AGCC’s Teen Mural Club works on Va Manuia. Phot courtesy of AGCC.

 

AGCC Unveils Vā Manuia by the Teen Mural Club, Honoring the Spaces Between

Angels Gate Cultural Center or AGCC, in partnership with JP / Jason Pereira and local youth, announces the public unveiling of a new mural, Vā Manuia Feb. 21, at Angels Gate Cultural Center. The installation of this large-scale artwork is the conclusion of the Fall 2025 AGCC Teen Mural Club or TMC, a free ten-week professional development workshop for San Pedro students ages 13-20 years old. The community is encouraged to RSVP for the unveiling.

In Sāmoan culture, Vā is the name of the space between us, and Manuia is the word for blessing. The stories woven into AGCC’s newest mural speak to the honoring of spaces in between. Vā Manuia’s five panels are contemporary versions of the Pasifīka (Pacific Island cultures of Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia) tapa cloth—under the mentorship of lead artist JP, TMC students developed patterns and motifs based on their individual connections to the natural environment. Participants were from San Pedro High School’s Olguin and Flagship Campuses, Port of Los Angeles High School, Dana Middle School, and homeschooling. The final piece is an impactful vision that offers blessings to the land, ocean, sky and community.

AGCC invites the public to celebrate the power of education, community, and creativity as they present the completed mural for the first time. The unveiling will take place on the side of Building H facing the bluff at Angels Gate Cultural Center. Vā Manuia will remain on display for the public during park hours daily in perpetuity.

Time: 2 to 3:30 p.m., Feb. 21

Cost: Free

Details: Reservations, TMCUnveiling.eventbrite.com

Venue: Angels Gate Cultural Center, 3601 South Gaffey St., San Pedro

 

Sustaining Ourselves Workshop Creates Space for Reflection, Intention-Setting While Celebrating Release of Sustainers of Life exhibition Catalog

Angels Gate Cultural Center or AGCC is presenting a workshop with artist Jess Gudiel to honor the past year and celebrate the release of the Sustainers of Life exhibition catalog. Indigenous artist and educator Jess Gudiel will lead a reflection session to release trauma through breathing, writing, dreaming, and setting into place intentions for the next four seasons. The event will take place Feb. 28 in Angels Gate Cultural Center’s Building H.Jess Gudiel will teach the “Sustainers of Life” workshop at AGCC. Photo courtesy of AGCC.

The Sustaining Ourselves workshop will begin with Sustainers of Life co-curator Laurie Steelink sharing about the exhibition’s impact as a space for both mourning losses and celebrating the ongoing resilience of those who nurture and protect life. Exhibition catalogs will be available for purchase at the event, in the gallery in Building A, and on the AGCC website.

At 3 p.m., Jess Gudiel will facilitate a workshop reflecting on the past year and looking forward to the next one. Participants will be guided through a reflection session to release trauma through breathing, writing, dreaming, and setting into place intentions for the next four seasons, honoring the light of our corazones. Light refreshments will be provided. Participants should wear comfortable, warm clothing and bring a yoga mat or blanket to sit on the wood floor. Chairs will also be available.

Jess Gudiel is a Two Spirit artist with roots in GuateMaya and on the ancestral and unceded lands of the Tongva people, also known as Los Angeles. Jess has taught and practiced horticulture, designing/planting California native plants, and shadow art and puppetry since 2009. Since 2011 they have worked as an educator throughout LA, teaching art and gardening in art and culture centers, affordable housing projects, and LAUSD elementary schools. They have taught Victory Garden classes through the Master Gardener program at their home garden and throughout the county for many years as well. In 2022, Jess collaborated with Tongva and Chumash Culture Bearer Tina Calderon and videographer Rosanna Esparzato to create Paviinokre (“we flow” in Tongva), a shadow art short film about the Tongva story of the Seven Sisters. Most recently, Jess has collaborated with artist and friend Sandra de la Loza in Lez Batz. This queer bat duo creates work meant to shed light on queerness in nature, the importance of protecting wild spaces in Northeast Los Angeles, and the subterranean healing found within the hills of NELA. In 2024, Lez Batz exhibited at the Armory Center for the Arts in an exhibition titled From the Ground Up.

Time: 2 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., Feb. 28

Cost: Free

Details: https://tinyurl.com/Sustaining-Ourselves-workshop

Venue: Angels Gate Cultural Center, 3601 S Gaffey St., San Pedro

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