Terminal 1, Arrivals Level, Baggage Claim 

Metro Art commissioned Jaime Scholnick to create an architecturally integrated artwork for the platform area of the Expo/Crenshaw Station on the new K Line, which is part of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transit Authority transit system. The K Line opened with seven new rail stations in October 2022, and serves the communities of West Adams, Baldwin Hills, Crenshaw Corridor, Hyde Park, Jefferson Park, Leimert Park, Inglewood, Westchester and more. For her project, Scholnick blended fieldwork photography and painting to reflect the daily rhythms of the South L.A. area. 

Working with photographer Sally Coates, Scholnick spent a year documenting the area from Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and the 110 Freeway to Leimert Park, interviewing residents she met on the streets, in shops, and in restaurants about what they would like to see at the Metro station being built in their neighborhood. Their answers formed the foundation of people, places, and events Coates photographed, which became the basis for Scholnick’s artwork panels. The resulting panels are a combination of photography, collage, painting, and distinctive linework that is unique to Scholnick’s practice. 

Scholnick produced multiple panels that reflect the tempo of the community. Ultimately, seventy panels were fabricated in porcelain enamel steel to span the station’s platform level walls. Layered Histories presents a selection of original artworks, including never-before exhibited studies, providing a deeper look into the neighborhood. As many of the buildings and shops that Scholnick and Coates documented no longer exist, these panels serve as a time capsule of the neighborhood, bearing witness to its mosaic of sights, sounds, and stories, and the diverse and vibrant community that calls the Expo/Crenshaw area home.

Jaime Scholnick is a visual artist working in a variety of mediums and forms. She received her MFA from Claremont Graduate University. Her work has been exhibited in galleries and museums nationally and internationally, including PS1 Long Island City; the Hammer Museum; the Torrance Art Museum; and the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery. In addition to Layered Histories (K Line), her public work includes Layered Histories Boyle Heights a glazed porcelain-tile mural -for the LAC+USC Restorative Care Village, and Marshlands, a fused-glass mural for the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center.

jaimescholnick.com
@jmxprod

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