Mural Invites Beachgoers to Stroll Inside

A view from the beach, the outdoor mural at Annenberg Community Beach Club, Santa Monica, Calif. April 22, 2021 (Jorge Devotto | The Corsair)

The Annenberg Community Beach House commissioned abstract artist Yvette Gellis to install a captivating 450 foot mural along their ocean-facing fence. It’s part of their "Beach=Culture" Out of the Blue series which provides cultural programming throughout the year to beachgoers in Santa Monica. As part of Arts Month 2021, the program intends to bring a sense of rejuvenation and hope to residents and visitors.

“Art speaks so much,” said Gellis. She chose to work with nature to convey a sense of harmony and tranquility and also because to her it’s “where we can all get along.” In wanting to make a contribution, she constructed the mural, Sacred Spaces, “to reach really deep into the hearts of every human being,” said Gellis.

Since she was a young girl, Gellis has always had a desire to enter into a painting. Through her mural, Gellis has created “A Shangri-La idea of paradise that maybe I would prefer to be in,” she said. “One installation in which the everyday pedestrian can be drawn magnetically into the work and also feel a little bit of that upliftment in their consciousness. That expansive feeling where the heart expands to have more love.”

Artist Yvette Gellis on her knees painting an outdoor mural at Annenberg Community Beach Club, Santa Monica, Calif. April 22, 2021 (Jorge Devotto | The Corsair)

Gellis merged her landscape paintings with rainbows, poppies, and other details from her photography to produce an engaging journey from dawn to dusk along the walkway. “For me the real immersive experience is in the walk. Where you start on one end and you keep going so that the landscapes are coming at you,” said Gellis.

Beach=Culture Out of the Blue is a collaboration between The Annenberg Community Beach House and Santa Monica Cultural Affairs, to showcase creative projects in unexpected spaces. Gellis painted on-site, applying layers of house paint onto the 26 vinyl panels, giving visitors the opportunity to encounter art-making in action.

“Our desire is to bring some joy and peace to the public as they come upon this by accident,” said Clove Galilee, Cultural Affairs Supervisor for the City of Santa Monica. “This is like a deep breath, you can come here and sit and meditate,” said Galilee of the installation.

Artist Yvette Gellis is painting an outdoor mural at Annenberg Community Beach Club. As part of Santa Monica's Arts Month celebration, the venue commitioned the artist as part of the Out of the Blue program to create an outdoor mural that covers the 400-foot fence in front of the Beach House. Located on 415 Pacific Coast Hwy, Santa Monica, Calif. April 22, 2021 (Jorge Devotto | The Corsair)

This April, Santa Monica celebrated Arts Month with works that highlight the value of the arts to the city. The Cultural Affairs division is an advocate for the essential power of the arts to heal and connect, and it sponsors programs that support artists who engage with the community.

As Santa Monica recovers and re-emerges from the challenges of a global pandemic, the theme for Out of the Blue in 2021 is to “inspire well-being, recuperation, restoration, imagination, peacefulness, whimsy, and/or love of the natural world,” said Galilee.

Annenberg Community Beach House is currently closed to the public, though the mural will remain on view through the summer. As the city gradually reopens and welcomes back visitors, Gellis’ "Sacred Spaces" invites them to wander into their imaginations while simultaneously enhancing the bliss that comes with being near the ocean.

The extend of the mural at Annenberg Community Beach Club. In the far back, the painter is being filmed by a documentarian. As part of Santa Monica's Arts Month celebration, the venue commitioned the artist Yvette Gellis as part of the Out of the Blue program to create an outdoor mural that covers the 400-foot fence in front of the Beach House. Located on 415 Pacific Coast Hwy, Santa Monica, Calif. April 22, 2021 (Jorge Devotto | The Corsair)