PUBLIC ART

The city itself can be a canvas.

For nearly thirty years Barbara Romain put work outdoors and into the hands of other people — murals, bus shelters, tiled bins, installations made with schoolchildren and with adults losing their sight. Art that does not wait in a gallery to be discovered.

Las Angelinas, 1990. Mural by Barbara Romain on the façade of the Woman's Building, 1727 North Spring Street, Los Angeles. Winner, Gilding the Building competition; jurors Sheila de Bretteville and Betye Saar. Estate of Barbara Romain archive. Mural © Estate of Barbara Romain.

1989–2014

14 1,600

Twenty-five years of public work

Public space Commissions & installations

Square feet — the La Casa interior mural

THREE FEATURED WORKS

A four-storey red brick building. Across three upper windows hang large painted panels, each showing a standing female figure patterned in red, blue and white. Below them a long painted frieze runs the width of the building, covered in overlapping handwriting and colour. A pale blue band beneath reads THE WOMAN'S BUILDING.

LAS ANGELINAS, 1990

Echo Love, installation at Echo Park bus Shelter, 2002.jpg

ECHO LOVE, 2002

INTO THE LIGHT, 2014

THE WOMAN'S BUILDING, LOS ANGELES

Her winning entry in the Gilding the Building competition, painted across the façade of the Woman's Building on North Spring Street — still open when she painted it, closed the year after. The jurors were Sheila de Bretteville and Betye Saar.

A BUS SHELTER IN ECHO PARK, LOS ANGELES

A permanent installation, dedicated 26 April 2002, minutes from her house. People have been waiting for the bus under it for more than twenty years.

BLIND SERVICES ASSOCIATION, CHICAGO

A mural commission made with the Association's clients — work built from the experience of losing sight, by a painter who was losing hers.

The whole record.

2014

INTO THE LIGHT

Mural commission, Blind Service Association, Chicago, IL. Made with the Association’s clients.

2007

WHAT’S IN A NAME?

An Art Options project with Walt Whitman Continuation High School and The Workmen’s Circle, Los Angeles, CA.

2006

WHAT’S IN A NAME?

Van Nuys Performing Arts High School, Los Angeles, CA, with participants from workshops at Delano Recreation Center.

2002

MY NEIGHBORHOOD

Ceramic tile installation on trash receptacles, Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA, with students at Logan Elementary School.

2002

ECHO LOVE

Permanent public installation, bus shelter, Echo Park, Los Angeles, CA. Dedicated 26 April 2002.

2001

ECHO PARK TARGETED NEIGHBORHOOD INITIATIVE

Commission for two public-art projects, Echo Park, Los Angeles, CA.

1999

SIGNS OF LIFE

Interior mural, approximately 1,600 square feet, La Casa, Los Angeles, CA. Painted by Art Options students, directed by the artist.

1996

MTA BUS BENCH

Temporary installation, Glendale Boulevard and Temple Street, Los Angeles, CA.

1995

ECHO PARK ARTS FESTIVAL

Painted bus bench, Echo Park, Los Angeles, CA.

1992–2007

CO-FOUNDER AND DIRECTOR, ART OPTIONS

An arts-based general-education program for high-risk, inner-city students in Los Angeles · California Arts Council Artist in Residence award, three terms, 1998–2001

1990

LAS ANGELINAS

Mural on the façade of the Woman’s Building, 1727 North Spring Street, Los Angeles, CA. Winner, Gilding the Building competition; jurors Sheila de Bretteville and Betye Saar.

1989

ABC

Temporary mural installation, MacArthur Park Lake, Los Angeles, CA.