Thomas Starr King Middle School, Los Angeles, California
A crouching concrete Native American named The Vanishing Race by Djey el Djey has watched over the courtyard of Thomas Starr King Middle School since 1936. Like the neighborhood in which it sits, this artwork has seen better days.
The
school and its sculpture are currently benefiting from the wave of revitalization that is
sweeping the Los Feliz area, however. The Vanishing Race received an SOS! Treatment
Award last autumn, and The Sculpture Conservation Studio, Los Angeles, completed the
conservation this winter.
Vandals did a great deal of damage to The Vanishing Race over the years. To help the students become emotionally invested in the art work and prevent future destruction, the school beautification committee and administrators involved the students in the entire treatment process. Students participated in weekend efforts to clean up the courtyard, and teachers included sculpture-related activities in their curricula. As a result of their participation, the 12- to 14-year-old students at King Middle School have optimistic opinions about the sculpture's future.
"Ever since we've been talking about this project I've started to notice it more, and when we saw the picture of it when it was new it looked so much better. I just wanted to do something different for the school and make it more prettier, and I think this project is really going to help." — Ronna
"When people do graffiti on our school then nobody has respect for our school anymore, and if we don't respect it then it's gonna be just like trash. It's not even a pretty school anymore, but if we do little things one at a time, if we do the Indian, then I think people will have more respect for it." — Bianca
"I think that it's great the statue is being restored. It's been looking sort of uneven and it will be good for it to be fixed because there's tagging on it now. I feel proud that it will be fixed." — Daireek
Thomas Starr King Middle School Poetry
Oh, the sorrow that the Indian feels.
Oh the sorrow that I feel for the Indian,
with his broken down body.
It feels sorrow
because it has been abused,
pieces broken off,
graffiti all over its body.
It has been neglected.
He longs to be clean,
and be fixed,
and be loved.
With his mangled face
and aging,
beaten body.
We feel sorrow for the Indian.
— Michael M.
The tortured Indian
sits there alone.
That makes me feel sad.
The many coats it has
have been chipped off,
but it still has the soft color of blue.
Sadness goes to its broken toe.
Graffiti on his eyes tells me
that people really don't care.
It represents all the things
the school has been through.
Tortured and alone,
sitting there
for everyone
to feel sad for.
— Rachel
The Indian sits,
a blue blob of cement
with graffiti on his face
and chipped pieces.
He waits to be free,
free from the cement hold.
People stare at him,
they think he is ugly.
I see something else,
I see his true meaning.
He stands for life
while he sits on his post
at King Middle School.
— Michael B.
Photo by Mary Rodriguez