The Mount Washington School is depicted in one of the striking retablo-influenced paintings created by Montecito Heights-based artist J. Michael Walker for the series “All the Saints of the City of the Angels: Seeking the Soul of L.A. on Its Streets” which has opened to critical acclaim at the Autry Museum in Griffith Park.

J. Michael Walker, who serves our community as Recreation, Culture and Arts Representative for the Arroyo Seco Neighborhood Council, worked for eight years to create the exhibit and an accompanying book, a striking volume with exquisite reproductions, available at the Autry and from Heyday Books.

The ““All the Saints of the Angels” project unlocks a treasure trove of voices amidst the saintly-named city streets of Los Angeles, where stories carry metaphorical qualities, and examines connections between our history, heritage, and present-day realities. Over 50 exquisitely detailed, large-scale paintings are exhibited among precious objects and artifacts from the collections of the Museum of the American West and Mount Washington’s Southwest Museum of the American Indian.

Each painting is meticulously composed and framed by architectural and metaphorical elements borrowed freely from Spanish religious art. Walker’s models—the workers, the homeless, the indigent, and others who often go unseen—give the stories of Los Angeles streets back to their namesakes. English and Spanish text panels; video clips; retablos and bultos (18th- and 19th-century devotional objects from the Autry collection); an interactive area where visitors can further explore the saints and contribute thoughts; and la capilla, an altar where visitors can reflect on violence in our communities, enhance museum visitors’ experience as they connect with All the Saints.

Saints' names have come to identify our local mountains, bays, forests, and, over the past century, a good number of our city streets. Since 2000, Walker has been researching each of the 103 Los Angeles streets named for a saint, delving into city records, hagiographies, old photographs, maps, and history books. The exhibition combines meticulous research with creative inspiration to depict both historical and contemporary stories of community, conflict, education, homelessness, poverty, sacred space, spirituality, urban development and violence.

The exhibit, which has deservedly been the subject of considerable media attention, will be on view at the Autry until September.
To read more, visit: http://www.allthesaints.com/exhibit.htm