MCLA Co-Founder
Kent Twitchell has been an artist and street muralist since the late 60s. He painted his first signed murals in 1971, "Steve McQueen Monument" in Downtown LA and "Strother Martin Monument" in Hollywood. Kent has painted "The Hollywood Freeway Lady", "The Bride & Groom", monuments to visual artists Ed Ruscha, Lita Albuquerque, Jim Morphesis, Gary Lloyd and others. He painted the original "LA Marathon Mural" in Inglewood, the "LA Chamber Orchestra" in Downtown LA, monuments to "Six LA Artists" in Torrance, the "Dr. J Monument" in Philadelphia and 2 "Monuments to Will Rogers" on the east and west sides of the historic California Theatre in San Bernardino, among other murals. He is the recipient of an NEA "Art in Public Places" grant, 2 Honorary Doctorates and numerous other awards during his career. His paintings appear in art textbooks, magazines, Hollywood films and documentaries and hundreds of newspaper articles. He is in the permanent collections of the LA County Museum of Art, the Chicago Art Institute, the Boise Art Museum, the Smithsonian Institute, the Vincent Prince Art Museum, the Long Beach Museum of Art and many private collections. After finishing a 3-year commission, painting 3 murals in the main lobby of the historic Bob Hope Patriotic Hall in Downtown LA and a 40' tall "Ruby Dee Monument" on the historic Karamu House Theatre in Cleveland, he began painting a new "Freeway Lady" mural on the Student Services Building at LA Valley College. He completed it in 2015, 41 years after the original was painted on the Hollywood Freeway. Also during 2015 he has painted a monument to Olympic and Special Olympic stars Rafer Johnson and Loretta Claiborne in Downtown LA's South Park and is beginning "The Return of Ed Ruscha" on the American Hotel in Downtown's Arts District, to be completed by the end of the year. He has taught at LA City College, Otis College of Art & Design, California State University, LA, Biola University, Pasadena City College and LA County High School for the Arts.