Okay, after thinking about documenting the many and amazing murals in Santa Cruz County, I said to myself - let's start! I have commissioned myself to do this: find them, photograph them, learn about them and the artists, compile all this into a book to publish and make available to others. A document of public graphic art, and a period of time of Santa Cruz history. I first contacted about 300 people on my email list who live in the county and asked them for help: to give me locations/addresses of mural art they might know of. I have already heard from a little over 30 of them in the last 48 hours and THANK YOU ALL for your support and input!! Then I contacted the Cultural Council and the Community Foundation to support this project . They were enthusiastic and I will formalize my interests to them in grant requests in 2011.
Today was was my first day...started in Felton and up through the San Lorenzo Valley.
After photographing the first two murals I realized that I needed to measure them. So my next stop up Highway 9 was the hardware store in Ben Lomond to buy a tape measure. I actually own a couple of them but didn't want to drive back home to get one. I found a 25' one for a little over $6...and then I found my ACE rewards card I hadn't used for $5 off...so I got the tape measure for a whopping $2.62. Pretty cool.
I'd seen a mural there in Ben Lomond at the art center (appropriately), and asked the clerk if she knew of any others in the area. She reminded me of a couple, like the Orthodox Church, that I would not have thought of. And she reminded me of Jimmy Dean in Brookdale. She told me about how the new owner of the Brookdale Lodge had started to paint over this long standing mural, and because of community outcry, had it re-painted it. So off I went with my tape measure.
Well Jimmy looked pretty second class compared to the original. I'm hoping someone out there has a photo of the original that they'll contribute....
Then in Boulder Creek. I started photographing and measuring the hardware store there which had several murals depicting local history. I think I'm minding my own business and then this woman shows up and says' "What are you doing?" After taking a moment to write down the measurement numbers in my head I explained, "I'm on a mission to document the murals in Santa Cruz County." Anne Marie Conrad, who owns the hardware business with her husband Doug says, "Well, we heard the sound of the measuring tape and wondered what was going on." Of course! I thought - hardware business...they would totally know the sound of a measuring tape! I apologized, not meaning to cause any consternation. She was then kind enough to give me some of the history around the mural and point out some fun details I did not see. A very nice and unexpected connection.
I toured a couple other streets and then started heading back down Highway 9 toward Scotts Valley. As an aside: while I am driving around I make note of murals I see along the routes so that I can get back to them. One of these was a mural on the side of Mountain Propane. So on the way back down Hwy 9 I stopped to take a picture. Well, there were a bunch of cars in the way of the artwork so I went over to the shop and asked when the best time would be to come back for a pix. I talked to Selby Henderson who was very congenial and helpful. Then he asked one of his workmates, "Who did the mural?" and that young fellow said, "My mom." How cool is THAT?! She even has a website which I will be checking out. Selby also informed me of a couple of tagger murals made in tribute to a number of local young people who died in accidents. These are in rather remote, non-obvious places...I am looking forward to seeing these. Thanks Selby.
Later this afternoon I had a reason to travel down Soquel Avenue and noticed murals along the way. And I also noticed spaces where there had been great murals that have been painted over!
What I learned today, my first day on this project:
- Measure the mural
- Notice where the sun is and get an idea of the best time of day to photograph
- Take notes
- How many public art pieces there are out there when one actually LOOKS for them!
- How many of these pieces are just sort of in our "peripheral" vision.
- Becoming aware of those pieces that I always enjoyed in my peripheral are gone...and I miss them and feel a bit of sadness that they are gone.
- Asking myself: what defines a mural....
I am really stoked about this project. Aside from appealing to my artistic sensibilities, it is causing me to think about the process in ways I hadn't imagined. What to document? How to photograph? Where to get the history? What are the relationships of store owners to their artwork, etc?
New doors opening.
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