AMERICAN ARTISTS IN BERLIN WHILE THE WALL FELL.

American Artist Judi Jensen
Photo taken by me in November of 2011
5900 Wilshire, Behind the Berlin Wall, installation.

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"American artist Judi Jensen. Judi was one of the artists selected for the temporary installation of the Wall Across Wilshire commemoration, in 2009. Here is a brief history of her connection to the Berlin Wall: (While living in West Berlin from 1985 - 1990, Judi did a series of the City and the Wall, having 13 exhibitions of her work there.) In 2006 I attended a talk given at the Wende Museum (in Culver City) by Judi, and American artist, Norton Wisdom - Norton was the first American artist to ever paint on the Berlin Wall (and is the originator of live painting because of his experience in Berlin.) He and Judi were friends, both lived in Berlin at that time, and shared their stories of their experience and how it affected them then, and today. I am very glad I was there to hear them speak. If you did not know the story behind her very delicate and whimsical pen and ink drawings, you would think they were illustrations for a children's book or maybe poetry (they reminded me of my favorite books when I was a little girl, Eloise, and Eloise in Paris.) Each drawing was the end of the streets (I believe 88) that lead to the Wall that surrounded the city and that knowledge made them very dark, but Judi had a way of bringing light to an extremely tragic place in time."

(The westside of the Berlin Wall facing Wilshire Blvd., in Los Angeles, CA was installed November 2009, commemorating the 20 year anniversary of "The Fall of the Wall.")