Grant Benefits “Sun Forces” Mural Restoration at Long Beach State University
LONG BEACH, Calif. (Aug. 10, 2018) – “Sun Forces,” a Long Beach State University mural painted by Rita Letendre for the historic 1965 California International Sculpture Symposium, will be a part of campus life for many more years to come, thanks to a grant that will finance the mural’s conservation.
The Long Beach Navy Memorial Heritage Association provided a grant to conserve the large 22-by-21 foot mural, which the University Art Museum will undertake with the help of partners at The Getty Conservation Institute and RLA Conservation of Art & Architecture as part of the University Art Museum's Conservation Initiative started in 2014.
Conservation work begins Monday, Aug. 13, when conservators take microscopic samples of paint from the mural to study such properties as how the paint is layered and the chemical composition of the paint itself. The samples will go to Getty Conservation Institute in Los Angeles for analysis, and the information gleaned will provide the required knowledge to properly conserve the mural during summer 2019.
“Our long-term collaboration with [Long Beach State University] on the study and conservation of their sculpture park has been extremely valuable to the GCI, allowing us to utilize a balance of scientific analysis and historical investigation to help inform decisions on conservation treatments on many of its important works,” says Tom Learner, head of science at the Getty Conservation Institute. “The Letendre mural is a striking piece and we are thrilled to continue this work, building on the experience we have had in analyzing paints and assessing the condition of murals in Los Angeles.”
Letendre painted “Sun Forces” on a wall linking a building that houses College of Liberal Arts classrooms with faculty offices. Explosive splashes of black and yellow paint dominate the mural, which is situated over a walkway, allowing passersby to walk underneath it.
“It will wake people up. We go along with gently rolling fields and green grass around us, never seeing. If once a week something makes us wake up and really see, then other things fall into focus and we start living,” Letendre once said when explaining her work in the Long Beach Press-Telegram in July 1965. “I want people walking in and out of my painting. It must not be static - it must be dynamic with action and an interaction that continues in the mind of the spectator.”
The 1965 California International Sculpture Symposium was a historical event for the Southern California region, as it was only the seventh sculpture symposium of its kind to take place in the world, and the very first of its kind in the United States. The symposium added 10 artworks to the campus — nine sculptures and Letendre’s mural — which are now a part of the CSULB Outdoor Sculpture Collection.
“Sun Forces” is also the second artwork in the collection to receive conservation funding from the Long Beach Navy Memorial Heritage Association. Another of the inaugural artworks, J.J. Beljon’s “Homage to Sam Rodia” (1965), benefited from a 2015 grant.
“Navy Memorial Heritage welcomes the opportunity to expand historic preservation grants to include the unique sculptures and mural on the campus. These historic works of art are no less essential to our community than the more typical grants to restore historic architecture and historic neighborhoods,” Renee Simon of the Long Beach Navy Memorial Heritage Association said
Letendre’s mural is the seventh on-campus artwork to be restored through the University Art Museum’s Conservation Initiative, an effort uniting the campus with the Getty Conservation Institute and RLA Conservation of Art and Architecture.
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About the campus:
Long Beach State University is a teaching-intensive, research-driven university committed to providing highly valued undergraduate and graduate degrees critical for success in the globally minded 21st century. Annually ranked among the best universities in the West and among the best values in the entire nation, the university’s eight colleges serve more than 37,500 students. The campus values and is recognized for rich educational opportunities provided by excellent faculty and staff, exceptional degree programs, diversity of its student body, fiduciary and administrative responsibility and the positive contributions faculty, staff, students and more than 300,000 alumni make on society.
About the University Art Museum:
The University Art Museum creates exhibitions and education programs that provide space for critical interpretation of contemporary and modern art and culture. Its curatorial vision focuses on exchanges at the nexus of today’s society. It is the only Long Beach Museum that is free to the public, and the only American Alliance of Museums (AAM) accredited museum in the California State University System. Through dedication to scholarly and artistic excellence, the UAM has earned a reputation for its award-winning exhibitions and publications. The global visual arts field and local community alike research UAM exhibitions and its remarkable permanent collection. As the official steward of the CSULB Art Collections, the museum manages tours, exhibitions and activities based on its holdings. With project assistance from the Getty Conservation Institute, the museum oversees conservation of the Outdoor Sculpture Collection and its many public artworks born out of the 1965 Sculpture Symposium.
About the Getty Conservation Institute:
The Getty Conservation Institute (GCI) works internationally to advance conservation practice in the visual arts—broadly interpreted to include objects, collections, architecture, and sites. The Institute serves the conservation community through scientific research, education and training, field projects, and the dissemination of information. In all its endeavors, the GCI creates and delivers knowledge that contributes to the conservation of the world's cultural heritage.
About the Long Beach Navy Memorial Heritage Association:
Created in 1998, the Long Beach Navy Memorial Heritage Association (LBNMHA) exists to preserve the heritage and historic sites of Long Beach, recognizes the contributions of the Long Beach Naval Station and Shipyard to the City of Long Beach, and honors the work of architect Paul Revere Williams. The Association is led by a nine-member board of directors representing four important historic preservation organizations in Long Beach with expertise and knowledge of the field: the Cultural Heritage Commission, Historical Society of Long Beach, Willmore City Heritage and Long Beach Heritage.
About RLA Conservation, Inc.:
RLA Conservation, Inc. specializes in sculpture, mosaics, murals, architectural elements, and three-dimensional contemporary art. Established in Los Angeles, CA in 2008 and in Miami, FL in 2009, the firm is directed by Rosa Lowinger, a 30-year resident of Southern California who is a Fellow of the American Institute for Conservation and graduate of the M.A. program in conservation at NYU's Institute of Fine Arts. Our team of professionally trained conservators includes Los Angeles Senior Conservator Christina Varvi, a Professional Associate of the AIC and graduate of the Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation where she received an M.S. in Historic Preservation with a focus on materials conservation. Both Ms. Lowinger and Ms. Varvi have a long history of working with the UAM on such public artworks as Duet by Robert Murray, Homage to Sam Rodia by L.L. Beljon, Kosso Eloul's Hardfact, and Robert Irwin's Window Wall.
