Colorful murals are popping up around SLO. Here’s a look at the new public art
Moseying around San Luis Obispo these days, you might have noticed new murals on multiple downtown facades.
The murals are the work of a variety of artistic efforts.
A Marsh Street Bridge mural depicting a floral scene was coordinated by the SLO County Arts Council and the San Luis Obispo Museum of Art and painted by Marmalade Mural Co., a creative business comprised of artists Amy McKay, Missy Reitner and Neal Breton.
McKay, a former landscape architect, came up with the idea and cited her favorite native wildflowers on the Central Coast as its inspiration, according to a news release.
The reconstruction of the bridge was completed earlier this year, strengthening and upgrading the city roadway.
In a separate project, Marmalade Mural Co. also created another mural at 2640 Broad St., the building owned by Natural Healing Center, showcasing familiar landmarks throughout SLO County, including the Mission, wineries and the coastline.
Fremont Theatre and Woodstock’s mural
Additionally, SLOMA commissioned Boston-based artist Maria Molteni to transform the backside of the Fremont Theatre with a mural that wraps around to Woodstock’s Pizza, showcasing a colorful depiction that draws inspiration from the Seven Sisters mountain peaks.
Molteni, who identifies with they/their pronouns, uses a “really intentional research process and wants to make sure that the work is reflective of the community, and their style in general is that they include a really intentional use of color,” said Emma Saperstein, chief curator at the San Luis Obispo Museum of Art.
Saperstein added: “Maria brilliantly connected that to the Pleiades, the star cluster in Greek mythology, and a lot of the symbolism that is developing on the mural wall is relating the seven Morros to the seven Pleiades.”
“If you’re looking at the picture, you can see there are the seven peaks that are being painted and then the ship on the Woodstock’s wall has seven sails, and that’s in reference to how the Pleaides star cluster was used for navigation on the ocean,” Saperstein said.
Saperstein said that the public art planning, which occurred in coordination with SLO’s city government, is striving to find ways to represent the community identity through the work.
“As you drive into downtown, so many people drive onto Higuera Street, and we really want the murals to feel like it identifies with downtown and the city,” Saperstein said. “There’s a similar dialogue happening with the roundabouts. We want to do to show, ‘How do you know when you’re entering San Luis Obispo and what can we do to identify our city?”
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