A community of Chula Vistans young and old gathered at the Firestone Autor Repair at 430 Broadway on March 19 to paint a mural facing Broadway. This is the first of multiple murals that Envision Broadway has been working on. Local Chula Vista artist Guillermo Munro created the mural design.
Envision Broadway Institute for Public Strategies Program Manager Jovita Arellano said the event was supposed to extend into early afternoon, but with the unexpected heat of the day, participants painted within the outlines of the artist and finished the mural much earlier than expected. Munro said all that is left to finish the mural is touching up the lines and adding logos to the mural, which he expects to be done by the end of this weekend.
Arellano said they were set up early and Council member Jill Galvez came to give a welcome to everyone there.
“She thanked the kids and families for coming out and participating in this community project,” she said. “She showed how the mural is part of Envision Broadway and how the mural portrays the city with the colorful colors that show the colors of Broadway. When you look at that mural, then look all around, the colors of the different businesses are the colors of the mural.”
Arellano said most of the sponsors of the mural were there, including PPG Paints, Meza Paint, and the Chula Vista Chamber of Commerce. Lolita’s Taco Shop was another sponsor.
“Everybody participated in the painting, and it was really cool,” she said. “I gave them all aprons, they had gloves, and everyone was able to take part in painting some portion of the mural.”
Arellano said many times, the artist completely does murals.
“When the community is involved in painting it, it gives them more pride because they are part of it,” she said. “They have ownership of that mural. Our sponsors had never done anything like that, but to come, take part, see the mural on the wall, their creation, it was amazing.”
Arellano said the kids had a wonderful time, and that some of them were “little artists themselves.” She said she encouraged the youth to participate in the upcoming Community Art Walk on April 23 at the Chula Vista Center. She said there was youth from South Bay Youth for Change, with youth from across the South Bay area.
Arellano said the goal for the Chula Vista Revitalization Committee is to have at least a dozen murals painted on Broadway within the next two years, and at this event, they picked up a couple more sponsors. She said she is going to look for more funding and apply for funding from the Create Chula Vista Arts Grant to fund more murals on Broadway.
Munro was born in Los Angeles, lived in Mexico with his father as a youth, and moved to Chula Vista when he started high school attending Chula Vista High School, then Southwestern College, but did not start working on murals until he was working in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, while he was working for a newspaper there doing graphics. He said he met several artists while there and they got together, where he painted his first mural. From there, Munro has painted murals in Beijing, China, Los Angeles, Cambridge, England, Santa Rosa, California, Seattle, Dallas, Chicago, and Mexico, and more, with more trips planned in his future. Locally he has completed murals in Old Town, and Chula Vista. He said this has been an “amazing learning experience” for him. He said graphics are satisfying but murals have a larger purpose. Munro said in all the murals he has worked on the preservation of wildlife and environment has been his theme.
“This mural has a polar bear to include global warming,” he said. “The most beautiful thing about a mural though, no matter where they are, large or small, they see it, then they feel it.”
Munro said this mural was different as most painters do not allow others to touch their painting, but with this one, there were several people involved in the artistic process.
“Everybody got involved,” he said. “All ages. It was a relieving thing to have everyone involved. At first, I thought I would be uncomfortable, but I felt beautifully connected to every single person. Everybody there left a piece of themselves there in this mural. That is a beautiful thing.”
Munro said this project was beautiful with the community engagement, and that he would love to do more of the murals planned for Broadway. He said that though he is finishing the outlines and logos, he does not want to take away from anything that the community painters contributed.
“I need to leave the brush strokes that they used because it came from the way that they were feeling that moment,” he said. “As a painter, I know what that means. They put their heart on it. I am going to try and not go over anything they painted, and it was an amazing feeling. It was happiness, it was joy, it was beautiful, and it was something new for me that also opened my eyes and made me humble in many ways. What matters is the participation in the community in this project.”
Munro said nationally, communities are investing in local artists and muralists, and people will drive out of there way to see murals wherever they may be located.
