Artist Raul Paulino Baltazar partnered with the Los Angeles County Teens of Cerritos Program to create a mural for the façade of the gymnasium at Don Knabe Regional Park. Over the course of eight weeks, Baltazar led the teen participants through a curriculum that taught them how to create a site-specific permanent artwork using research and project organization methods. Together Baltazar and the teens researched the history of the area to develop a design for the mural. They used painting techniques inspired by the history of plein air painting in Southern California to create a landscape that tells the story of the past and present of Cerritos. At first glance, the mural looks like a traditional Impressionist landscape. Upon closer inspection, the viewer discovers layers of histories, activities, cultures, time and space related to the Cerritos area. Each of the vignettes is positioned in historic, aesthetic subjective or ironic relationship to one another and are meant to be read poetically, rather than literally.

Raul Paulino Baltazar lives and works in Los Angeles and Mexico City. Baltazar received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Sculpture and New Genres and Master of Fine Arts degree in Public Practice at Otis College of Art and Design. He has exhibited throughout Los Angeles and internationally. This is Baltazar’s first commissioned project with the Los Angeles County Arts Commission.