Sara Velas is an artist, graphic designer, gardener, curator and Artistic Director of the Velaslavasay Panorama in Los Angeles, CA, US.

Biography

Born in

Panorama City Panorama City is a neighborhood in the city of Los Angeles, California, in the San Fernando Valley. It has a generally young age range as well as the highest population density in the Valley. Ethnically, more than half of its population was born a ...

, Velas studied the panoramic painting style while a student at

Washington University Washington University in St. Louis (WashU or WUSTL) is a private research university with its main campus in St. Louis County, and Clayton, Missouri. Founded in 1853, the university is named after George Washington. Washington University is r ...

School of Art in Saint Louis, Missouri, where she received her BFA in Painting. Velas’ interest in panoramas goes back to her days as an art student. She was researching the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair and became aware of the panorama paintings that entertained people there. In 2000, she founded the Velaslavasay Panorama in Los Angeles, CA. Velas also served as the president of the

International Panorama Council The International Panorama Council (IPC) is a nongovernmental, not-for-profit organization, subject to Swiss law. It is a global network involving museum directors, managers, artists, restorers and historians who deal with the historical or the cont ...

from 2014 to 2017, which meets annually to discuss the panoramic medium both historically and contemporarily and currently serves as Co-President with Molly Briggs. When interviewed in 2016 for the journal ''Museum Futures'', Velas noted that: “A few times, I suppose I’ve not been the ideal interviewee because folks would ask me ‘Now that you’ve done this, what would you like to have happen?’ Getting at a higher pinpointed truth or ‘secret meaning.’ My genuine answer is that I want to keep working on it, tending to it and aligning its growth- similar to a garden (and also literally a garden).” Ms. Velas was featured twice on episodes of ''Visiting… With

Huell Howser Huell Burnley Howser (October 18, 1945 – January 7, 2013) was an American television personality, actor, producer, writer, singer, and voice artist, best known for hosting, producing, and writing ''California's Gold'' and his human interest sh ...

'' for her work with the Velaslavasay Panorama (2001 & 2011). An avid architectural preservationist, in 2002 Sara Velas co-authored with fellow Modcom member Meri Pritchett the first nomination in the United States to successfully grant cultural historic preservation status to a

trailer park A trailer park,caravan park, mobile home park, mobile home community or manufactured home community is a temporary or permanent area for mobile homes and travel trailers. Advantages include low cost compared to other housing, and quick and ea ...

, the Monterey Trailer Park in Highland Park.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Velas, Sara Living people American women artists Panoramic art American graphic designers American women graphic designers Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American women