SUN VALLEY : Community Mural to Be Unveiled Saturday
A community mural painted by local teen-agers under the direction of nationally known artists will be unveiled Saturday in Sun Valley.
The ceremony will be at 11 a.m. at the Al Jal Inc. building, 11308 Penrose St., near San Fernando Road.
Depicting scenes from the history of Sun Valley, work on the four-panel mural was begun in April. The mural’s completion was thrown off-track temporarily when vandals splattered black paint across two panels in mid-May.
Nationally known artist Joe Gonzalez was hired by the sponsoring Sun Valley Community Venture Council for $10,000 to head the project. Gonzalez initiated a series of murals in East Los Angeles in the 1970s and painted the commemorative mural for the 1984 Summer Olympics near the Los Angeles Coliseum. He also did a portrait of Edward James Olmos for the cover of Time magazine.
Gonzalez commissioned local resident Frank Martinez to design the Sun Valley mural, which depicts scenes from prehistoric times and Native American life to the times of Spanish missionaries and stagecoaches.
Gonzalez and Martinez have worked on projects for the Smithsonian Institution and Hands Across America.
The Sun Valley Community Venture Council looks at the project--which is in view of passing Metrolink trains and the nearby Golden State Freeway--as a way to attract attention to the community.
Representatives of United Way, community groups and teen-age artists and their families will participate in Saturday’s unveiling.
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