(EIC Lecture Series) Community Inclusive Apprenticeships in Public Art Conservation

The Los Angeles County’s Civic Art collection is comprised of over 600 contemporary and historic permanent public artworks located across County-owned property. These artworks are cultural assets that belong to and are enjoyed by all Los Angeles County residents. In recent efforts to provide equitable resources through the Civic Art Division’s commissions, programming, and collections outreach, the Conservation Apprenticeship Program was created. The first of these projects was the Inner Resources Mural Conservation Apprenticeship Project for those interested or emerging in the conservation field and emerging public artists who have a connection or investment in the artwork’s surrounding communities of City Terrace and East Los Angeles. The project provided a rare and paid opportunity to learn about the importance of preservation and participate in the conservation of a significant artwork in their community. Please join Laleña Vellanoweth and apprentices Janeth Aparicio, Bianca Elena Ramirez, Jennifer Payan, and Diana Sanchez for a conversation on the importance and impact of including community in the conservation of public artworks.  

About our Speakers

Laleña Arenas Vellanoweth is a conservator and cultural worker in Los Angeles, CA. She received her B.S. in Biochemistry and B.A. in Art from California State University, Los Angeles and MA in Art History and Certificate in Conservation from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University. She has held conservation positions at the Costume Institute, Metropolitan Museum of Art and Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, then worked as an independent conservator at the Autry Museum of the American West, Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, and Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Laleña is currently the Conservation and Collections Manager for the Civic Art Division of the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture.

Janeth Aparicio Vazquez lives and works in Los Angeles, California. She is a visual artist and historian as curandera of Mixtec descent. Her multidisciplinary work spans ink and graphite drawing, painting, and crafts-based mixed-media. Aparicio uses this range of materials to create tender offerings to her communities: past, present, and future. Aparicio Vazquez has exhibited most recently at Room 3557 (Los Angeles, 2024), Superchief Gallery (Los Angeles,CA, 2023), and the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History (Santa Cruz, CA, 2022). The artist has most recently installed a mural at Dr. Owen Lloyd Knox Elementary School (Los Angeles, CA, 2024) and another public art mural in collaboration with the Boyle Heights Arts Conservatory at Ruben F. Salazar Park (Los Angeles, CA, 2023). Aparicio Vazquez has earned awards such as Espolon Tequila’s Modern Maverick Artist Award (National Association for Latino Arts & Culture, 2024) and the California Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowship Award: Emerging Artist (Los Angeles Performance Practice for LA County, 2023). She holds a BA in studio art and art history from Occidental College (Los Angeles, CA).

Jennifer Payan is an artist, emerging museum professional, and MLIS student in San Jose State University's online program. She was raised and resides in East Los Angeles, California. She graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles where she received her B.A. in Art History. Payan has explored many art mediums and most recently completed a two-week ceramic residency at Taller Canella in San Agustín Etla, Oaxaca, Mexico. She currently works as a Curatorial Assistant with the Department of Cultural Affairs at the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery.

Bianca Elena Ramirez is a Mexican American artist who creates work that represents her city and her people through her own lived experiences as an Angelena and exploring themes of self-memory, location, and preserving cultural heritage. She graduated from the University of California, Berkeley where she received her B.A. in Art Practice with a minor in Chicana/o Studies. Ramirez is currently a teaching artist at the American Museum of Ceramic Art (AMOCA) in Pomona, California.

Diana Sanchez is an artist and museum educator who was raised and currently resides in East Los Angeles, CA. She received her B.A. degrees in Art and Art History in 2016 from UC Berkeley. Since then, her curiosity and creativity ushered her into theater, supervising costume collections for various theater troupes and assisting in art studios before settling into the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles. As an educator and Program Manager for school and teacher audiences, she synthesizes scientific and historical research into engaging and impactful experiences for museum visitors. In her makeshift studio, her artwork is informed by the natural world around her, despite its heavy urban density, finding parallels between nature’s anecdotes of perseverance and her Chicana heritage. She works mainly in 2D with paintings and drawings in a variety of media.