Tuesday, October 22, 1996
Westwood gallery combines art and environmentalism to create
positive images for communityBy Carrie Rosten
Daily Bruin Contributor
Located on Glendon Avenue amid movie theaters, parking lots and
falafel stands is Tim Heritage’s experimental art gallery, designed
to exhibit the work of local environmentally-friendly artists. The
T.Heritage Art Gallery recently reopened its doors to the public
last week in a new and ample space in Westwood.
Artists currently showcased include four local contemporary
painters, but the gallery’s most impressive feature is Heritage’s
large-scale mural. Since March 1995, he has used recycled materials
to create his "World Environmental Mural Sculpture," an on-going
project which he hopes will "continue to promote positive ideas,
raise social awareness and help people." Neither a mural nor a
sculpture, the experimental piece is an expansive collage of
paintings created by several individuals. Each painting depicts a
positive scene of "happiness," becoming a part of a larger sweeping
representation of "lots of happy things."
By assembling an array of mirth-invoking images, Heritage
attempts to raise environmental awareness and social harmony within
the community. He invites a wide variety of people from surrounding
communities to come into his gallery and paint panels for his mural
 an active interaction which reflects his own egalitarian,
easy-going spirit and artistic philosophy.
Unlike many other galleries, T.Heritage is user-friendly. It’s
an unobtrusive space where people can freely walk around the cement
floors, enjoy the art exhibited and get an up-close look at his 3-D
"World Environmental Mural Sculpture" without feeling pressured to
buy something. Individuals can even sit down and leisurely paint a
panel if they so choose.
Each six-sided panel is cut and assembled by hand. Heritage then
cuts the panels from recycled foam, assembles the cubes and
arranges them spontaneously.
"I enjoy putting them all together randomly an d rearranging the
pieces periodically," he says. "This proves my point that
everything in nature forms a beautiful, balanced and unique
whole."
Since he’s always incorporating new painted cubes into the
mural, the piece is constantly changing. For him, the work’s appeal
lies in the fact that it is a group collaboration  one which
always tells new and different stories.
"I think people enjoy being a part of the mural because it’s so
rare that artists allow non-artists to be a part of their art.
That’s what I’m trying to do here at the gallery  break down
those barriers."
The only guideline loosely set down by Heritage in regards to
painting for the piece is that an individual paint, or at least
genuinely try to paint, a positive image. One seven-year-old girl
painted a giant purple TV in front of a tiny house on a hill. The
antenna is so huge that it almost completely blocks the house.
(What does that say about what makes us happy?) An elderly man
painted a tugboat floating in a sea of blue. Couples often come in
to paint together as do mother/daughter pairs. Hearts and rainbows
and smiling suns abound, as do colorful self-portraits and unique
renditions of favorite animals.
"There are lots of simplistic things painted on the mural,"
Heritage remarks. "Perhaps this says quite simply that simple
things in life can bring about happiness."
Each cube reflects the individual artistic perspective of
children, students, professional artists and the elderly.
Practically every voice in our heterogeneous community is
represented here. For Heritage, "Making the mural has helped a lot
of different people. It, and art in general, can be very
therapeutic for many people. We need more of it."
His ongoing efforts to help provide an artistic outlet for those
who otherwise would be reluctant to paint have resulted in a wholly
unique piece of art. Physically, the work is like a bunch of
kaleidoscopic building blocks playfully and informally stacked upon
each other. It is an unusual aesthetic study of both our natural
and social environments, a rich and diverse display of color and
texture which embraces multiple experiences and personal histories.
In keeping with the organic, evolutionary processes of nature, the
piece is forever changing.
This celebration of nature’s simultaneous simplicity and
complexity seems to be a driving inspiration for both the mural and
the gallery. Although Heritage’s artistic conception for the mural
as well as his larger vision for his gallery is all-encompassing
and large-scale, the mural itself is unassuming and quite small. As
the mural continues to grow, Heritage maintains a free-spirited,
"open door" policy which attempts to include, rather than exclude,
the community.
T. Heritage Gallery is located at 1027 Glendon Ave. in Westwood.
Open Tues.-Fri. 12- 5 p.m. For more info, call (310) 208- 1896.
Photos by JON FERREY/Daily BruinJON FERREY/Daily Bruin
Tim Heritage prepares for Halloween, donning one of Arnold
Schulenberg’s exotic masks at his gallery.JON FERREY/Daily
Bruin
T. Heritage Gallery in Westwood Village reopened Oct. 18 after
moving from Westwood Boulevard to Glendon Avenue.