From MacArthur Park, with Love (opening May 21) celebrates the neighborhood of MacArthur Park—its past, present, and future—through the perspectives of more than 100 students enrolled at Charles White Visual Arts LACMA Magnet.
Charles White Elementary School opened in 2004 on the historic campus of Otis College of Art and Design, located across Park View Street from MacArthur Park. The school was named for artist Charles White (1918–1979), who taught at Otis Art Institute for many years. LACMA has been presenting exhibitions and community art programs at the school since 2007 in the museum’s gallery on the school’s campus. The very first exhibition, SWAP: Mark Bradford and Ruben Ochoa (2007–08), featured the art of professional artists alongside student work. In 2017, LACMA assisted Charles White Elementary in developing a Visual Arts Magnet program at the school. LACMA teaching artists-in-residence work with the magnet teachers to develop arts-integrated lessons and special projects in the gallery based on the museum’s exhibitions and permanent collection. This work is then developed into digital resources such as online courses which are provided free online to all teachers, everywhere. The Charles White Elementary School Gallery is unique in the United States, providing many opportunities for museum-quality exhibitions and community arts programming.
This year, From MacArthur Park, with Love was developed in collaboration between LACMA’s Education department and the faculty at the Charles White Visual Arts LACMA Magnet. It centers the lives of the students that call this neighborhood home.
Visitors will experience a wide variety of artworks and media. For example, first grade students who learned about cities, communities, and neighborhoods created a large collaborative diptych that provides an aerial view of the park.
Students in the Charles White Art Club created observational drawings and paintings of buildings in the immediate vicinity of the school such as the Bonito’s Swap Meet (on S. Alvarado Street), a former flea market that is now home to Humankind LA, a nonprofit serving people experiencing homelessness.
Second grade students learned about different bird species that call MacArthur Park home, from red-tailed hawks to ospreys and more. They made sketches from photographs (above, right) and painted birds on amate paper (above, left), an Indigenous handmade bark paper made by Otomí artisans in Mexico that was primarily used to create codices.
We are excited to welcome you to the gallery this summer! Please join us to celebrate the exhibition opening on Thursday, May 21, from 2–5 pm. Meet the young artists behind the artwork, explore the exhibition, enjoy light refreshments, and participate in drop-in intergenerational art workshops inspired by the exhibition.
From MacArthur Park, with Love will be on view Saturdays, May 23–August 1, open 12–4 pm with free, drop-in art workshops. (Please note that the exhibition will be closed on July 4.) Art activities will change throughout the summer, so be sure to visit more than once and make something new inspired by the exhibition! The exhibition is free and open to all, with no tickets required. Find out more about the exhibition, including address and parking validation information.