Tile pieces joins San Clemente's colorful mosaic of public art

Tile pieces joins San Clemente's colorful mosaic of public art

Brian Morales, and Layla Morales, 4, look at the new tile art piece on Del Mar of the Hanson Beach Club. Layla Morales is the granddaughter of one of the artists, Michael King. ///ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: 1121.spn.TILEMURALS 11/14/14 NICK AGRO, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER At 4 p.m. Friday, dignitaries unveil the fourth in a series of tile murals at bench seating areas along Avenida Del Mar. The SC Historical Society, Downtown Business Association and city partner in the project. Each site actually has two tile murals, a floor mural and a wall mural depicting some historic sites around town. This new one featues the Ole Hanson Beach Club and an elegant blufftop home that no long exists (known as the Bartow home). We can also get fresh art of the other murals along the block (they are easy to find, just up teh street from this one, on both sides of the street at bulb-outs). This will be the Sun Post centerpiece for next Friday and should be colorful and catchy. We have file art of other murals around town, but if you'd like to shoot fresh art, I can suggest several sites One is a tile mural at the entrance to the pier that Paul Bersebach shot in 2001. Another is a tile mural at the Mariposa beach access along the Beach Trail (I think Paul shot that one too). There is a beautiful tile bench along the beach trail just north of the access to Riviera Beach. There are some nice non-tile murals around town including one in the parking lot behind Starbucks (300 S. El Camino Real) and one on an alley behind 1502 N. El Camino Real. We do have file art of most of these, but if you'd like to get fresh, that's fine too. .

NICK AGRO , STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

"We're looking at (art) guidelines right now, but because we have been so lucky to get so much art in just letting the community express itself with such great quality pieces, there just isn't any direction to pursue (an ordinance) right now.

"We just did a study session at the Planning Commission that showed that when you have high vandalism graffiti that drops by 98 percent, nationwide, once you put a mural up.

"The City Council waived the fee a couple of years back in order to encourage murals in the community. There is still a discretionary review process, but it's pretty minor."

Source: Amber Gregg, city of San Clemente

Michael Kaupp of the Downtown Business Association and Mike Cotter of the San Clemente Historical Society are the visionaries behind "Landmarks on Del Mar."

The artwork is done by Jay Fisher and translated into tiles by Michael King. Both artists, Cotter said, are world-famous in their fields. They met while working on a hotel for Steve Wynne.

King said he takes special care to create tiles and scenes that look like they are from an earlier time.

More:
Tile pieces joins San Clemente's colorful mosaic of public art