Topanga artist Velvet Marshall completed her Good Neighbors Mural and donated it to the city of Hawthorne during a celebration and reveal of the mural for residents and visitors to the Ramona Park community on September 21.
The planning started in August 2016 when City of Hawthorne’s Art Commissioner Gloria Plascencia approached Marshall to donate a mural which took a year to plan, get approved and paint by hand. She completed the project with her team: Nastassia Perez, Chris Chavez and David Covey.
The Good Neighbors Mural at Ramona Park spans approximately 30 feet wide by 9 feet tall and was painted with Golden Artist Colors acrylic paint that was donated by a representative from the Golden Paints Company specifically for the project.
This is the second mural donated by artists in the City of Hawthorne that plans another project in the near future. led by Art Commissioner Gloria Plascencia and Council Member Olivia Valentine to beautify the city with art.
Marshall is a visual Artist with years of painting experience and teaches art and gallery exhibitions, exhibition management, financing and marketing. She has a strong theoretical foundation in art and solid academic qualifications. She was originally trained in a classical, realistic style and mentored at an early age by her father, Chet Marshall, a leading Disney artist who produced artwork for posters, watch faces, consumer products and theme parks merchandise.
She later developed an appreciation for the more progressive work of painters, both American and European, in the modern abstract expressionist movement which she utilizes in her work creating an effect that is textured and sensitive to luminosity to predict various aspects of experiences in life with the primary use of mediums such as oil paint, roofing tar, roofing acrylic latex, watercolor, tea and common household mediums used in daily life. She currently resides in Topanga, CA, works throughout the United States and is available for international projects as needed.
Marshall says, “Creating art is a way to reimagine the future. Every piece of art creates discussions and value in the world. Art stimulates the imagination which is the catalyst of change.”