SALINAS — Caltrans, the City of Salinas and the Arts Council for Monterey County have announced the completion of the Clean California Murals Project that features bright, life-size murals, drought-resistant landscaping and improved lighting at East Market Street, Alisal Street and Sanborn Road along Highway 101 in Salinas.
The $1.9 million Murals Project was made possible through Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Clean California initiative, a historic, $1.2 billion, multiyear clean-up effort led by Caltrans to remove trash, create thousands of jobs, reclaim, transform and beautify public spaces, and engage and educate communities.
Caltrans Director Tony Tavares joined state and local officials at the East Market Street site to cut a ribbon inaugurating the Murals Project on Sept. 15.
“The murals’ beauty, cultural relevance and historical value are an eloquent testament to this dynamic city’s creativity and inclusive sense of community,” Tavares said. “This is a great example of how Clean California is positively impacting our neighborhoods and encouraging local pride in our public spaces.”
Following a statewide call for artists interested in the Murals Project, a screening committee composed mainly of Salinas residents and stakeholders selected Timothy Robert Smith, MJ Lindo-Lawyer and Joshua Lawyer to create the Sanborn Road and East Market Street murals, respectively. The committee also chose La Neta Murals to restore the murals on Alisal Street. Gordon Ball Inc. of Alamo, Calif., was the contractor.
During Salinas’ monthly art walk event last Friday, Oct. 6, the public was invited to a community celebration in honor of the Murals Project and its artists. The event was held in conjunction with a free Arts4MC BusinessWorks educational workshop featuring the project artists, who shared their experiences and provided tips about how to bid and work on such large-scale projects.
On East Market Street, Lindo-Lawyer and Lawyer created two complementary murals. One features an image of 5-year-old Eliana Mendiola from Salinas, sitting with a blue and polka dot toy horse next to the river. Directly across, the second mural is an image of a woman and her life-size blue and polka dot horse. California poppies and vibrant colors pull these two images together, telling the story of the past and its connection to the present and future.
East Alisal Street has been the home of two Aztec-style murals that were created more than 15 years ago by Jesús León and Arturo Bolaños. La Neta Murals’ artists Arsenio Baca, Sea Sevilla, Avelino Sanher, Gerardo Zambrano and Natalia Corazza took on the delicate and painstaking process of restoring these existing murals to their original state. In addition to the restoration effort, they added murals to wrap around the previously unpainted areas of the underpass building on the original mural themes.
The Sanborn murals, which were created by Smith, who was assisted by local artists Jesús Núñez and Monty Guy, drew inspiration directly from the community, using local models for his portraiture. The agricultural-themed mural spotlights farmworkers as they work in one of the many truck farms that are emblematic of the Salinas Valley. The other mural incorporates elements directly from the Alisal neighborhood, including paleteros and aspects of the rich Hispanic car culture.
“I want to really commend the City of Salinas and the City Council, and CalTrans for providing the grants so that these amazing new murals could be painted underneath Highway 101 and the existing ones could be restored so beautifully,” said Monterey County Supervisor Luis Alejo on social media. “THANK YOU to all 10 of the amazing artists who made this possible! These murals uplift, inspire, empower and beautify East Salinas in a powerful way with images of the hardworking people of our community. Today is a recognition that public art is an imperative part of revitalizing and investing in our community.”
