California woman starts graffiti festival to honor late brother. She wants it in Modesto

For more than a decade, Serena “Rain” Lujan has held a graffiti festival in a Fresno-area park in honor of her late brother. Last year’s Bizare Art Festival drew more than 80 graffiti artists and 1,500 people from throughout California and other states.

But Lujan, 54, would like to bring the annual festival home to Modesto. “It’s the city we’ve lived in for over three decades,” she said. “It’s the city my brother lived in and where he passed away.”

Lujan rents Calwa Park near Fresno every January. The 20-acre park features a quarter-mile-long cinder-block art wall where graffiti artists and muralists create their work.

Lujan said she screens all of the festival’s artists to ensure their work is free of profanity and references to drugs, violence or anything else that is not family-friendly. There is no alcohol. She said the festival inspires graffiti artists to become their best selves and help others to do that as well.

The festival includes DJs, breakdancers and rappers, as well as artisans selling handmade clothing, hats, jewelry and other items. Lujan said there are at least two bounces houses for children and other activities for them, such as face-painting.

She said about 80% of the festivalgoers come from Chico to San Diego, with the rest coming from outside of California, primarily from the western United States. About 10% are children.

The Bizare Art Festival is held on a Saturday but people start arriving Friday and typically leave late Sunday. Lujan said these out-of-towners book hotel rooms, rent Airbnbs and eat in local restaurants.

Quarter-mile-long art wall

“I’ve only been here one year, but it worked out fine,” said Tim Chapa, the Calwa Recreation & Park District administrator, about last year’s festival. “From our staff, I understand it’s always a positive event.”

Calwa is a primarily Latino, unincorporated community near Fresno. Lujan picked Calwa Park because it was among the places her brother painted and because of its quarter-mile-long art wall. Anyone can rent space on the wall throughout the year.

Lujan and her brother Salvador “Bizare” Lujan moved to Modesto from San Jose with their family in 1988. Lujan said her brother was a graffiti artist and in 1986 founded Legends Of Rare DesignS, or LORDS, a Bay Area-based graffiti crew.

He died of a heart attack in 2013, when he was 44. Lujan said her brother meant so much to the graffiti artist community that fellow artists raised money for his funeral. She said more than 300 people attended, many fellow graffiti artists.

Lujan said as much as she considers Calwa Park the festival’s home she would like to hold it in Modesto. She has looked for potential sites in the past and will start looking again, including city parks and industrial sites.

She asks anyone with suggestions on potential locations to email her at rain@bizareartfestival.biz.

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