I must confess that, years ago, I scoffed when people started visualizing San Pedro as an art colony.
We probably still have a long way to go before we’re mentioned in the same breath with Laguna Beach or Venice, but apparently, if Arts United San Pedro—the subject of last month’s cover story—has its way, it might yet happen.
A unique corollary to San Pedro’s already growing art community comes with Kipos Gallery & Studios opening at Broadway and Seventh Street. That building is owned by Trinity Lutheran Church (full disclosure: my church) and is being renovated thanks to a yearlong grant from Creo Arts, funded by the Lily Foundation through Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn.
Creo Arts is a Christian nonprofit organization in Wilmore, Ky., “led by faith-driven artists, patrons, churches, and organizations who are committed to bringing the beauty of the gospel to local communities across the nation and around the world through the arts.”
Artist and arts professor Winfield Bevins, founder of Creo Arts, first heard about San Pedro when he was contacted by Trinity Pastor Nathan Hoff, who had a vision for artwork to grace the church’s All Saints Prayer Chapel.
Bevins arrived last May, and the result is a painting of Christ and two angels on one wall and, on the north and south walls, 49 depictions of famous Christians.
On the north wall are 27 historical and biblical characters, including St. Peter of Alexandria, for whom San Pedro is named (in black and gold vestments, of course). Among those on the south wall, in a truly ecumenical display, are Martin Luther, St. Benedict, Amy Semple McPherson, William Seymour, Martin Luther King, Jr., C.S. Lewis, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Trinity’s own Larry Christenson. (Chapel doors open at 8 a.m.; a QR code is posted to help visitors identify the figures.)
Regarding Kipos, Hoff says, “I love the sentiment on the mural you see driving down Gaffey on the side of—of all the places—the building near Del Taco: ‘After the plague came the renaissance.’ Could any other street in the world need a creative renaissance more than Gaffey? Signs of beauty and creativity are particularly essential in places where despair threatens. San Pedro needs artists, especially those captivated by the transcendental: truth, beauty, goodness, justice.”
Kipos is Greek for “the garden,” which is appropriate because Hoff says, “We want to plant and water Christian artists to be able to grow in their fields and bloom in their craft while being supported by the church and a community of artists. The gallery and studios cultivate a physical place for artists to come in community with each other, to create art and present work to each other.”
Hoff continues, “Through exhibitions and gallery openings, artists can share and sell their art with the greater community. To build a community of artists, the gallery will be hosting monthly guild meetings, gather together in Christ, sharing work with each other, and supporting fellow members through praise and critique of the pieces being shared. The goal of Kipos is ultimately to inspire beauty, goodness, and truth through the arts and for the church to help champion that beauty into the community.”
The director of Kipos is Geoffrey Bruick, a graduate of Concordia University in St. Paul, Minn., with a bachelor’s in fine arts, who served as an intern at Trinity in 2022-23. His goal is to gather artists in a variety of disciplines to “build a Christian artist guild in the South Bay that promotes God’s beauty through the arts and the church. When you look through history, the big push (for artists) was through the church. Great art was commissioned by the church.”
Bruick hopes that the guild can become a place where older artists get together with younger ones and teach them or become patrons. “I’m thankful to join a community of art already flourishing,” he says. “I really believe this is a new movement in the arts, in the church, looking for a lot more beauty. This is what we want art to be, something that will show God’s character, whether religious or not.”
Bruick can be reached at geoffrey@trinitysanpedro.org. spt
