African American Firefighters Museum Art Project

Concept:
Our goal is to create public art that honors the 100 year history of the African American Firefighter in Los Angeles, installed at the African American Firefighters Museum located on historical Central Avenue corridor.  The public art project includes a 30"h x 22"w x 20"d bronze bust of Arnett L. Hartsfield, a local black firefighter, on the forefront of integrating Los Angeles fire stations in the 1950's.  The bronze installation will be created by Artis Lane, renowned sculptor, known for her ability to capture the essence of historical figures in her work. Additionally, a mural will be created for the eastern exterior wall of the African American Firefighters Museum.

As a crucial part of CACLA's three pronged approach to bringing public art to a community is to prepare the community and/or building, in this case, to receive the art.  We accomplished that by beautifying the building and courtyard garden at the museum.  By doing we enhanced the building facade and grounds, thus transforming the entire project.

Mural:
Entitled “Circa 1912" on the eastern exterior wall on Central Avenue will depict two full uniformed black firefighters from the turn of the 20th Century in Los Angeles.  “Circa 1912" can be viewed from the heavily traveled Central Avenue between 15th Street to the south and 14th Street to the north.  The 11' x 15' “Circa 1912" mural will be installed on a 16' x 20' section of the southern corner of the east wall.  The public has accessibility to the highly visible “Circa 1912" mural.

Materials:
Acrylic mural will be painted using mineral spirits, which is best suited to combat the direct sunlight conditions of the museum.  Additionally, the mural will be painted on weather resistant poly mesh applied using Nova Gel adhesive.  Varnish will then be applied followed by a final anti-graffiti coating.