Fire Station 71 Mosaic a Real Piece of Work

Even though traffic on Pacific Coast Highway whizzes by Point Dumes newly rebuilt county fire station at speeds over 50 mph, its hard to miss the new tile mural out front.

The vibrantly colored work of art is eight feet tall in some spots, 45 feet long and depicts Malibu scenery while wrapping around a corner of the new station. Tapestry of Dreams begins with a brightly colored rolling carpet that turns into the scenery of Malibu.

I had to be respectful about not doing something too crazy, local tile artist Matt Doolin said. Im surprised at how far they let me go with the bright colors.

Doolin, co-owner of Topanga Art Tile, spent over eight months designing, creating and installing the new mural. When the county first sent out requests for proposals to artists for the project in 2012, Doolin said he thought, Wow, this is perfect for me, even though he knew hed have plenty of competition.

I sent a very passionate letter of interest that got me in the door, Doolin said. It referred to the local community, the fact that Ive grown up here and that Im connected to the local environment by spending a lot of time in Malibu surfing, hiking and camping.

Doolin also thought it helped that Topanga Art Tile was well known locally after being founded by his mother in 1978, and that he also designed a countyproject for the Topanga Library in 2006.

Dozens of contenders for the art project were given the opportunity to look at drawings of the future fire station before submitting proposals. The county encouraged submissions by tile artists because of Malibus history of manufacturing art tiles, and because of the tilework in the historic Adamson house.

It took a committee of 12 people to review the proposals, including members of county administration, the Malibu community, contractors and the fire department.

Nature was the big theme that everybody wanted sun, sand and surf, Doolin said. Many times, the theme [for fire station art] is firefighters fighting a fire, and they really wanted something else.

Malibu Arts Commission member Scott Hosfeld said he really liked the fact that L.A. County allowed them to be part of the vetting process. He thinks the finished mural is gorgeous.

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Fire Station 71 Mosaic a Real Piece of Work