The
San Diego Union-Tribune — Jun. 28, 2013
Written by James Chute
“Spreading Love Through Art” by Lincoln High School students.
With the assistance of Writerz Blok, students at Lincoln High School have reclaimed a blighted wall near the school at 47th and Imperial Ave.
A new 60-foot mural, “Spreading Love Through Art,” was officially unveiled Thursday.
“That wall was pretty much an eyesore for the community,” said Writerz Blok’s Sergio Gonzalez. “it was always tagged on, always vandalized, and we wanted to do a project with the students where we could show them ways to take ownership and beautify the community.”
Writerz Blok is a youth service agency that helps young people by transforming them from taggers into artists. Supported in part by the Jacobs Center for Neighborhood Innovation, it operates a legal graffiti art park, which comprises over 10,000 sq. ft. of paintable walls and is open to the public.
“Spreading Love” was painted by about a dozen students in a Lincoln multimedia class, which also put together a marketing and advertising plan for the nonprofit Writerz Blok as part of a class project.
Gonzalez is hopeful the collaboration with Lincoln will continue, and that “Spreading Love” will be the first of a series of murals created by the students on that wall.
He’s working to change the perception of Southeastern San Diego as place known for “gangs and violence,” one wall, and one class, at a time.