65B - ARTS AND CULTURE MASTER PLAN

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Despite the lull in local art activities in the immediate post-war years, artists reporting feeling that the situation was improving due to the influx of new people into the region. By 1963 there were at least two clusters of artists in Santa Ana. The first of which was centered around the Little Art Gallery on Main Street which sold items displayed at local shopping centers and the Bowers Museum. Additionally, the Torrana Art League brought together members from Garden Grove, Tustin, Orange, and Santa Ana for monthly lectures, demonstrations, and occasional shows." Additionally, the Santa Ana Public Library's Spurgeon Memorial Room was used for discussion groups, small musical programs, travel films, and exhibits. For the musically inclined, the Orange County Philharmonic Society, Rare Music Society, and Santa Ana Chamber Music Society were also providing artistic outlets for the people of the rapidly growing region .15 The new UC Campus at Irvine opened in 1965 and began to attract baby boomers ready to experiment with different forms of art. This experimentation was precursor to what was arguably the most critically productive decade of art in the Santa Ana. Among these 1970's emerging artists was a young UCI graduate student Chris Burden operating out of the F -Space Gallery on 1514 East Edinger. He solidified his international reputation for provocative performance art after being shot in the arm by a .22 caliber rifle during his 1971 performance of Shoot. 16 The 70's also welcomed acclaimed sci-fi novelist Philip K. Dick to the Lacy Neighborhood where he would spend his days writing, taking lunch breaks at the local Trader Joe's, and occasionally posing for photographs in front of the Saint Joseph's Church across the street from his home.17 Meanwhile, the Floating Wall Gallery at the Santora Building was promoting the arts 20 years before the concept of the Artist Village began to take root.16 Santa Ana's emerging Latino majority also began to reflect the larger changes that the 70's were having on the City's artistic legacy. Santa Ana College Art Professor Shifra Goldman worked tirelessly to advocate for Latino art and artists.19 Orange County artists Sergio O'cadiz and Emigdio Vazquez worked together on the 1974 MECHA Mural at the Nealley Library the Professor Goldman helped to champion. O'cadiz and Vazquez continued to create numerous additional murals across the city that have been treasured by residents as part of the visual experience of growing up in Santa Ana. O'cadiz was even commissioned to create the concrete mural covering the 1973 City Hall. Around the same time that these professional artists were experimenting with cultural symbols, Valley High School student Gilberto Rodarte worked with friends to place Santa Ana's oldest community based murals on Civic Center and Hawley.20 However, throughout the 1980's art organizations were having a difficult time attracting enough of an audience to support their ongoing activities compared to other parts of Orange ° Woolley, Beverly. Community Survey of Santa Ana, 1963. 41 1s Woolley, Beverly. Community Survey of Santa Ana, 1963. 42 1s Burnham, Linda Frye. "Linda's List of Artspaces in So Cal 1975-1988." Linda Frye Burnham, August 12, 2014. http://Iindaburnham.com/2014/08/lindas-list-of-artspaces-in-so-cal-1975-1988/. 17 Babcock, Jay. "Philip K. Dick: The Orange County Years." Arthur Magazine, July 2, 2009. https://arthu rm ag.com/2009/07/02/philip-k-d ick -the -ora nge-cou nty-years/. 16 Walter Wittel. Walter Wittel Performance at Floating Wall. Accessed June 11, 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40wtxfcCOX0. 19 Woo, Elaine. "Shifra Goldman Obituary: Champion of Modern Mexican Art Dies at 85". Los Angeles Times. September 19, 2001. http://articles.latimes.com/2011/sep/19/local/la-me-shifra-goldman- 20110920. 2° Author interview with Gilbert Rodarte Jr. June 29th, 2016 �I M • •