ARTiculate: Art is Essential

Ms.Yellow is a self-taught international muralist, artist and craftswoman. Born in Long Beach, Ca of Mexican descent, she has dedicated her life to the creative development and empowerment of community and youth through direct engagement. Tapping into her experience, she has worked closely with schools, community centers, boys and girls clubs etc to develop workshops and mentorship to the youth. As a muralist Ms.Yellow has worked with cities, communities and galleries to bring colorful murals to the masses. Her works center on themes such as culture, folklore, sisterhood, education, unity, love and social justice. Her artwork and murals have been displayed in museums, galleries, and streets throughout the United States and around the world such as Egypt, Haiti, Japan, Spain, France, Australia and Mexico.

Olga Lah is a second generation Korean-American, born and raised in Torrance, California. She has resided in Long Beach for the past 13 years. She received a double B.A. in Studio Art and Art History from the University of California at Riverside. She also received an M.A. in Theology from Fuller Theological Seminary. Her interest in exploring ideas of existence are explored in large-scale, site-specific installations. She engages with themes of transcendence, perception and phenomenological experience. She has exhibited extensively including at the Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach; Torrance Art Museum, Torrance; Craft Contemporary, Los Angeles; Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions; Los Angeles International Airport. Her work has been featured in the Los Angeles Times, LA Weekly, OC Weekly, KCET Artbound and Los Angeles Magazine.

Steve Martinez is an accomplished muralist, fine artist, and graphic designer. He featured at Pow Wow Long Beach (Mural Festival) in 2019. He has completed six public art projects for the city of Long Beach, and has been awarded a plaque from Lena Gonzalez (former Councilperson, now State Senator) for his work to beautify the historic Wilmore neighborhood. Past clients include: Warner Bros. Pictures, Oscar Health, Edition Hotels, Heritage Future, L.A. City Hall (El Grito: A Celebration of Latino Heritage Month), & the Arts Council for Long Beach.

Long Beach artist Mer Young has created a body of artwork manifested in collages, drawings, paintings, and public artworks. Young’s artworks aim to inspire, celebrate and elevate repressed indigenous, first nations, native cultures and women of color.

Mujica began his career traveling around Southern California with his father who was a photojournalist. Navigating the assimilation of his dual culture, Mujica’s desire to create has occupied public space with a concentration on civic activism using influences from Aztec iconography to convey ideas of contemporary art. Mujica’s avant-guard attitude advances painting through the removal of authority dictated by a painting’s use of a wall and encourages public engagement in non-traditional settings. Mujica’s freestanding paintings critique the function of painting as a specter occupying our physical space, creating visual ruptures provoking critical thinking. Mujica has exhibited in International art fairs Qipo Art Fair (Mexico City) Project Spaces Copyright (Berlin), and has a public sculpture at the Museum of Latin American Art (Long Beach.) He has completed a MFA in Painting from Yale University, a MA in Visual & Critical Studies from the Art Institute of Chicago and holds BA’s in Political Science and Art History from Cal State Bakersfield.

Marianna Jamadi is a travel photographer who digests the world through her camera. Her love of the craft and interest in the human experience is what inspires her to share stories through photos. She was born and raised in Long Beach, spent her twenties in New York City, spent a year backpacking through the world and has since returned to her hometown of Long Beach.

Jason Keam is a contemporary visual artist with a background in animation and visual effects in broadcast production from Long Beach, California.

As a poet, sign painter, and stencil artist, Nat Iosbaker’s work is grounded deeply in living and working throughout Long Beach, CA, Madison, WI, and Chicago, IL. The work produced at his studio in The Ice House Arts Complex plays amongst personal narrative and local Long Beach style as well as his broader arts and activist community.

Cynthia Luján is a visual artist and holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts focused in figurative drawing & painting, with a minor in Russian studies from California State University, Long Beach. She lives in Los Angeles County and works regionally in Southern California collaborating on projects in public spaces with the mission of creating more access while addressing the barriers created through social conditioning. Her immediate goals are to secure grants and fellowships to support her artist practice in research of exploring urban space. She currently looks to obtain local or international mural commissions as well as artist residency opportunities to continue to collaborate with communities who have an affinity for public space and traffic signage. Her passion is interfacing with other artists and with community stakeholders when working in public spaces. She is a committed community leader and demonstrates a history of working in the arts & culture sector as: an active member of an informal CSULB alumni association called FA4 Collective, public art associate at the Arts Council for Long Beach, founder and previous director at __flatline gallery in north Long Beach, and arts educator to older adults.

On this episode we talk to Tidawhitney Lek, an LA-based painter born and raised in the city of Long Beach, California. She received her Bachelor’s in Fine Arts, Drawing and Painting in 2017 at CSULB and is currently working in her studio located in downtown Los Angeles. In the last year, she has participated in several shows at places like the Angel’s Gate Cultural Center in San Pedro and Durden and Ray, an artist-run gallery in LA. In the summer of 2019, she created a 120 feet long mural for Pow Wow Long Beach’s 5th annual takeover beautifying the city and her home of Cambodia Town. Her work focuses on the nuances of Cambodian culture through the portraits of family members and aesthetic style that decorate the domestic space.