New art in town New art in town (July 02, 2004)

Mural projects have been unveiled throughout the city
by Teresa C. Brown

Waiting for a bus or walking on a school campus, folks may notice some new art around town. It's all thanks to the talents of students who worked on three separate public art projects, one at Foothill High, one at a Wheels bus stop on Santa Rita Road, and another at Walnut Grove Elementary School.

At Foothill, a colorful display adorning an 8-foot by 20-foot wall on campus is part of a visual multicultural statement, said Foothill's multicultural advisor Faye Gabriel.

"It was a lifelong dream of mine and Mark Lightfoot's that we do a diversity mural," Gabriel explained. Lightfoot teaches art at Foothill. "We talked about it for a couple years, and this year we decided to make it happen."

Under the direction of professional muralist Gianna Evers, students Anthony Bonasera, Mario Cobar and Jesse Painter, with the collaboration of Multicultural Club officers Krupa Trivedi and Jenny Hsu, painted the mural entitled "Race Has No Faces." The boldly colored design depicts faceless musicians.

"They picked something that was common to all cultures, that is music," Gabriel said. Regardless of their differences, Foothill students should not tolerate a lack of respect, she said is the mural's message. "The mural will serve as a reminder of what this school represents, a respectful and tolerant community."

She summed up the mural's message with a quote by Ralph W. Stockman: "The test of courage comes when we are in a minority. The test of tolerance comes when we are in a majority."

The mural was funded by a $750 donation from the Pleasanton Cultural Arts Council, which was matched by the school's multicultural club as well as other student groups.

Across town in front of the post office, on Santa Rita Road near Black Avenue, another mural brightens the vista at a Wheels bus shelter. Foothill students Jaime Wiltz, McKenzie O'Brien and Amanda Flebut designed and painted an acrylic 25-foot by 7-foot mural layered in Plexiglas and installed at the back of the shelter, said Lightfoot.

The multipaneled mural, titled "As Evening Falls," depicts a falcon pulling the nighttime sky across the day, Lightfoot said. It also features familiar Pleasanton landmarks such as the Pleasanton Hotel, Meadowlark Dairy and the museum.

Originally, the mural was designed with a school theme specifically for installation at a shelter near the high school on Foothill Road, Lightfoot said. However, that shelter was removed and the Livermore Amador Valley Transit Authority (LAVTA) selected the Santa Rita Road site for the artwork.

LAVTA funded the $200 project, which is the first of its kind in Pleasanton, while a fourth for LAVTA, systemwide.

The project, which was started in January and completed last month, presented the three teen artists with challenges: It was transparent, and brushwork had to be taken into account. The young women chose an impressionistic painting style, like Monet, Lightfoot said.

The project was a good experience for the Foothill artists, Lightfoot said. It gave the young women a chance to experience the public art process, from the challenges of proposals and approvals to completing the artwork.

At Walnut Grove, Jill Kirkwood's third-grade class, guided by muralist Wolfgang Heinritz, painted a history-of-Pleasanton mural. The artwork spans an entire upper wall in the school's multipurpose room.

Heinritz, whose grandson Clayton Young is in Kirkwood's class, designed the mural based on the students' history studies.

He began the project in January, sketching a smaller scaled preliminary drawing of specific historic scenes, which were then transferred to 33 vinyl squares by the students. Using a specialized numbering system, akin to a paint-by-numbers project, the students painted the squares.

The squares were installed the last week of school on the wall with Heinritz painting the background scene around the vinyl squares, as well as outlining and making corrections as needed.

"It's all the positive side of life," Heinritz pointed out about the mural. All of the scenes - from the Ohlone Indian children to the children of the future looking toward outer space - are positive, he explained.

The mural also depicts Mount Diablo, Pleasanton's first school and the Pleasanton Hotel.

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