Two NorCal Muralists Bring an Artistic Touch to California Infrastructure

We Californians spend many hours in our vehicles, perhaps more than we’d like to admit. For an artist who spends her time painting murals on underpasses and water tanks, that’s prime audience potential. Two women, Sofia Lacin and Hennessy Christophel, founded LC Studio Tutto with the purpose of “connecting people to their surroundings in an emotional way through color and lively abstract imagery.” The pair met at art school in Sacramento and, over the last decade, has collaborated on 75 murals, custom paintings and interactive installations, including Memory of a Tree, a mural beneath Highway 29 in Yountville.

“’We have different artistic strengths,’” says Christophel in a story for 7×7. “Lacin’s background in abstract painting combines with Christophel’s love of illustration to form a one-of-a-kind approach to creating works that are ‘greater than either one of us,’ Lacin says. Their development process, which involves coming up with key words about the landscape as well as extensive research on the area, can take as long as six months.”

“In Yountville, the process took a personal turn. After entering a national contest to beautify the underpass, Christophel said they ‘found an opportunity to engage more deeply because it’s such a small town.’ The artists asked the residents to supply keywords that described the place where they live and, with those in mind, they fine-tuned the mural to this authentic perspective. In four months time they came up with as many different designs and put them to the vote: The residents selected Memory of a Tree, which harkens back to the landscape of the area before vineyards were planted, where native oak trees stood guard over the valley. According to Christophel, this particular piece connected the mural to the location in a ‘more permanent and deeply rooted way.’”

Both artists are currently at work on another large-scale work, Woven City—a vibrant installation at the entrance to the Mountain View Community Center. That project will be completed in late 2018.

View the whole story here.

Photographed by LC Studio Tutto