Wave Staff Report
CULVER CITY — The city’s Cultural Affairs Division has selected artist Sonia Romero to create an original art installation for the Farragut Connector — the passageway extending access along Farragut Avenue from Jasmine Avenue to Jackson Avenue.
The passageway, which was completed last month, features new amenities to enhance accessibility, safety, and visibility for the community. Since September 2023, the Cultural Affairs Division and Public Works Department have collaborated to realize this redevelopment.
For the proposed art installation, the search for the most appropriate artist involved a rigorous, two-phase process.
The city’s Cultural Affairs Commission recommended Romero, who was chosen from a total of 11 participating artists, to the City Council for final approval in September. The artist will begin creation of an original, ceramic-tiled mural, measuring 42 inches in height by 10 feet in length, for the proposed art location within the renovated passageway.
Final art installation will take place by the end of June. In addition, Cultural Affairs Division will install a tribute within the path whose vicinity is believed to be one of the former entryways and home to a speedway ticket booth.
Romero is a Los Angeles-based artist who has extensive experience, particularly in public art. She had received her bachelor of fine arts degree from the Rhode Island School of Design. To date, the artist has completed 15 combined permanent and temporary public art commissions throughout Southern California. Her works have been shown throughout the U.S. and are in the permanent collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture of the Riverside Art Museum, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth College, to name a few.
Recent solo exhibitions include a mid-career retrospective at Laband Art Gallery, Loyola Marymount University, and an upcoming solo exhibition at Catalina Museum for Art & History next summer.
The art component of the Farragut Connector project is made possible by the city of Culver City and its Cultural Affairs Commission with funding from the cultural trust fund.
