Muralist Get Exposure in Cyberspace : Next L.A. / A Look at issues, people and ideas helping to shape the emerging metropolis

Say you are a teen-age muralist in East Los Angeles and want to show your art in a bigger gallery than the local schools and churches.

The answer for young painters at Academia de Arte Yepes is to post a home page on the World Wide Web. Their work can be viewed by millions with the click of a computer mouse button, just like the treasures of the Louvre or the Smithsonian.

Launched in 1992 by Los Angeles artist George Yepes, the nonprofit academy gives free training to artists ages 10 to 18. Students have painted more than 40 large murals that adorn schools and other locations on the Eastside.

The home page on the Web, the multimedia piece of the Internet, displays students’ projects and connects users anywhere in the world to computer files containing art by Yepes, a noted painter whose murals can be found around Los Angeles.

Students use the page to get feedback and exchange suggestions on works in progress with artists in distant countries. A 240-square-foot mural to commemorate NASA’s upcoming Cassini probe to Saturn is a current project.

“We want to let the world know what we are doing,” said Nathan Zakheim, a private art conservator and volunteer at the academy.

“Suddenly, South America or South Africa is impacting East L.A. The possibilities are limitless.”

The Academia de Arte Yepes Web page can be viewed at: https://www.bahnware.com/bahnware/academia