A $15 million Compton arts center is in the works thanks to this formerly incarcerated painter
This is read by an automated voice.Please report any issues or inconsistencies here.
Days before the opening of his latest exhibition, “The City of Compton: Then & Now,” painter Fulton Leroy Washington — known as Mr.Wash — walked through the 14,000-square-foot property that houses his studio, an informal gallery, and event space.
A courtyard ringed by a brick wall anchors the buildings, and neighbors are invited to paint on it.The space has the feeling of a community in motion.Mr.
Wash, 72, has lived in and around Compton for decades, his time interrupted by serving 21 years in prison for a nonviolent drug conviction he maintains was unjust.In 2016, President Obama commuted his sentence.
When he was leaving prison, Mr.Wash told fellow inmates: “I’m going to go prepare a place for you.”The artist is intent on fulfilling that promise.
The Art by Wash Studio & Community Center, the site of a proposed $15-million facility on the artist’s property, is being designed to provide housing, studio space and support for formerly incarcerated artists with artistic talent.Its targeted opening date has not yet been set, but the exhibition, which opened March 29 at Mr.
Wash’s studio, serves as a fundraiser for the construction.The goal is to expand the property into a hybrid complex — designed by Morphosis Architects — featuring three artist studios where artists in residence will stay for six months, an art supply store, and a small-business incubator.The vision is not simply creative.Mr.
Wash sees the center as a replicable model for rehabilitation through the arts — one that begins with creative expression inside prison walls and extends, through structured support, into stable reentry.The self-taught Mr.
Wash ran workshops while incarcerated, helping develop artists who might one day be among the center’s first residents.Architect E.Sung Yi, partner-in-charge at Morphosis, described the project as still in its conceptual phase, with ...