The Postcards are Baaaaaaack!!!!!!

Thanks to the tremendous organizational and artistic skills of Lori Escalera, the Postcards from Ballona mural is once again up and running. Who would have thought that just a week ago the wall behind the Julian Dixon Library in Culver City was nothing more than a graffiti-covered eyesore—and now it is once again telling the history of the Ballona area.

Artists Lucy Blake-Elahi and Francois Bardol seemed to render their magic in the blink of an eye (and like every artist, super-critical of their own work, no matter how good it is!). Philip Nagai (Culver City Art Group member and second place winner in the 2008 Holiday Show) turned out to be a great asset to the project.

All the volunteers (whose numbers seemed to increase as the days passed) were terrific. The project could not have been completed without them. This was truly a community effort of artists, students and neighbors. The citizens of Culver City once again showed their true colors as people who get involved when they are asked.

And as the painters worked, cyclists on the bike path shouted out their thanks and encouragement as they rode by. It's nice to know this mural makes a difference and is appreciated.

But the project doesn't end here. Taggers and vandals are still are a problem. It's up to all of us to be vigilant and report any graffiti or damage. You can call 310.253.5776.

Click here for a gallery of photos as the mural looked Wednesday afternoon, nearing completion.

"Postcards from Ballona" artist, Francois Bardol
(Francois in center with other artists Lucy and Lori)
Francois Bardol was raised and studied interior architecture, drafting, design, photography in Paris, France. His early carreer includes experiences in Architecture, Design, and fashion photography. Emigrated to the United States, he developed an early talent for airbrush renderings, water colors, and oil paintings. He has accepted large private commissions amounting to hundreds of historical replicas of various periods. The necessity of being versatile in applied arts commanded experience in various media. Public works, as well as private commissions were accepted in Glass Mosaics Tiles, Gold Leaf, as well as Stone.

(Francois painting original 1997 mural)
Francois' Art can be summarized as representative, in a classical way. "To me, Art is my way to expresss myself and a language to communicate with all. Every new subject is a new word I learn and express, with the knowledge and experience gained through previous works, in a slightly different manner. To young students, I would say this: Do not underestimate Art. In our time, almost anything fabricated starts with an Artist. I am willing to work and share my experience and knowledge with anyone serious, who asks, anytime.
Some of Francois' work can be seen at www.francoisbardol.com.

Enlisting the Help of Students

In 1997 when the original Ballona Postcards Mural was painted on the side of the Ballona Creek bike path in Culver City, the adult artists were assisted by students from the Culver City schools. The hope is that the same interest can be generated for the renovation starting on April 19.
On Friday, April 3 I attended the 8:00 am Ballona Postcards Mural Restoration presentation at Culver High School. Present were two of the original mural artists, Francois Bardol and Lucy Blake-Elahi. Cathi Lamm, a teacher at the school and a member of the Ballona Creek Renaissance Program, was the facilitator.
Francois Bardol started off the discussion with a general overview of the history of murals starting with cave paintings and on through the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans to the present day. He showed some examples of his own work, including the mosaic at the corner of the Culver Police Station building.
Lucy Blake-Elahi talked a little about some of her public art including the sundial on the top of Culver Park.
The students were shown a movie describing the creation of the original Ballona Postcards Mural and how it has deteriorated over the past decade because of neglect, vandalism, and graffiti. About ten students were invited to create drawings of something important in their lives. Francois then asked the artists to explain why they chose to draw what they did and why it was significant to them.
One student drew her future tattoo symbolizing that people can make things better or worse. Another drew a design representing baseball. Another drew a peace sign enclosed in an eye. (One of the drawings by a talented student.)

Francois then said he was going to rip up the drawings because nobody cared about them. Some of the students protested. He explained this was exactly what happened to the mural. The people who vandalized it were in effect saying this mural is not important.
He asked for help from the students. Could they come up with solutions to keep the mural from being vandalized in the future? He suggested one way is to report any graffiti right away while it is still small enough to deal with. The problem now is that the deterioration of the mural has gone on beyond the point of return and has to be completely redone from scratch.
Lucy stated that the mural depicts the history of Culver City and how important the creek was to the development of the city and to the Indians who inhabited the area before that.
She said we can think of the mural as a symbol. If we can keep the mural clean perhaps we can keep the creek itself clean, and that effort could spread out into the community. Today the creek is already so much cleaner than it was ten years ago.
Cathi Lamm closed the session by adding that we don’t want to be spending money on restoration, we would rather have money to spend on new projects.

Click here for more information about this project and how you can help! You don't have to be a student!
(photos copyright roslyn m wilkins)