Muralist on Monte Vista. Margaret Garcia At the Muck. y más

Introduction: Nothing Says 'Resist!' Like Love and Arte

Michael Sedano

With political subversion coming from treacherous national elected officials, nothing says  'Resist!' like  expressions that reaffirm love and community solidarity. Arte makes precisely those expressions. Today, La Bloga-Tuesday celebrates Love, Alma, and Arte with a spotlight on noted colorist painter, Margaret Garcia's current exhibition at Fullerton, California's Muckenthaler Cultural Center. 

Gluten-free and wheat-eating visitors headed to Fullerton will find a welcoming host and staff, and fabulously delicious and freshly-prepared Egyptian food, at Tasa2Go.

La Bloga-Tuesday adds a closing note of appreciation for the multicultural pleasures of the Taiko Drum festival closing this year's Nisei Week Festival in Los Angeles' Little Tokyo.

Please share your views on murals, taggers, arte, good food, and other values inherent in diversity, equality, and inclusion, by clicking the Comments link at the foot of this page. Remember to click Notify Me to follow up on your comments.

Madeline the Muralist on Monte Vista and Avenue 50

Few sights signal a community’s decline than heavily tagged murals. For years, vandals with spray paint layered their crud atop Daniel Cervantes’ 2004 mural celebrating United Statesian indigenous people. Then, in 2019, the venerable Avenue 50 Studios awarded a contract to famed artist Pola Lopez to restore the cultural treasure at the foot of the long neglected, now-defunct, Autry Museum of the American Indian.

La Bloga follows Lopez' progress, noting the hopeful beginning, the funding skirmish that stuck Lopez, and Assistant Angel Guerrero, with a hot sun, boundless spirit, and dwindling support from political leaders and locals. 

https://labloga.blogspot.com/2024/01/chicanarte-comes-more-alive-than-ever.html

https://labloga.blogspot.com/2020/01/open-letter-to-cultural-leader-gil.html

https://labloga.blogspot.com/2019/08/community-treasure-needs-more-treasure.html

The work completed and exposed to vandals, Lopez exacted a promise from an elder of the Avenues clicka. He promised members would respect the mural and prevent peewees from tagging it. As of August 2025, the mural remains untagged.

A single panel of 120' of mural near 4725 Marmion Way, a short walk from the Metro train stop.

On a recent drive-by to verify the community support for the Cervantes-Lopez creation, I happily noted the arte remains sullied only by the elements. And, on the drive up Monte Vista to Avenue 50, a happy note, a new mural at the corner!

This is New Mexico artist Madeleine, working in the morning shade to lay down her colorful design for all who pass this place. 

Monte Vista turns West, down to Marmion Way and the indigenous gente mural. Looking along Avenue 50 toward Figueroa street, the eponymous gallery’s signage is all that remains of the priced-out former flagship of northeast Los Angeles arte and culture. Ave50 may have departed estas partes, but arte remains.

Madeline and her color palette: May This Mural Remain Untagged

At the Muck: Margaret Garcia

the Muck website: https://themuck.org/

"the Muck" the CEO and its devoted supporters term the place, in north Orange County's City of Fullerton, California's Muckenthaler Cultural Center. Muck hosts vibrant arrays of arte and summery entertainments, for example, last September, Shattered Hearts Illuminated Minds: Visions of Clarity, a glass show that attracted excited viewers from across Southern California and out-of-state visitors.

The Muckenthaler's current exhibition, Margaret Garcia Rostros, lugares, y momentos runs through September 16, 2025, allowing ample time for multiple visits and, for collectors, opportunity to acquire some magnificent works of portraiture, landscapes, and Garcia's spectacular fire paintings.

CEO Farrell Hirsch led the Muck through Trump's plague years into new vitality and regional leadership

Garcia enjoys numerous friendships with artists and collectors, a fact well evidenced by the people gathered at the midweek opening. The location in northern Orange County brings people unfamiliar with the artist and her work. CEO Farrell Hirsch happily announced one of the centro's board of directors traveled from a southern beach town to purchase a Garcia painting. In fact, eight pieces sold, at last report.

Margaret Garcia greets guests.

 

Rhett Beavers chats with writer, "the other" Margaret Garcia

That eight canvases found new collectors is testament to the impact on first sight of Garcia's paintings. Waterscapes, portraits, burning palms and structures, urban streetscapes all feature Garcia's powerful brush strokes and impasto technique, none of which people see when struck by the artist's compelling use of color and composition.

In foto: waterscapes, a fire painting, a calavera moment

La Bloga-Tuesday attended the opening reception on August 14, with an ulterior motive. Michael Sedano's blue portrait hangs in the show.

Michael Sedano left and right

In February of this year. (link) La Bloga-Tuesday shared the story of my sitting for a studio portrait before Garcia and a group of her workshop painters. Looking into myself in those bluest of eyes evokes these thoughts:

I am already so numb that the fire has not affected me very much more than the sun rising or the moon setting, nor any other daily occurrence, everything’s the same as everything else. I sit here in the studio, staring into space unfocused and empty as the air in front of my eyes.  I’ve lost everything I ever owned,  everything Barbara and I owned together. The life we shared, together, I still own--treasured memories; all the rest was stuff. Everything I ever owned, into ashes, all gone into ashes. And it doesn’t matter.

El Gluten-free Chicas Patas On the Road

Gourmet Food, Modest Settings, Barata y Buenissima

Dining on the road for Celiacs and other gluten-averse gente poses notably difficult challenges. Menus don't often mark their menus with "gf" or similar notations that assure a diner of safe choices. Staff often lack training and knowledge to reassure a skeptical celiac. "It shouldn't have wheat," is never a good answer. "I'll ask the chef" is perfect. 

The good choices are ethnic food. There are pitfalls, though. Mexican kitchens tend to start their red sauces with harina de trigo, "but only a little." Middle eastern places often use falafel mixes containing wheat. So know your ingredients and always ask and verify.

Tasa2Go, Egyptian food, catches my eye on a Google search. I call ahead to make sure; I haven't eaten Egyptian food before. The fellow on the phone isn't sure about falafel but the  cardamom-flavored rice and bbq meats have no wheat nor barley. After the Garcia show at the Muck, I head downhill only a few miles and search for a sign among several restaurants sharing a parking lot and address.

Drive into the lot, behind the garish signs, and there's the modest logo featuring Remon, the owner's,  caricature. Remon, almost Ramon, que no?, assures customers their food comes after a lengthy delay--all their bbq is cooked from scratch, and slowwwly to allow the smoke flavor to infuse all the way to the bone. 

The half chicken comes atop a bed of parsley, with cardamom-flavored rice. The two sides I select, pickles and garlic sauce, make savory accompaniments. Hot Egyptian tea makes an ideal complement.

Nisei Week In J-Town LA

Crowds attending the 83d iteration of Los Angeles' Nisei Week affirm this year's theme, “kansha” (感謝), or gratitude. After the two-year Trump Plague hiatus, the festival returned to the community in 2022 and this year hits its full stride.

As a drum- and percussion instrument maker, and long-time Taiko enthusiast, I made it a point to get to Little Tokyo early to enjoy the full lineup of Southern California Taiko groups. Taiko is an event not to be missed and I am grateful to have enjoyed the work of talented drummers from UCLA, and the local Buddhist temple, and my current residence, Pasadena, whose Taiko club numbers over 100 drummers.

Taiko is drumming, fancy stick work, acrobatics, and dancing. Energy abounds at every Taiko performance, drummers infect the audience with smiles and infectious rhythms. This year there is a surfer stomp-type taiko song!

Wait 'til next year isn't something only Dodger fans usually say. It's something Taiko fans always say, with hope of sustained joy over the hours of performance.