Latinx Arts Mural Forum + Documentary

Latinx Mural Art Forum

Features a screening of the 15-minute documentary film “Voces de Old Town Carpinteria” with an introduction from director Brent Winebrenner Mural Panelists: Artists Adriana Arriaga, Ralph D’Oliveira, Ruth Ellen Hoag, Lisa Kelly, and Ryan P. Cruz, moderator

An artists and muralists panel, a screening of “Voces de Old Town Carpinteria” and an announcement of a call for entries and prize money for Ventura and Santa Barbara county artists for the Carpinteria mural project.

The Latinx Arts Project/Carpinteria – Proyecto de Artes Latinx/Carpinteria will hold a special public event, including a showing on the ‘big screen” of a 15-minute documentary, a panel discussion on muralism, and an open call for entries from artists living and/or working in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties. The grassroots organization will share its plans for creating “Past, Present, Future” murals, celebrating Latinx culture and history in Carpinteria.

All community members are invited, especially artists in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties who are interested in learning more about submitting designs for a new public mural in the community.

Filmmaker Brent Winebrenner will discuss the making of the documentary, “Voces de Old Town Carpinteria,” prior to its screening.

Ryan P. Cruz is Coastal View News sports editor and News Reporter at the Santa Barbara Independent. He is also the Lum Art Magazine Writing Fellow. As an arts journalist, Cruz has written about artists of color, delving into how racial identities help shape and propel their work.

Ralph D’Oliveira is originally from Santa Barbara and has Chumash and Chicano roots. He has created over 100 murals throughout California and Europe.

Lisa Kelly, a muralist based in Ventura, has created murals for restaurants, schools, businesses and private homes. D’Oliveira and Kelly have partnered on many mural projects in Ventura County including recent murals at Rio Del Valle Middle School, Rio Rosales Elementary, and Rio Vista Middle School in Oxnard.

Adriana Arriaga, a.k.a. Adriana la artista describes herself as a contemporary Xicana designer. She combines practices from the Chicano Movement of the ‘60s with present-day applications. In 2020, she created an Earth Day mural for the Museum of Contemporary Art in Santa Barbara.

Ruth Ellen Hoag is a fine artist and former gallery owner. She is the creator of a mural “East of Yesterday” documenting the history and people of Santa Barbara’s Funk Zone.

The Latinx Arts Project/Carpinteria was founded by Suzanne Requejo and Leslie Westbrook to launch a Latino mural project which honors the past and celebrates the present and future Latino culture as well as all community members in the small seaside town of Carpinteria. Fifty perfect of the town’s 15,000 residents are Latino and enrollment in Carpinteria Unified public schools greatly exceeds that number.

Go Fund Me https://www.gofundme.com/f/Latinix-Mural-Project-Carpinteria