Los Angeles High School Hosts Maya Angelou Mural Festival

Murals that honor the legacy of poet, artist, and activist Maya Angelou by Shepard Fairey, Jasm One, Nunca, Shawn Michael Warren, and others now adorn the exterior of Dr. Maya Angelou Community High School in Los Angeles. The public art project features works by 33 local and international artists and was organized by Branded Arts, which "puts together art installations for communities and companies," as Carlos Gonzalez and Amanda Svachula explain for the New York Times. "Some of the pieces are photo-realistic; others are illustrative, geometric or abstract. Many include words or references to her poems." More: 

Shawn Michael Warren, the Chicago-based representational painter, crafted a realistic portrait of Angelou with a focus on her expressive eyes.

“I wanted the mural to feel as lively and organic as possible,” Mr. Warren said. “I want each viewer to feel as if her spirit rests within the mural, as if she’s staring directly at them, about to utter words of profound wisdom.”

Huge, the mural artist based in Sweden, painted Angelou’s name on a wall with 3-D graffiti balloons, accompanied by an orange phoenix — a reference to her poem “Still I Rise.” “In my opinion, helium balloons often symbolize that you’re celebrating someone or something, so this would be my version of honoring Maya Angelou,” he said.

Branded Arts began its initiative to bring art into public high schools with the RFK Mural Festival, held at the Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools in Los Angeles in 2016.

Organizers spent nearly three years planning the most recent event, receiving input from school administrators, community members and, most notably, a steering committee of high school students who helped decide the murals’ themes. During the process the school, which was established in 2011, even ended up changing its mascot to a phoenix in honor of “Still I Rise.”

Read on (and see photographs of the Angelou-inspired art) at the NYT.