Southern California is a draw for many reasons, and longtime residents of the region have many stories to tell about the beauty and quality of life that surrounds them.
For Marisa Murrow, a painter, her life of travel and artistic creation led her back to the place where she was raised, a place where she would find a new appreciation for those formative years and new vision for her artistic endeavors.
In recent years, she has consistently painted an unlikely subject matter, she said; mobile home parks.
“The series is as much about the homes as painting itself,” Murrow told her audience at a recent meeting of the Western Manufactured Housing Communities Association (WMA).
“I find the subject matter keeps me curious and challenged as an artist. I am very attracted to the idea of community and the sameness of these particular structures,” Murrow said. “They are a metaphorical celebration of human connectivity. To get to know someone beyond the surface, we need to go inside: a place where we are all ‘decorated differently’ by the experiences we have.”
Maria Horton, from Newport Pacific, was among the attendees at the annual meeting late last year, and struck up a conversation with the artist.
“My first thought was related to the beauty of her work,” Horton said. “I had seen these locations years before and was surprised by how they stood out in Marisa’s work.”
The beauty of these manufactured home communities — Tahitian Terrace, Palisades Bowl, and Malibu Village — was captured in her paintings, so colorful and bright, Horton said.
Paintings Gain Increased Importance
Murrow is native to Pacific Palisades, where her open air studio is equally as appealing as the work that comes to life there.
“Taking notice of the slipping hillside after the rains, I sometimes wondered if there would be a massive mudslide in the park,” Murrow said. “Never in my wildest dreams did I think this beautiful community right next to the Pacific Ocean would catch fire. I was in shock when an art collector told me mobile homes exploded one right after the other. She said it looked like hell on earth.”
These tight-knit coastal communities are a place where people share common ground. She grew up in those hills overlooking the water — she and her neighbors swam in each other’s pools, sold lemonade on the corners, and walked to school together.
Murrow said curiosity and a good challenge are motivation toward making art. The loss of place that shaped her, that inspired her, is devastating.
“The beaches and roads are closed indefinitely from the Palisades through a long stretch of Malibu,” Murrow said. “Unable to pick up a paint brush in this moment, I found solace in volunteering at an evacuation center near my studio.”
Through this process, a purpose presented itself. With donated flowers and experience working as a floral designer, Murrow began making arrangements on a bi-weekly basis to bring some cheer to the recreation centers and other places residents in need are being sent.
Artists don’t just create — they connect, they heal, they help others see in ways we didn’t know we needed, she said.
“Creativity carries people through. I have come to realize, when things fall apart, it is healing to get to work, reach out,” Murrow said. “Give. Because in the giving, we get back what we thought we lost.”
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