Group exhibition

Spirits of the Ancestors

Toni Love, Judson R Powell, Charles Dickson, Willie Middlebrook, John Outterbridge and others

Thirteen shovels painted, mosaicked and built up by Watts master artists as tributes to the community’s ancestors.

Center director Rosie Lee Hooks commissioned thirteen respected Los Angeles artists to use shovels as their canvases. Some are painted or covered in mosaic, others treated as sculpture, and they carry everything from American flags and mirrors to images of the Watts Towers and a full-size trumpet.

The set was first shown at the 2003 groundbreaking of the Charles Mingus Youth Arts Center. This presentation marks that building’s opening. Varnette Honeywood, Gilbert “Magu” Lujan, Elliot Pinkney and Kenzi Shiokava are among the other participants.

Full details at wattstowers.org