Johanna Poethig

Johanna Poethig is a visiting professor in the Visual Arts and Music department at California State University, Monterey Bay's College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. An accomplished public artist specializing in large-scale murals, she maintains strong connections with UCLA@SPARC's Digital Mural Lab and the CityWide Mural Program.

Poethig's artistic practice centers on cultural identity, displacement, and community engagement through public art. Her notable work Calle de la Eternidad (Eternity Street), originally created in downtown Los Angeles, featured pre-Columbian imagery, Octavio Paz's poetry, and golden arms reaching toward the sky, expressing the Latino community's experiences of dislocation and adaptation. When the building housing this mural faced demolition in 2012, Poethig led its digital restoration at UCLA@SPARC's Digital Mural Lab, preserving the 40x60 foot artwork through high-resolution imaging and digital techniques.

Her approach to digital restoration maintains fidelity to the original work while embracing new creative possibilities, noting that the technology allows her to 'get really close, and pull back, just like when you paint a mural.' Poethig's work bridges traditional cultural elements with contemporary urban experiences, creating spaces where 'place becomes changeable and time is frozen' for viewers engaged in everyday life.

At CSUMB, Poethig contributes to the Visual Arts and Music department's Visiting Artist Series, sharing her expertise in public art creation and preservation with students and the campus community.