|
California State University,
Fresno alumna Suzanne Lacy of the the Otis College of Art and Design in
Los Angeles, is leading a public-art effort in partnership with
residents of the southwestern Fresno County farming community of Laton.
The project culminates at sundown March 21 with Laton LIVE! when the two
blocks of DeWoody Avenue that are Laton’s business district will be
closed to vehicle traffic and transformed into a brightly lit festival
site.
There will be live music, art displays, food – including grilled
linguica, the local-favorite Portuguese sausage – and community
organization booths. The Lions Club will sell tickets to the Laton Rodeo
(April 4-5) and Laton’s volunteer fire department will celebrate its
centennial.
Lacy, who chairs the Master of Fine Arts Public Practice Program at
Otis, was a graduate student in psychology at Fresno State from 1968-71,
participating in the Feminist Studio Workshop directed by acclaimed
feminist artist Judy Chicago. She is a native of the Kern County
community of Wasco.
Participating in the Laton project are Fresno State art and design
students taught by Dr. Laura Meyer and Nancy Youdelman; many Fresno
State alumni, including musician Patrick Contreras; and Laton leaders,
including restaurateur Manual Lopez, proprietor of Coco Cabanas.
Laton, which has fewer than 1,500 residents, was chosen in part because
native daughter Consuelo Velasco manages the Otis MFA Public Practices
Program and wrote her master’s thesis on rural art in the San Joaquin
Valley. The region’s poverty, school drop-out rates and air pollution
are among the challenges for Laton.
Otis grad students and faculty “chose the main street of Laton to focus
on how small-town economies are using rural values to survive,” Lacy
said. “Here, in rural California, the farming and dairy industries make
the region a striking example of local impact from global forces.”
Otis received a Ford Foundation grant and began working in Laton in
August, Lacy said, developing a several art projects to celebrate the
community’s proud and its rural roots.
The project gave Otis students from a metropolitan environment “an
immersion course, leading our students to a consideration of the
cultural, economic and identity issues in one of the most misunderstood
and ‘invisible’ areas of the Golden State,” said Otis College President
Samuel Hoi.
Lacy described the March 21 event as “the celebration and public
unveiling, if you will, of the community’s ongoing attempt to create a
sound education and enriched civic life for its youth.”
The goal, Lacy added, is “to foster communication between the many parts
of the community and to advertise the main street center of the town,”
where “people are pleased that so much attention and work has been put
into the community by outsiders.”
She emphasized that this is the kickoff of a renewal of spirit in Laton
and said Otis is “supporting next steps in several areas.” One is
securing volunteers and contributions to complete a mural at Laton
Elementary School.
|
