Here’s another great opportunity to celebrate the work of a brilliant Los Angeles artist: Kent Twitchell. Twitchell has been painting murals since the late ’60s and has painted over 100 across the country to date. His work can be found on walls, in art textbooks, magazines, newspapers, and film. Some of his work is in permanent collections in several art museums. He’s also a co-founder of the Mural Conservancy of Los Angeles, which is actively restoring murals throughout the city.
Many Los Angelenos know well the story of Kent’s “Freeway Lady” mural, designed as a tribute to his grandmother. Originally titled “The Old Woman of the Freeway,” the beautiful mural came to life in 1974 on the side of the Prince Hotel in Echo Park where it was enjoyed daily by thousands of travelers on the 101 Freeway. The mural was destroyed twice — illegally painted over by a billboard company in 1986, then vandalized while being restored in 2000. There was a short-lived second chance for the mural in 2004 on the side of the now-defunct Valley Institute of Visual Art gallery in Sherman Oaks, but plans fell through.
In 2010, the LA Valley College Public Art Committee approved the installation of the “Freeway Lady” mural on the side of the college’s Student Services Center, where it is now complete. LAVC will hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the “Freeway Lady” on Thursday, April 14, 2016 at 5:30 p.m., outside the Student Services Center. Immediately following the ribbon-cutting ceremony, there will be a special preview of the Freeway Lady documentary, which is currently still in production, in the Student Services Center, Multipurpose Room (SSC 245). For more information about the ribbon cutting event, contact Jennifer Borucki in the LAVC Public Relations Office at (818) 947-2433.
