Mural Community

If Walls Could Talk

Gregory Navarro Pickens is a man of many murals

By Arrissia Owen Turner
Photo by Kayte Deioma

You’ve likely seen one of Gregory Navarro Pickens’ murals. There’s Gant Elementary School off of Atherton Street, a 10-foot-by-20-foot mural of a colorful jungle full of exotic animals painted with the help of students in 1997.

Or maybe you spotted the children frolicking in the 57-foot mural on 15^th Street at the Long Beach Day Nursery. It’s been there since 1992, the same year Pickens also transformed the American Red Cross’ exterior on 29^th Street with the help of more students.

The mural tells the history of the Red Cross, woven with the sort of calamities that put the organization into action. “It’s the triumph of the human spirit,” Pickens tells CityBeat. Community art projects help instill a sense of pride in areas where graffiti is normally the most common decorative delight.

Pickens announced his artistic aspirations to his parents by the time he was 2. His parents encouraged him, signing him up for classes and nurturing his artistic expression.

During high school, Pickens painted houses until heading to New Jersey, Brazil and England to study painting and illustration, finally landing at Pennsylvania’s Kutztown University to earn his Bachelor’s degree in 1984, followed by the University of Texas where he scored a Master of Fine Arts degree by 1988.

Between all that, he took on a community project in San Antonio during spring break. They assembled a team and took on a wall on the side of a building in a rough neighborhood. The person who lived on the other side of the wall happened to be a drug dealer, making for plenty of spectator traffic.

“For a guy who had mostly been working in a studio and late at night, it was a different experience with art,” Pickens says. “I very much enjoyed it. I got the bug.” Once back in the real world, Pickens found himself painting houses again to cover rent. He began teaching, eventually earning his credential.

Pickens found a way to combine his passions when he landed with muralist Judith Baca after relocating to Los Angeles in 1989.

“I would say it was serendipitous,” says Pickens, who recently completed a month-long series of live mural painting in conjunction with the Arts Council.

During the last two decades, Pickens has worked on more than 150 community murals and became a board member at Art Exchange, an organization funded by the city’s Redevelopment Agency. The program offers a community arts center where people may watch artists create, purchase art and attend classes. It’s all for the people.

“When I get to a mural project, it’s anyone’s guess who will show up and what their age is,” Pickens says. His teaching background comes in handy. “I am learning every day, every project. It’s all new—that is part of what is so dynamic and exciting.”

Pickens has worked closely with the Arts Council for nearly two decades, starting with the Long Beach Day Center to the most recent live mural paintings. “That is the kind of thing I am finding very exciting now,” Pickens says about living paintings. “A mural exists in a neighborhood, but this throws it into a different context.”

The most recent live painting gig for the Arts Council found Pickens painting in three very different venues: the EXPO building on Atlantic Avenue in Bixby Knolls, during an art walk in the East Village and culminated during the Long Beach Marathon with Pickens painting near the finish line.

Watching the worn-out runners drag their aching bodies to the finish line after five to six hours of pushing their bodies to the limit, Pickens says, was like watching a massive triumph of the human spirit. It’s a lot like a month-long mural in the making. www.facebook.com/studiopickens.

Here is a link to the original story:
http://citybeatlb.com/2010/10/reviews/entertainmentreviews/artsentertainment/if-walls-could-talk/