Love Train [SLIDESHOW]

I first met Ed and Bernie Massey 12 years ago when they organized a citywide art project to paint the oil derrick towers at Beverly Hills High School. The brothers, who got hundreds of children in schools and hospitals around Los Angeles to paint brightly colored panels of flowers, then affixed them to the drab green towers. I hadn’t seen the Masseys since, but I thought of them every time I drove down Olympic.

I met up with them again last Sunday, in a Marina del Rey parking lot, where I saw firsthand how their ambitions, and accomplishments, have progressed.

I was one of 60 volunteers from the Nashuva congregation who had come to participate in the brothers’ “Summer of Color — Lifeguard Towers of Los Angeles,” a Portraits of Hope project that will affix artwork to more than 150 lifeguard towers lining Los Angeles County beaches.

Since we last met, the Masseys, founders of Portraits of Hope, have taken their passion for pairing public art with social transformation from their hometown of Beverly Hills to sites around the world. They have guided thousands in painting and affixing Ed’s bright designs onto everything from hundreds of New York City taxicabs, to one of the country’s largest blimps, to the Eiffel Tower. In 2003, they reconfigured the mangled hulk of an Israeli bus that had been blown up in a suicide bombing and sent it across the country as part of traveling exhibition on terror.

The Masseys themselves are a model team. Ed is an accomplished artist and Bernie describes himself as a “social entrepreneur,” which is far too modest: the man could organize the Olympics in his sleep. Think the Baldwin brothers, but redheaded, Jewish and devoted to improving the world through art.

Beauty has its own value, as does getting volunteers out on an afternoon to paint. But the Masseys’ genius is to combine all those elements to accomplish lasting change in society — through education, awareness and the process of creating the art itself.

“It’s much more than just the art,” Bernie said. “It’s civic education, teamwork, collaboration, bringing communities together.”

During the week, thousands of school children from third grade to high school come to paint. But first, there is discussion.

“Lifeguards are about being able to see, about vision, so we ask the children to write their vision for society. We ask them to write where they see their lives in 10 years,” Bernie said.

Being a lifeguard is also about saving people, Bernie said, so children receive a cardboard model of a lifeguard tower and are instructed to illustrate their idea for what they would do to save the world. The models all have a coin slot in the roof.

“The idea is the kids use them to save money to donate to the causes they care about,” Bernie said. Yes, Ed Massey has designed the coolest tzedakah box ever.

After the saving-the-world education comes the teamwork of painting the large foam-board designs.

L.A. County Supervisors Zev Yaroslavsky and Don Knabe helped steer the project through the government bureaucracy. The $1.5 million cost will be borne by foundations, individuals and in-kind contributions. Ford Motor Co. is a major sponsor; Laird Plastic donated the panel materials and Image Optics donated almost $500,000 worth of printing. Sponsors can get their name on a tower for $10,000.

The panels will stay up for five months starting in May, after which they’ll be shipped off to brighten another corner of the world. Bernie assumes most will end up decorating housing in Haiti. Painted with professional-grade paint and coated with varnish, the panels will remain bright for many decades, “like any work of art,” Ed said.

By the time “Summer of Color” is completed, some 6,000 people will have had a hand in painting 100,000 square feet of art.

“By the time the summer crowds come,” Bernie said, “you’ll have L.A. showing peacock colors.”

Nashuva was the first Jewish group to volunteer, but the Masseys are eager to hear from more.

“We need them,” Bernie said. “We have to finish by May 1. This is the time.”

Here’s my advice: Bring your group. I saw how it works firsthand. It was a cool, sunny afternoon. Volunteers worked in teams around the wide white panels, and, following Bernie and Ed’s instructions, tracked bright paint inside thick black lines. Teens and toddlers worked beside parents and grandparents. Singles mingled. The Masseys blasted soul music over a loudspeaker. As the empty spaces turned into bright purples, oranges and pinks, The O’Jays’ “Love Train” filled the air: People all over the world/Join hands/Start a love train, love train.

Thanks, brothers.

Links:

Nashuva Paints the Towers

Find more photos like this on EveryJew.com

Portraits of Hope — Lifeguard Towers of Los Angeles
Israeli bus