Santa Maria seeking teen artists to help paint new downtown mural
SANTA MARIA, Calif. -- The City of Santa Maria is looking for teen artists to help paint a planned new large-scale mural that will be located at the Civic Center.
The artwork will depict Santa Maria's "past, present and future," on a blank wall located on a building adjacent to City Hall.
Measuring 16 feet high by 32 feet long, the mural will face Broadway, near the busy intersection of Cook Street.
The city is now recruiting teens interested in art to help take part in the project that is scheduled to begin in January 2023 and be completed, weather permitting, by February 2023.
The Recreation and Parks Department, along with The Environment Makers, Inc. are offering teenagers the opportunity to help paint 16 4x8-foot wood panels during a three-day workshop at the Abel Maldonado Community Youth Center’s Art Studio.
"The teens will help the artist and they'll learn along the process how this works," said Dennis Smitherman, Santa Maria Recreation Services Manager. "The design is already developed, so teens will learn about projection, about scaling up, about blending colors and mixing paint and a lot of skills artists use in order to create a mural this size."
The workshops will be led by Kym Cochran and Jonathan Smith. According to the city, Smith specializes in projection and light art, while Cochran is known as a theming professional.
The first workshop will take place on Thursday, January 5th from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. The second workshop will be held on Friday, January 6th from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. The final workshop is set for Saturday, January 7th beginning at 1 p.m. until 4 p.m.
When completed, the mural will be the latest edition to a growing collection of public artwork that has been created throughout the city over the past few years.
"City Council adopted the Santa Maria Master Art Master Plan in 2019 and this is one of the goals to help us meet that overall project goal," said Smitherman. "It's a five-year plan. As we continue to expand art, you'll see more utility box art this year, as well as this mural and many other projects coming down the pipeline."
Smitherman added the new mural will be part of a much larger project planned for the front location of the Civic Center.
"We're removing all the turf and creating a drought-tolerant landscape interpretive garden, as well as this new mural," said Smitherman. "People will be able to walk through the garden, have a seat, enjoy the mural and learn about drought-tolerant plantings here in Santa Maria."
Teens interested in taking part in the mural may register at www.cityofsantamaria.org/register.
For more information, call the Santa Maria Recreation and Parks Department, at (805) 925-0951 extension 2260.
