Jun 09, 2015 Return to Wirtz Elementary with Hi-Dutch, Hanai Yusuke, the guys from CHILL! PHOTOxART ZINE, and stoked schoolkids…
Last year I went to Wirtz Elementary School in Paramount, where my friend Erik Caruso teaches, to see world-class skate- and surf-influenced contemporary artists from around the U.S. and Japan paint murals on campus, inspire fifth graders to make their own art, provide personal commentary on selected works, share a piece of artwork with those participants, and then play a brief lunchtime concert. It was awesome–as much of a kick for the visiting artists and faculty as it was for the kids. I was stoked when Erik invited me to return as his guest this year.
There was no mural painting this time around, but the impact of the previous years’ events are lasting. When my daughter and I stopped to take photos in front of pieces by Tim Kerr and Rich Jacobs, the faculty and students seemed used to it and proud. How cool is it that people would travel to their humble school, which is tucked between an oil refinery, mobile home park, and a Walmart, and then appreciate the artwork?
This time around, a high school band opened the lunchtime art show, and I’m sure that artist Tim Kerr approved. His band The Big Boys would famously end every show by proclaiming, “Okay y’all, go start your own band!” The band ripped, the kids were stoked, and then the video presentations began and sharing of artwork began. I saw quite a few kids walk away with two or three pieces of rad art. A great start to a lifetime of collecting and creating.
I apologize to everyone I’m leaving out, but participating artists included Shepard Fairey Hanai Yusuke, Hi-Dutch, Rich Jacobs, Nathaniel Russell, Shin San and Suzuki Scooters from by/1, and Sandy Yang. A handful of them were in attendance, making a pit stop on the way from Tokyo to a show in San Francisco just so they could say hi to the kids and personally give them some artwork as a way to encourage them to continue being creative and having fun with art. Erik says that the project has been a real confidence booster and reason for many kids to get excited about school and life in general.
What a cool program, and what an awesome thing that Erik coordinates for his fifth graders and the school every year. It’s a ton of extra work for an already overloaded teacher to take on, the children make the art in their free time, the artists’ participation is voluntary, and other faculty and administrators put themselves out on a limb for the project, too. But the results are as invigorating as the message is important. Everyone gets a charge out of inspiring everyone else and art belongs in the lives of everyone, everywhere, all the time–not just in museums, galleries, and studios.
You can’t go on campus to see the murals unless you are a student, parent, or an official visitor but you can get a good view of Tim Kerr’s mural from the main driveway off Downey Avenue. Dream big, walk tall, stay true! See you there next year!
Wirtz Elementary
8535 Contreras St.
Paramount