MISSION MOSAIC MAY BE LOST IN DEMOLITION
Artist Jeremy Wright’s 2-sided wall art must go to make room for multistory building to house homeless people
A colorful mosaic that has adorned the walls of a downtown San Diego ministry for more than a decade could be lost when the building is demolished in a few months, but the artist behind the work hopes at least some of it may be salvaged.
“If there’s an architect who wants to save it, I’m more than willing to help repair it,” said a hopeful Jeremy Wright, an Encinitas resident who has taught art at San Dieguito Academy for more than 20 years.
If the mosaic that covers two exterior walls of the former God’s Extended Hand ministry can’t be saved, however, Wright is resolved about its fate.
“If it goes, it goes,” he said. “I’m moving forward, and I’m still creating and working with people.”
For now, there are no definite plans to save the artwork at the aging building on the corner of Island Avenue and 16th Street, which God’s Extended Hand had called home since 1983.
The two-story building itself dates back to 1889, and the ground floor had been the site of two taverns before the ministry moved in. God’s Extended Hand had served people in need at other locations and was founded as the Full Gospel Rescue Mission in 1924 by Maud Blackstone as a way to help struggling World War I vets.
The ministry had struggled financially over the past few years, and it faced closure after city inspections found the building in
need of many costly repairs.
Last December, the nonprofit’s board decided to deed the property to the Fellowship of Orthodox
Christians United to Serve. The property then was leased to Father Joe’s Villages, which has plans to demolish it and build a multistory building with between 75 and 90 affordable units to house homeless people.
“Our team is actively working toward demolition of the existing structures in order to secure the site,” Father Joe’s Villages President and CEO Deacon Jim Vargas said in an email. “We are mindful of the mosaic and are looking at options to both photo-document the artwork as well as possibly preserve a small section of significance which would be attached to a wall section that could be memorialized as artwork.”
Wright said he had done some unauthorized guerrilla street art,
which sometimes led to encounters with police but never arrests, and he was looking for another public project that would be welcomed when he decided to approach God’s Extended Hand.
“I said, ‘I’m going to go where they can really use it,’ ” he recalled. “That’s what brought me down there.”
Wright said he was inspired by an article about a woman on the East Coast who created a mosaic on an apartment building across the street from a park where many homeless people lived.
“There was a guy living
on the streets who said, ‘You give somebody clothes, you give them food, you give them a place to sleep, but if they have nothing to wake up for, what’s the purpose of life?’ ” he said about a passage in the article. “This guy got involved in helping with the mosaics, and it gave him purpose.”
Wright said he had always had a heart for people living on the street, so one day in 2005 he walked up to God’s Extended Hand, knocked on the door and asked if he could create a mosaic on the building. Pastor Curtis Bernstein quickly agreed.
Wright began going to the building on weekends with two to six students, drawing designs on the wall and filling them in with colorful tiles.
“I told the students, ‘Do whatever you want, just don’t use grays, beige and white,’ ” he said. “In other words, add color. The kids really enjoyed the artistic freedom of it.”
Images range from abstract and whimsical to religious, including a smiling Jesus that was modeled after one of the students.
“I really wanted a Jesus figure that had a caring sense of joy as opposed to the classic crucifixion, where he’s defeated,” Wright said.
About 90 people worked on the project over the years. Most were students or friends, but about 30 were were people who lived on the street. Its 2009 completion was timed to coincide with the American Mosiac Society conference held in San Diego that year, Wright said.
Conventioners in town visited the building, and more people came, over the years, to see the artwork after it was included in an official city map about art and culture, he said. The attention brought donations to the ministry from visitors, and Wright said Bernstein told him the city once had considered seizing the property
through eminent domain, but officials changed their mind because of the artwork.
With its future now unclear, Wright said he is happy looking back at the experience of creating the artwork with his students, including many who had never seen the realities of homelessness.
“It was a real eye-opener for them,” he said. “It was a rich time for these kids.”
He also is pleased that the artwork might have opened the eyes of visitors who came to see it and also got a glimpse of the conditions endured by people living on the street.
“It points to what’s going on down there,” he said. “And at the same time, it brings some beauty and care to people who don’t get beauty and care down there. That’s where my heart’s at. Just showing some love to the people down there.”