Statement: I have a music video for my songs "Lessons" that was filmed and edited by Polaris Castillo (South Gate native). The song is about growing up in the city of Huntington Park and is organized in a timeline fashion describing my life from childhood to now. The music video was shot in Huntington park, Downey, and Lynwood.
About the Artist: Out of Southeast Los Angeles, Silvandgold--pronounced like "Silver and Gold" 'cause she's "so refined in temperature so high"--surfaced in the L.A. underground hip-hop scene in 2019 with a her debut project Catch the Kite, an EP with Las Vegas producer 12twlv released in August. The five-song project introduced Silvandgold as a mellow poet discussing her struggles as a female trying to break into Hip-Hop all the while showcasing both Spanish and English rhymes over lo-fi and boombap beats.
Her second project and debut LP, Gaby Guerrero LP--named after her nickname "Gaby"--Executive Produced by Los Angeles veteran Destruct was released just three months later in November 2019. The 11-song album, with production from notable producers Figub Brazlevic from Germany and Depakote from Los Angeles, was commenced and concluded during a 3-month period with all songs recorded in Area 52 studio in Van Nuys, California. The album, with only one feature, Destruct, in the songs "True Lies" and "Abilities to Trust," is sample-heavy with a 90's boombap and jazzy flavor and contains Silvandgold's notable wordy yet poetic flair.
Silvandgold credits artists Tupac, RZA, One Be Lo (One Man Army), The Fugees, The Beatnuts and JGivens as early inspiratons. Her music is often inspired by spirituality, the female experience and 90's backpack rap culture. She hopes, above all, to continue making music her nieces and nephews could listen to all the while maintaining the culture of Hip-Hop pure.
Hometown: Huntington Park
Connect: https://linktr.ee/Silvandgold , instagram: @silvandgold
Acrylic on canvas, 60x48 in.
Statement: In my art work I respond to the social and political conditions in Compton. The city of Compton is notorious for gang violence, corruption and urban decay. I illustrates stories based on my experiences as a pedestrian in the city. My long walks around the city of Compton served as a creative path, which allowed me to observe, document and express urban blight. The goal of my artwork is to shine a light on places often neglected by the public eye. I believe there is a certain beauty that can be found in these places. One particular place I reference in my art work is the bridge on Rosecrans and Alameda. This structure contains a staircase that obtains 100 steps. In order to get to school, every morning I was forced to climb them. I saw weeds and moss flourish from underneath. I believe the bridge and the plants became a metaphor for me which represented my experiences and hardships I witness living in the community.
About the Artist: Jessica Farela is a fine artist currently living in Compton California. She is inspired by urban landscapes and her person experience as a resident of the city. She was recently accepted at University of California Irvine, Claire Trevor School of the Arts as an undergrad student. Her works have been displayed in local galleries including the long beach city college art gallery.
Hometown: Compton, CA
Connect: instagram: @jessfarla_
Mixed media, 24x18 in.
Statement: In my art work I respond to the social and political conditions in Compton. The city of Compton is notorious for gang violence, corruption and urban decay. I illustrates stories based on my experiences as a pedestrian in the city. My long walks around the city of Compton served as a creative path, which allowed me to observe, document and express urban blight. The goal of my artwork is to shine a light on places often neglected by the public eye. I believe there is a certain beauty that can be found in these places. One particular place I reference in my art work is the bridge on Rosecrans and Alameda. This structure contains a staircase that obtains 100 steps. In order to get to school, every morning I was forced to climb them. I saw weeds and moss flourish from underneath. I believe the bridge and the plants became a metaphor for me which represented my experiences and hardships I witness living in the community.
About the Artist: Jessica Farela is a fine artist currently living in Compton California. She is inspired by urban landscapes and her person experience as a resident of the city. She was recently accepted at University of California Irvine, Claire Trevor School of the Arts as an undergrad student. Her works have been displayed in local galleries including the long beach city college art gallery.
Hometown: Compton, CA
Connect: instagram: @jessfarla_
Acrylic on canvas
Statement: These pieces were created as part of the SELA Arts Fest project :Rolling Canvas 2019.
About the Artist: Danny Gamboa, born in Cicada Juarez, Chihuahua is a multi disciplinary artist based out of North Long Beach. Danny is passionate about creating in the mediums of visual and performance art and art that can be used as a medium for social change. His dedication to the Ghost Bike project blends art and advocacy and led him to establish Healthy Active Streets, a community based organization that empowers communities of color as active transportation advocates and organizers for mobility equity.
Hometown: North Long Beach, CA
Connect: dannygamboa.com instagram: @iamdannygamboa
Acrylic on wood, 58x54.5 in.
Statement: My work stems from my exposure to the lowriding world as a female lowrider owner. I am able to bring other women’s stories to a wider audience that would otherwise be unaware about women who cruise. Using bold colors, portraiture and the urban landscape I create compositions that emphasize femininity in a male-dominated world. The color palettes, architectural references and signage are all from the environments that these lowrider cars cruise through. I adorn my compositions with imagery that is directly linked to the communities these women come from because of the importance of finding beauty in everyday things. By highlighting these women’s environments I strive to show that even areas that are overlooked are in fact important and beautiful. In full my work is a love letter of sorts that reinforces the importance of these women and their neighborhoods. The artwork demands that the audience not overlook the real-life experiences of these women, their candied cars and a concrete jungle.
About the Artist: Jacqueline Valenzuela is an East L.A born artist currently living in Whittier. She obtained her Drawing and Painting BFA from Cal State Long Beach. Jacqueline is a first-gen Mexican-American. Jacqueline had always been influenced by the subcultures that were common within her community. This ranged from the underground punk scene in East L.A. to the candied lowriders she saw cruising Whittier Blvd. on Sunday mornings. Eventually, as an adult she would come to own her own lowrider, a 1975 Cadillac El Dorado. Upon becoming a lowrider owner, she became more aware of the lack of representation for women lowriders. Usually within this world women were seen merely as sexual objects to be placed near these beautiful cars. This is when her work flourished as it began to magnify the important role women lowriders play. By focusing on women lowriders like herself she is able to bring their stories to a wider audience that would otherwise be unaware about women who cruise. Using bold colors, portraiture and the urban landscape she creates eye-catching compositions that emphasize femininity in a male-dominated world. She has shown her work in various non-profits, artist-run spaces and galleries within the L.A. county. Most recently she has had her first solo show in Baldwin Park.
Hometown: Whittier
Connect: https://jacquelinevalenzuela.com , instagram: @pieldemazapan
Acrylic on wood, 58x54.5 in.
Statement: My work stems from my exposure to the lowriding world as a female lowrider owner. I am able to bring other women’s stories to a wider audience that would otherwise be unaware about women who cruise. Using bold colors, portraiture and the urban landscape I create compositions that emphasize femininity in a male-dominated world. The color palettes, architectural references and signage are all from the environments that these lowrider cars cruise through. I adorn my compositions with imagery that are directly linked to the communities these women come from because of the importance of finding beauty in everyday things. By highlighting these women’s environment’s I strive to show that even areas that are overlooked are in fact important and beautiful. In full my work is a love letter of sorts that reinforces the importance of these women and their neighborhoods. The artwork demands that the audience not overlook the real-life experiences of these women, their candied cars and a concrete jungle.
About the Artist: Jacqueline Valenzuela is an East L.A born artist currently living in Whittier. She obtained her Drawing and Painting BFA from Cal State Long Beach. Jacqueline is a first-gen Mexican-American. Jacqueline had always been influenced by the subcultures that were common within her community. This ranged from the underground punk scene in East L.A. to the candied lowriders she saw cruising Whittier Blvd. on Sunday mornings. Eventually as an adult she would come to own her own lowrider, a 1975 Cadillac El Dorado. Upon becoming a lowrider owner, she became more aware of the lack of representation for women lowriders. Usually within this world women were seen merely as sexual objects to be placed near these beautiful cars. This is when her work flourished as it began to magnify the important role women lowriders play. By focusing on women lowriders like herself she is able to bring their stories to a wider audience that would otherwise be unaware about women who cruise. Using bold colors, portraiture and the urban landscape she creates eye catching compositions that emphasize femininity in a male-dominated world. She has shown her work in various non-profits, artist-run spaces and galleries within the L.A. county. Most recently she has had her first solo show in Baldwin Park.
Hometown: Whittier
Connect: https://jacquelinevalenzuela.com , instagram: @pieldemazapan
Mixed media on masonite board, 48x36x1 in.
Statement: This is a picture of a homeless man, with a background of a mixture of city and landscape that is somewhat made from my imagination. The painting is called "Man In A Field of Flowers and Arrows." It is made with spray paint, oil paint and collage elements on masonite. It is 3'x4.' The painting is a partial figure of a man walking in a landscape, with a slight aura around him. There is a concrete wall behind him. There are also hills and a starry night with clouds. There is a sign with three arrows pointing in different directions to show the different directions that he might go in. He is surrounded by flowers, showing blooming and hope. The landscape behind him shows a mixture of concrete city scape and nature, like the duality that we see in the city of Los Angeles. In general, he seems to be wandering aimlessly in a cityscape. The painting is supposed to show an image of a mystical person in a mystical world. It is supposed to show the soul of the person. I use cartoon like drawing and expressionistic painting, and let intuition and fantasy take over the process when I am painting. I use unrealistic colors to show a world oscillating between dreams and reality. The man has a heart on his forehead to show his third eye and direction coming from himself as he walks around the city. My art is influenced by Expressionism, Surrealism, the primitive and childlike drawing of CoBra, Abstract Expressionism, Bay Area Figurative painting, Beat Art and Symbolism.
About the Artist: My name is Katie McGuire. I live in the Los Angeles area. I have been showing my art in juried, group and solo shows since 2001. I have been working as a substitute teacher for LAUSD in regular education and special education elementary school in Southeast Los Angeles (South Gate, Bell, South Central) since 2001. I have been teaching Painting, Drawing, Art History and Art Appreciation part time at the Community College level since 2001. I have a B.A. in Art from U.C. Berkeley and a M.F.A. in Painting from Claremont Graduate University in 2001. I love painting, and some of my paintings (like this one) are documenting homeless people, street musicians, and street performers that I see in the city of Los Angeles.
Hometown: Los Angeles, CA
Connect: https://www.KatieMcGuireArtwork.weebly.com, instagram: @KatieSMcGuire
Digital illustration, 6288 x 7560 Pixels
Statement: For about the last two years (and most of my life), I have simply been going with the flow. Going through personal changes and nurturing myself to become who I want to be. At the same time, I have been aware of the changes that have been taking place around the world, socially and environmentally. While we have all been swept up by these generational currents, I feel as if I have let it wash over me. Not to dismiss it, but to not drown in it and ask myself, "What can I do?" What can I do to make a difference? How can I be more engaged? By listening, reflecting, and consciously acting without simply reacting. That is where I can set the sails across the tide. Hoping to shift the waves unto the shores of a more positive light.
About: I am an artist born in L.A. and raised in South Gate CA. (June 5th 1988) My work ranges from drawing, music, photography, and anywhere else my curiosity takes me. My work can be deeply personal while also very reflective. I am currently collaborating with my girlfriend Alba Castro under the name Miel y Fuego and focusing on a new body of work.
Hometown: South Gate, CA
Connect: instagram: @nadidah23
Digital Photo Collage, 16x21 in (2048x2732px)
Statement: I have to thank my immigrant family and the strong women in my life for helping me flourish into the woman I am today.
Each flower represents an important woman in my life that has helped mold me into who I am: my nana Alicia, my tia Flor, my cousins Dulce, Vivi, and Luisa, my tia Chuy, and my mother. The lavender represents the existence of my generalized anxiety disorder and poses as a reminder to relax and take it easy.
Every monarch butterfly is a representation of my immigrant family members who are responsible for my existence, such as my tío Pancho, my tía Chita, my grandpa who came to the US in the 1940s through the Bracero program, and my father who used a coyote to be smuggled across the border in his early 20s to make a living in Lynwood, and my mother who joined my father years later when they got married.
I will have them growing within me, en mis raíces para siempre.
About the Artist: Blanca E. Castro-De La Peña is a proud first-generation Chicana living in South Gate, CA. She graduated from California State University, Long Beach with a Bachelor’s Degree in Education. She enjoys listening to music, watching cartoons, and admiring all forms of art. You can always find her singing, drawing, or napping, but always stressing.
Hometown: South Gate, CA
Connect: instagram: @freckledcheeseee
Digital Poem
LA River Expedition, Kayak tour, 2019
Since the beginning, cities were built by many waters.
Now, your generation’s ready to cross the bottom of the river to break the chains of racial oppression.
The river can come back. We can come back.
I spent my teenage years exploring the edge
of the concrete channel and once ventured
onto the channel bottom to fill
my pockets with bright stones.
This was my first experience with that corporate channel as a real river, not the cool walls
of my father’s basement.
I fled to the stream to pull out confessions
(I came out in the 90’s),
emotional moraines, promises,
to write my name in water,
green signature of the city.
Then nothing.
And now I am pushing the kayak out treading time
not water. Go back before
the city grew and the army corps of engineers
paved the riverbed to “prevent floods.”
Don’t give the order to dynamite boulders
and channels, turn the main stem into one
big flume with trash high in the trees
left over from last year's flooding.
The river can come back. We can come back.
I lived in L.A. but never heard of this.
One minute you're driving the 405
the next you are transported to what feels
like a tributary of the Amazon.
Remind yourself that the place is beautiful:
look at “the” turtle, Great Blue Herons, Egrets,
Snowy Egrets, fish.
Paddle through some rapids,
lush green islands;
weave your way through the rocks,
look for the best openings. Navigate
through class 1 rapids.
Turn left at the "rock garden."
Stop.
You’re right in the heart of Los Angeles
in the Frogtown area (north of Dodger Stadium).
See why we need a plastic bag ban in LA—
branches wrapped in wind-blown plastic
like a Cristo wrapped coast line.
If you get stuck on some shallows
its because floods removed the concrete
from this section and a filter system keeps
the water relatively clean
(not for drinking).
Let the water heal itself as a protected river;
legal status. Get out
of the kayak, move it off of rocks.
Go on a pilgrimage 200 miles upstream
all the way to the headwaters of the LA River in
the Owens Valley to the source of
all this.
Statement: My work directly connects to the theme of “Geofictions” in the way my poem documents and describes how Angelenos interact with LA nature and the urban jungle through Kayaking tours of the LA River and surrounding Sepulveda Basin. The theme of my poem is also the revitalization of the LA river. My poem documents Kayak tours of the LA river that began several years back, and this tour has been a local source of activism to increase wildlife/water quality protection. The poem describes how some 10 minutes from downtown LA you can launch kayaks to see diverse flora, urbana, herons, egrets, green islands, a rock garden, and tranquil green areas that would have you forget that you're in the middle of such a large city. The tour has changed the way many see and experience LA and the LA river: It becomes a tangible presence, a space of tranquility.
About the Artist: John Paul Calavitta earned his MFA in creative writing and his PhD in Literature from the University of Washington. His current book of poetry draws upon Yelp and Trip Advisor Reviews to critique histories of tourism, colonialism, and heterosexism. His work can most recently be seen at ace/121 Gallery, a community gallery for all.
Hometown: Long Beach, CA