Fixing homes, building community: The Watts House Project
Lauren Whaley | 8-14-2010 | Comments |
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Rosa Gutierrez is the mother of 10 children. But, she might as well be the mother of the entire East 107th Street block. She helps organize, facilitate, motivate and inspire all the residents who live across from the iconic Watts Towers. She lives at the end of the block and works at The Watts House Project, brainchild of Los Angeles artist Edgar Arceneaux.
In its own words, The Watts House Project is “an ongoing, collaborative artwork in the shape of a neighborhood redevelopment.”
Arceneaux says that the houses on this city street can, themselves, be used as a metaphor for the project.
“Even though houses … appear to be separate, they’re totally completely connected together,” he says. “The same electrical systems connect them together, the same plumbing connects them together, the same streets and sidewalks connect them together, but then also like the fabric of the community, these interrelationships that go back, these experiences that go back. That thing … shows that to improve one house is to improve the entire neighborhood.”
Together with a team of employees, volunteers and residents (kids included), Gutierrez and Arceneaux have installed fences and landscaping, planted veggies, screened films, hosted parties and are planning to renovate several empty houses with the intention of opening a neighborhood-run café.
The project is funded through a combination of support from foundations, art museums and donations. And, while it has yet to be duplicated, The Watts House Project is modeled after artist Rick Lowe’s Project Row Houses in Houston.
Tags: edgar arceneaux lauren whaley rosa gutierrez watts house project watts towers