglass figures, all resembling the artist, hover and cast large shadows in the high bay area of Civic Center Station.
Rowe’s installation at San Pedro Station employs a variety of elements honoring the struggle to succeed of the many immigrant groups in the neighborhood.
One of the most famous intersections in the world—Hollywood and Vine— is the site of this station designed by artist Gilbert “Magu” Lujan in collaboration with Miralles Associates, Inc.
Artist Teddy Sandoval, a longtime resident of Highland Park, has created a gateway with a Victorian flair for the Highland Park area.
Reflecting upon the geological, anthropological and cultural histories of the region served by the station, Pearl C. Hsiung’s artwork High Prismatic depicts an explosive, colorful gesture arising out of an infinitely roiling landscape toward a spray-tinted, celestial expanse.
Project Description Inspired by the disappearing building landmarks of his childhood, the artist used the bygone medium of Polaroid film to make architectural portraits of a certain category of Los Angeles celebrities. Artist Statement “Many of these buildings have appeared in more films than the biggest movie stars. I wanted to make for my daughter pictures of the Los Angeles I remembered growing up. The pictures also hold memories of my mother, what she saw as a young girl with big dreams stepping off that train in Union Station in 1941, from a small town in Minnesota. A mythical city of glamour and Raymond Chandler, the trumpet of Chet Baker, the mood, the light and darkness of Los Angeles.” About the Artist JIM McHUGH has exhibited nationally and internationally, with solo exhibitions at New York’s Farmani Gallery, the Santa Monica Museum of Art, the James Corcoran Gallery and Timothy Yarger Fine Art in Los Angeles. His photography has garnered many awards and is included in prominent collections such as The Museum of Modern Art, New York, …
The shape, history and beauty of hands and the sacred objects they hold provides a glimpse into rich and unexpected personal stories from the neighborhood surrounding Mariachi Plaza Station.
Located above the escalator at the Hope Street entrance to the Metro Center Station, “Heaven to Earth” is a ceramic tile triptych with strong allegorical content.
Clare Rojas’s artwork will honor the presence of the natural world within the urban landscape and highlight humanity’s shared rhythm with the land, water, and sky.
Karl Haendel’s larger-than-life composition for the glass entrance pavilion and escalator landing walls of this station will provide prompts for transit customers to engage with their surroundings and reflect on their daily experiences.
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.
“Owambe,” loosely translates to “it’s here” in Yoruba. This animation focuses on the subtle, unconscious rhythms that happen at an owambe.
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.
Mariana Castillo Deball‘s artwork for the Wilshire/La Cienega Station is comprised of four landscape images integrated into two collages that run along the north and south walls of the station concourse.
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 …
Jim Isermann’s Failed Ideals is composed of six stained-glass windows installed into the portholes of the station pylons.
Artist Pat Ward Williams used people in transit as the subject for her artwork “Everyday People” at the Lake Avenue Station.
A constant observer of city life, Ronald Llanos presents snapshot sketches of everyday activities in this artwork for Expo/Western Station.
