Endangered Species
1 media/endangered_species_thumb.jpg 2021-05-03T14:24:13-07:00 Curtis Fletcher 3225f3b99ebb95ebd811595627293f68f680673e 38706 4 Emily Winters801 Ocean Front Walk (at Park Avenue), Los Angeles, CA, 90291
1990 plain 2021-05-18T15:25:45-07:00 USC Digital Library 1990 (Artist) Emily Winters 33.991196,-118.477206 Dunitz, Robin J. Curtis Fletcher 3225f3b99ebb95ebd811595627293f68f680673e
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Endangered Species
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Emily Winters
801 Ocean Front Walk (at Park Avenue), Los Angeles, CA, 90291
1990 plain 2021-05-18T15:55:22-07:00 1990 33.991196,-118.477206 The Social and Public Art Resource Center (SPARC) commissioned the mural Endangered Species in 1990 as the presence of big tech companies began to increase. Located on the Venice Beach Boardwalk at Ocean Front Walk and Park Ave., the mural depicts the struggles of the working class, people of color, the elderly, and those experiencing homelessness in Venice during a period where the cost of living was rising quickly due to development projects. Ironically, while dolphins were an endangered species at the time, so were the people living in Venice. These issues of displacement and gentrification are still present in Venice Beach today, after being a part of Los Angeles that was at the heart of 20th century U.S. counterculture.
In 2009, SPARC’s Mural Rescue Team, the Venice Arts Council Art Fund, and the W. S. Scharff Foundation commissioned the restoration of Endangered Species because of the sand, salt, old wax, remnants of tagging, and general grime on the mural. The damage was so bad that some images could not be delineated. With the help of a generous donation by local resident Patricia Greenfield, the mural was cleaned in preparation for the May Garden and Home Tour. As a part of the restoration efforts, Endangered Species was covered with a layer MuralShield, a coating that protects public artworks from vandalization and UV damage, and allows for graffiti to be removed without harming the mural underneath. After three months of hard work, Emily Winters saw the mural and said, “This is the mural I remember. It looks brand new, and I can finally see the images.” Because Winters is a long time Venice resident and Chair of the Venice Arts Council, she considers her efforts a positive contribution to a rapidly growing Venice community.
Written by Jorge Gonzalez, c/o ‘24
