Kent Twitchell and the Freeway Lady
VIVA is proud to announce an exciting project that will evolve over the next two years. Kent Twitchell will be installing his definitive mural, The Freeway Lady, on our outside wall.
Kent Twitchell is one of America's foremost muralists and a Los Angeles artistic treasure. His work graces the walls and freeways of our city as well as other locations around the country.
Of all of Kent's work, The Freeway Lady is his personal favorite. He saw her as the embodiment of the “deep wisdom and mystery found in older women.” The model for the image was the actress Lillian Bronson (1902–1995) who reminded Kent of his two great-grandmothers. The Freeway Lady is recognized as the first freeway painting in the United States. In 1974, after her completion, she became everyone's grandmother, a welcome feast for the eyes of commuters driving north on the Hollywood Freeway. But her life was a troubled one. She was partially obscured by a new building and then painted over in 1987. Before the last attempts at restoration could be completed with a protective coating, the mural was badly damaged by graffiti and no further effort was made to restore our lovely grandmother...until now.
Kent Twitchell was invited to visit the Valley Institute of Visual Art (VIVA) in Sherman Oaks after a presentation to one of our founding organizations. Not only did Kent fall in love with VIVA and agree to a retrospective of his work in the future, he had a clear vision of what to do with VIVA’s 90ft blank outside wall...the perfect spot for not just any mural but a total resurrection of his beloved Freeway Lady. We have been working together towards this goal since April 2004.
This is not a project that affects just VIVA. This work of art in Sherman Oaks will clearly make our area the artistic and cultural center of the Valley. As VIVA is a nonprofit organization, we rely on donations from community-minded individuals, businesses and corporations to assist with our many exhibitions and programs. The Kent Twitchell Project will cost an estimated $65,000.00 and we are planning a number of fund raisers to help us reach that goal. To learn more about Kent Twitchell, log onto the following website: www.kentsart.8m.com
Timeline for the Ken Twitchell project:
2007: Installation of mural and Kent Twitchell Retrospective at VIVA.