PUBLIC ART: City Council approves five new murals
by Mark McDermott Forgive Charles Bragg if it feels like he’s been here before. In 2019, the Manhattan Beach City Council, with ample dollars in its Public Art Trust Fund, and lots of prominent blank walls on City properties, approved five murals. “We have wasted wall space,” said Mayor Richard Montgomery, then a council member, at a council meeting that June. “And nothing is being done with it.” Bragg was one of the artists commissioned to change that. His proposal for the Joslyn Center, a beach and seascape intended to wrap entirely around the building, was approved by the council. Soon, he signed a contract, bought his mural insurance, and prepared to complete the work. And then nothing happened. Or as Bragg put it, “Delay, delay, delay.” The City’s former cultural arts director, Martin Betts, retired. A question arose about the future of the Joslyn Center, including a possible renovation. And then the global pandemic arrived. Bragg’s mural got lost in the flood. His was the only of the five commissions that was never completed. Bragg, undaunted, returned to the City Council on Tuesday night. The City was ready to commission up to seven more murals for locations that included…
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