San Mateo County Times (CA)

September 5, 2003
Section: Local & Regional News

Muralists turn Half Moon Bay history into art Mural to be dedicated tonight
Muralists turn Half Moon Bay history into art Mural to be dedicated tonight By Amelia Hansen, STAFF WRITER HALF MOON BAY

Amelia Hansen, STAFF WRITER
THEY'RE walking toward you: the Chamarita Queen and her princesses; Bill Miramontes and his oil drill; the folks from Middle America, just getting off the train. These people are walking toward you -- but more important, they are walking toward the Coast. That's the way artists Adriana Yadira Gallego and Claudio Dicochea see Half Moon Bay -- a clockwise spinning of color and images bringing people forward to the one place they truly want to be: this small town by the sea. "We had to reconcile, fuse together all the stories of what this place was," said Dicochea, 31. "You get 20 of these stories, all different, and come up with one universal vision." That vision -- conceived of during a year of research, interviews, and sketches -- was painted onto the south wall of the Nuestra Tierra Gallery on Main Street and completed last week. The artists' vision is now one for the community to share. "The content was there," said Gallego, 29. "The question was 'How do we represent the content in a beautiful way?' We wanted to give the people of Half Moon Bay a picture they could be proud of."

Gallego and Dicochea are individual artists with distinct styles, interests, and passions. They are also partners -- "in crime," in life, and in work.

Their unique relationship, which began over 10 years ago, has lent itself well to the pair's latest colorful endeavor.

Gallego and Dicochea, both born in Mexico and now residents of Los Angeles, met at the University of Arizona in the early 90s and were commissioned to do the mural by gallery owner Charles Nelson last year.

Nelson, who runs the gallery -- which features Mexican art -- with his wife Nidia, was already familiar with the artists' work when a customer suggested they install a mural on the large blank wall on the side of the gallery's building.

"At first, we wanted something really Mexican to complement the store," Nelson said, "but then we decided to do something that was more involved with the community."

Nelson talked over the idea with Gallego and Dicochea, who were in Los Angeles at the time, and invited them to come stay with them and research the city's history.

"We packed our bags and came up here," said Gallego, wearing paint-splattered jeans, a long white smock, and her hair in braids. "We learned early on that Half Moon Bay is something different for everyone. For some it's about the land; for some, it's about the people who built it; for some it's about the pumpkins."

For a month, the two artists read books on the city, took pictures of the area, and conducted numerous interviews with locals. They took the information back to Los Angeles, continuing to research archives and old publications.

A strong theme began to emerge:

"All these people really wanted to come here," said Dicochea, in garb similar to his partner (paint-covered jeans, fingerless rag-wool gloves, and a white T-shirt). "They took the road less traveled. This is a place that takes effort to get to."

They became familiar with the Chamarita festival, Johnston House, artichokes, pumpkins, cattle ranchers, and the side-hill plow.

They faxed ideas to Nelson -- who encouraged them to "unleash" themselves artistically -- and continued to work collaboratively with him.

For his part, Nelson hit the streets, looking for funding sources for the project.

The artists finalized their mock-up last fall; with it, Nelson raised $10,000 to pay for the commission -- partly through a fund-raiser, partly through individual donors.

"I didn't give them a lot of guidelines," Nelson said of the artists, "Just that it should celebrate the founders of the town, its heritage."

In June, Gallego and Dicochea began work on their huge, stucco canvas: the building wall.

Working six days a week, the two transposed their sketch onto the wall (one inch on their mock-up translates to 12 inches of space on the wall), and then began the painting -- much of the time perched from the wooden scaffolding fashioned to the building.

Two months and thousands of brush strokes later, the artists' shared vision -- and understanding of the people of Half Moon Bay -- has become a permanent part of the community.

"Usually people settle where they are," Dicochea said. "But these people said, no, no, Half Moon Bay is where I want to be. That's gorgeous."

The mural will be dedicated at 6:30 p.m. this evening at Nuestra Tierra Gallery, 421 Main Street, Half Moon Bay. For more information call 712-9135.

Staff writer Amelia Hansen covers the Coast and north County cities. She can be reached at 348-4301 or by e-mail at ahansen@angnewspapers.com

(c) 2003 San Mateo County Times. All rights reserved. Reproduced with the permission of Media NewsGroup, Inc. by NewsBank, Inc.