Artwork Detail

The Civic Art Division worked with Otis College of Art and Design Creative Action Program to create the artwork, Lavender Chiveevi. The artwork incorporates native flora and Tongva motifs for a site-specific mural to cover a concrete swale north of Stoneview Nature Center on the Park to Playa Trail. In June 2022, the Artist David Russell and the Chair of the Otis College Creative Action Department, Richard Shelton, presented their class's mural and their process of community engagement during the pandemic at the Arts and Culture staff outing.The Lavender Chiveevi mural — chiveevi is the Tongva noun for snake — encourages hikers to wend their way through the surrounding landscape. The design actively reimagines the County’s roadways as lush trails of local wildflowers in perpetual bloom and pays homage to Indigenous tribes in its use of geometric patterning. The mural becomes a visual trail of local flowers, including California poppies, red velvet yarrow, rock rose and sky lupine. A corresponding poster and activity sheets were also designed for use at Stoneview Nature Center.

Creative Action is an integrated learning program that introduces students to compelling social and environmental issues by partnering with local and international community organizations. As art and design fields are increasingly being called upon to address nontraditional, complex projects and issues, the program provides students with academic experiences that contextualize the multidisciplinary nature of the modern workplace through collaborative teamwork and community engagement. For more information visit: https://creativeaction.org/