Long Beach Artist WanJean Featured in Blu Arts & Wellness Gallery’s Black History Month Arts Showcase

The Concrete Rose Project
36 minutes ago
3 min read

LONG BEACH, CA — As Long Beach continues to strengthen its identity as a cultural hub for contemporary and community-driven art, Blu Arts & Wellness Gallery is hosting a Black History Month Arts Showcase that highlights artists whose work bridges legacy, identity, and social impact.

Among the featured artists is WanJean, a visionary creator whose four-decade career has reshaped portraiture through her pioneering “sculpture-on-canvas” technique—an innovative medium that blends sculptural dimensionality with painterly expression to create immersive, emotionally resonant works.

The exhibition, part of the Arts + Design Walk taking place February 14, 2026, brings together artists Mohammed Mubarak, Shelton Gillis, and WanJean, offering visitors an opportunity to experience contemporary works rooted in cultural storytelling and historical reflection.

Blu Arts & Wellness Gallery: A Platform for Cultural Dialogue

Located at 580 Pine Avenue in Downtown Long Beach, Blu Arts & Wellness Gallery has become a growing center for creative expression that merges art with wellness and community engagement. The gallery’s programming emphasizes cultural narratives and artists whose work carries both aesthetic and social significance.

The Black History Month Arts Showcase reflects Blu’s mission to provide space for artists whose work honors heritage while speaking to contemporary audiences.

By presenting artists who challenge traditional artistic boundaries, the gallery reinforces Long Beach’s role as an evolving destination for culturally relevant visual arts.

WanJean: Four Decades of Artistic Innovation

WanJean’s career spans more than 40 years and reflects a commitment to storytelling through visual form. Emerging from Los Angeles’ dynamic art scene in the late 20th century, she has developed a multidisciplinary practice encompassing sculpture, portraiture, design, and public art.

Her groundbreaking “sculpture-on-canvas” medium merges two-dimensional painting with three-dimensional sculptural elements, creating portraits that appear to emerge from the surface. This hybrid form allows her to capture not only likeness but presence—transforming each piece into a narrative monument.

Over the years, WanJean has created commissioned works honoring cultural figures including Stevie Wonder, Fred “Rerun” Berry, and New Edition, among others. Her practice is deeply rooted in honoring legacy, resilience, and the stories often overlooked by traditional art institutions.

Art as Civic Engagement: The Concrete Rose Project

Beyond her personal studio work, WanJean is the founder of The Concrete Rose Project, a nonprofit initiative dedicated to elevating underrepresented artists and reshaping public memory through large-scale installations and community-centered programming.

Inspired by the idea that “excellence can bloom in the most unlikely places,” the organization creates immersive works that commemorate leaders in politics, culture, and community advocacy while mentoring emerging artists from underserved backgrounds.

Through collaborations with city officials, cultural organizations, and local businesses, the project positions art as both historical documentation and a tool for community transformation.

Art That Functions as Monument

WanJean’s artistic approach challenges the traditional boundaries between fine art and public memorialization. Rather than treating portraiture as static imagery, her works act as living archives—capturing emotional depth and historical significance through form, texture, and scale.

This philosophy aligns closely with contemporary conversations around representation in public art, particularly the need to expand whose stories are preserved in civic spaces.

Her presence in the Blu Arts & Wellness Gallery showcase signals a broader cultural shift toward recognizing artists whose work engages directly with social history and community identity.

A Celebration of Black History as Living Narrative

The Black History Month Arts Showcase positions history not as a retrospective exercise but as a living dialogue shaped by contemporary creators.

Through immersive installations and portrait-driven storytelling, the exhibition invites viewers to reflect on the intersections between past and present—honoring legacy while imagining future cultural landscapes.

Event Details

Blu Arts & Wellness Gallery

580 Pine Avenue, Downtown Long Beach

Black History Month Arts Showcase

Arts + Design Walk

Saturday, February 14, 2026

11:00 AM – 3:00 PM

Featured Artists: