Images of fire, protests and tear gas from Ferguson, Missouri, Mexico City and downtown Los Angeles have circled the globe through social media the last six months. They landed in the inbox of painter Sandy Rodriguez, who works out of a studio in South L.A.'s Leimert Park.
Sandy Rodriguez has a 9-to-5 job at the Getty’s education department. During her off hours, she paints at a former hair salon converted into an artist studio.
"I'm one of three artists in residence with Art + Practice Foundation here in Leimert Park," Rodriguez says. "This is the first year of the program. It is a 14-month residency, so I get to create and just work here for 14 months. Started in August of 2014."
When she started the residency, she proposed a dozen paintings about Leimert Park’s revitalization. She painted a 1920s home, a street scene and the nighttime fog of nearby Mar Vista.