San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
VISTA DECLINES MURAL, SEEKS INPUT FROM TRIBAL MEMBERS
A mural depicting Sacagawea could be among the most prominent artworks in the city of Vista, but council members have some concerns about how well its imagery will go over with residents and local tribal members.
The proposed 60-foot-tall mural — the applicant said it will be the tallest in North County — is proposed for the five-story Found Lofts apartment complex at 516 S. Santa Fe Ave., just south of the roundabout at the Guajome Street intersection. The area is undergoing a revitalization, and the mural will be highly visible in a neighborhood with housing, shops, restaurants and breweries.
Council members said they liked much of what they saw when a version of the mural was presented at their Feb. 8 meeting, but some of its imagery left them scratching their heads. The council declined to approve the mural and asked Lev Gershman, founder and managing partner of the building’s developer Tideline Partners, to work with the artist on revisions to the mural and to reach out to the local tribal communities for their input.
On Thursday, Gershman said he had set up a meeting for Saturday with the tribal council of the San Luis Rey Band of Mission Indians.
At the Feb. 8 meeting, some council members said they had other concerns about the imagery after seeing an early rendering of it in the agenda.
“Personally when I looked at it, I didn’t get it really,” Councilmember Joe Green said about an early version of “The Explorer,” the mural created by artist Joram Roukes of the Netherlands.
The version of the mural depicted in the agenda shows a skateboard, a man’s arm, a hummingbird, a winged insect, flowers and, most prominently, Sacagawea, the Indian renowned for helping the Lewis and Clark Expedition explore the Louisiana Territory from 1803 to 1806. Sacagawea is shown with her young son,
Jean Baptiste Charbonneau.
Green said he did not see how Sacagawea, who connected with Lewis and Clark in North Dakota, was a good representation of the Indigenous people of the local area.
Gershman cleared things up by telling council members that Charbonneau had lived in the area, having been appointed in 1847 as magistrate at the San Luis Rey Mission in Oceanside.
More concerning to council members was how the mural would go over with the community and members of local tribes.
Council members asked Gershman to reach out to local tribal members to consider revisions based on their reaction to the artwork, but said he does not have to return to the council for approval of the final version.