View from the street during construction
North wall of staff balcony
View of south wall from staff balcony
Work in progress
Detail, east wall of staff balcony showing nearby places of interest: Griffith Park Observatory
Upper level complete!
Most of the mural is visible from the street and patio restaurant on Hillhurst. This section—the west wall—is visible only to the staff.
This is the final design brief with color of the approved artwork for the Cedars Sinai Urgent Care Clinic Balcony Mural
I was commissioned by Cedars-Sinai Medical Center to design and fabricate four wall murals for the staff balcony of a new OBGYN/Urgent Care Clinic in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles. The murals are an important anchor of the new building’s façade, are highly visible from the busy thoroughfare day and night, and provide a welcoming outdoor space for clinic staff.
The design brief specified the murals reflect the neighborhood. The rich, layered history of Los Feliz was the inspiration. Water motifs represent the indigenous people who lived in the Los Angeles basin for thousands of years prior to European contact. The Kizh/Gabrieleño/Tongva were possibly drawn to the year-round spring at Fern Dell, the western edge of Griffith Park. The park is one of the largest urban wildernesses in the United States and a crowning feature of the neighborhood. Archeological evidence indicates the area was used as a council ground known as Mococahuenga.
In more recent history, in 1900, a lotus pond and garden were located on Franklin Avenue near Western. Beginning in 1917 three Japanese American families leased land for flower farms (including chrysanthemums, featured in the murals) on the slopes above Los Feliz Boulevard (current location of the Los Feliz Estates), eventually opening a flower shop, Flower View Gardens. Architects and visionaries, including Wright, Schindler, Ain, Williams, and Neutra, were drawn to this neighborhood and many of their historic buildings can be found throughout the community.
Elements of water, sun, clouds, leaves and flowers weave in and out of the wall paintings, connecting vital threads of restoration and well-being. It’s my hope that the murals conjoin healing, art and community, and people feel an embodied sense of exuberant energy flowing from the work.