User:Sdeeble777/Gregory Navarro Pickens

Gregory Navarro Pickens Gregory Navarro Pickens is a visual artist and arts activist. He works in a variety of mediums but has developed a reputation as a muralist specializing in community art projects and educational art projects for children.

According to his father, Pickens became an artist at the age of two. He attended college at Kutztown University and participated in a number of educational opportunities in Europe before starting his MFA in painting at the University of Texas, San Antonio.

Pickens painted his first mural in 1987 during his last year of graduate school. The city ran a mural program and commissions were available in the poorest neighborhoods and apartment complexes. They provided each artist with materials, two paid teenagers and a few hundred dollars. The wall he was given was part of the local meth dealer’s apartment building so dozens of people a day checked in with the mural’s progress. He noticed how much pride people were taking in the mural.

It was this experience that provided the inspiration for his work.

“This process had a profound effect on what direction my art would take,” explained Pickens. “I began to seek out more mural work after finishing school and got what could only be described as a dream job in 1989.”

Picken’s worked with renowned muralist and arts activist Judy Baca at SPARC (Social and Public Art Resource Center) in Venice, CA. He helped coordinate dozens of mural projects and traveled with Baca to Finland and Russia to install her World Wall project.

“The two years I spent as Judy’s apprentice taught me some very effective ways to work in the community and how to empower others in the process.”

Pickens moved to Long Beach in 1992 after receiving a commission from the city’s Mural and Cultural Arts Program. As he pursued other commissions he met Stephanie Serna, an artist and musician who had started a non-profit organization called Artists Reaching Kids (ARK). Pickens' experience at SPARC led to him becoming ARK's Executive Director. He ran the facility and provided programming for ARK's classes for eight years.

Since then he has created over 120 murals. Virtually all of these projects involving students or community members.

Some 40 of these murals have been painted in LBUSD schools, all involving students.

“Through my work with ARK I was in a good position to partner with schools on programs and grants. Many of the schools had me back year after year to expand murals or to add new ones. The front runners are Washington Middle School with nine murals and Burnett Elementary with seven….and counting.”

Pickens has dedicated his artistic talents to teaching children and teens about art and how to create it. He has done it through his work as Executive Director of Artists Reaching Kids, with Koo’s Art Café, the Long Beach and Los Angeles Unified School Districts, and the Orange County High School of the Arts. He’s also taught at the college level at Fullerton and Irvine Valley colleges, as well as at California State University at Long Beach.

In addition to many honors from the City of Long Beach, The County of Los Angeles, and the state of California, Pickens has received recognition from Congress for his work. He has twice received Distinguished Arts Awards from the Public Corporation for the Arts; In 1997 he was named Community Artist of the Year and in 2002 Pickens received the PCA’s award for Community Arts Leadership. He’s also one of the founders and board members of the ArtExchange Visual Arts Center in downtown Long Beach.

His work with ARK has also led to his masterminding the red carpet and after-party activities for Nickelodeon’s Kids Choice Awards. Each year he arrives with a team of assistants and endless crates full of art supplies and entertains the attendees. Pickens has also consulted for Disney, taking on the enviable role of creating the graphical representation of the latest water and light spectacular at California Adventure, World of Color.

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   Gregory Navarro Pickens has dedicated his artistic talents to teaching children and teens about art and how to create it. He has done it through his work as Executive Director of Artists Reaching Kids, with Koo’s Art Café, the Long Beach and Los Angeles Unified School Districts, and the Orange County High School of the Arts. He’s also taught at the college level at Fullerton and Irvine Valley colleges, as well as at California State University at Long Beach.

   In addition to many honors from... (read more)

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