Santa Monica Citizens Gather to Save Muir Woods Mural
All the chairs were taken at the second-floor community room at the Santa Monica Public Library on Wed. Oct. 16. Serving up her own birthday cake, art therapist and peace activist Marissa Rubin greeted attendees of Santa Monica CityTV producer Madeleine Gallagher's film, "Art and Activism." As part of the station’s “Wave” series, the film explored the impact that artists have on local communities with respect to environmental justice. It featured artists like Mary Kelly and Ron Finley, as well as Marissa’s husband, Jerry Rubin.
"This is why we exist - to bring issues to the community,” said CityTV station manager Russ Maloney.
The screening brought attention to the “Save the Muir Woods Mural” campaign, spearheaded five years ago by the Rubins and “Curious City” Columnist Charles Andrews, who wrote about the mural's uncertain fate in the Santa Monica Daily Press. The Rubins are passionate about preserving local art through community outreach. The campaign presented an opportunity to fight for the mural's message of preserving nature in addition to public art.
"[The mural] stands for so much,” said Jerry Rubin. "It beautifies the integrity of Ocean Park Boulevard.”
The Muir Woods mural, originally painted by Jane Golden in 1978, has depictions of Redwood Trees inspired by the acclaimed naturalist John Muir. The mural’s message is particularly salient with the threat of climate change a prevalent topic today. Located at the cross-section of Ocean Park and Lincoln Boulevard, at the newly named Michelle And Barack Obama Center for Inquiry and Exploration (MBO), the mural's future is at stake.
“Our respectful activism will win the day,” Jerry Rubin said.
The campaign’s Facebook page collected signatures of support from community members, in addition to gathering endorsements from Santa Monica city agencies like the Task Force on the Environment and the Recreation and Parks Commission. Members of the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District (SMMUSD) board and former Santa Monica mayors have also expressed support.
At the SMMUSD board meeting the next day, Superintendent Dr. Ben Drati introduced the District’s Chief Operating Officer, Carey Upton, to present the staff’s recommended action for the school’s exterior walls. That recommendation pledged to engage community members in a collaborative process to create a new mural but also emphasized the dangers posed by the mural’s lead paint.
“The challenge is that if we were to repaint this mural, we would have to take it down to the concrete,” said Upton.
In his public comments to the board, Jerry Rubin and other Santa Monica community members expressed the homegrown support and love for the mural.
"There’s a lot of people out there who love it," said speaker and mural supporter Kathy Knight. "I support saving this wonderful treasure in our neighborhood.”
Expressing a shy but hopeful admiration, Calvin, a fifth-grade student at John Muir Elementary School, said, “It’s very beautiful and represents a great thing."
During the SMMUSD Board’s deliberations, Board Vice-President Jon Kean expressed his preference for Golden to lead the mural's re-work. As board members commented, support grew for an amended resolution.
“Those walls belong to the community,” said SMMUSD board member Oscar de la Torre. “We have to give respect to the people living in that neighborhood.”
A resolution was passed unanimously stating that staff must expeditiously contact Golden with an offer to lead the mural’s ‘reimagining.’ The Board emphasized that supplemental funding must come from the local arts communities who’ve pledged their support.
“I believe that this can be a rebirth of public art in Santa Monica,” Kean said as the meeting came to a close.