Client: Los Angeles County

Overview

Down the Block is a permanent, ninety-foot-long artwork in the lobby of the recently renovated MRT Behavioral Health Center in Willowbrook, south of central Los Angeles. The installation highlights the multi-decade links between the local community and the six-story Health Center, which looms large in the primarily residential Willowbrook neighborhood. For twenty years, Silver Threads, a quilting circle with a long-standing history in the local community, has sewn hand-made quilts and donated them to patients in need at the health center. These quilts are emblematic of the warmth shown by the community toward those in need at MRT and the healing process that new patients will be embarking on in the renovated facility. Down the Block stitches together digital photographs of three sets of homes from the local community, while approximating traditional quilt block patterns.

Goals

Down the Block’s glowing, patchwork images of local homes emanate through the lobby, reflecting the supportive and tight-knit relationship between the MRT Behavioral Health Center and the community that surrounds it.