Art That Excites

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Oceanside’s past, present and future intersect in the second and third murals of our Art That Excites program.

Photos by Zach Cordner/The Osider Magazine (2), Gloria Torres Photography, Gregory Ryan Klein (2), Isabel Figueroa

Two years in the making, the second mural project of the MainStreet Oceanside Art That Excites program, previously the Oceanside Mural Initiative, is now complete. 

Through online and in-person voting, “Yin Yang Dragons” was chosen by the community to be installed on the west wall of That Boy Good BBQ and Northern Pine Brewing at 326 N. Horne St. The black-and-white mural by Gloria Muriel, a San Diego and Baja California muralist, is Muriel’s first in North San Diego County. 

“The Yin Yang Dragon expresses self-love and strength,” Muriel said. “It supports women artists, and women in the community get to feel empowered and inspired from it. It brings a different energetic vibe to the neighborhood and a sense of awareness.” 

After Muriel’s concept was selected, receiving 1,600 votes, many community members requested hiring a local artist to highlight a grassroots piece of Oceanside’s Eastside community adjacent to the Downtown Oceanside District. MainStreet Oceanside listened and partnered with Dinah Poellnitz, founder of the The Hill Street Country Club, to curate a cultural mural and select a local aspiring muralist. 

Isabel Figueroa, also known as “Chavela,” was selected to create a tribute to honor her community’s past, present and future. Her mural, called “The Sacred Offering,” is a tribute both to the Pozole Neighborhood, which falls within the boundaries of the Oceanside California Cultural District designated in 2018, as well as to Anita Cruz Romero, who brought the community together in selling her famous pozole, originally a sacred dish of the Aztec gods.

“Growing up in this community has brought me tears, challenges and happiness. To create a mural and be part of Oceanside growth has been an incredible humbling experience,” Figueroa said. “I’m able to show my first mural art project to the world that visits my hometown.”  

Figueroa was sponsored by Mission Square to install the mural on Northern Pine Brewing and That Boy Good BBQ’s north facing wall. 

Poellnitz developed the theme, “Eastside Diosas”:

“Women of Posole/Eastside Oceanside community continue to create value whether its community activism for a park, building peace between old and new neighbors, running local markets, building a community garden and starting a new business. Women of the Posole/Eastside community are hard workers and memory keepers for the next generation. Every woman involved in this mural project has shared this universal experience and can relate on a personal level but more importantly has joined a community of women working together for the betterment of Oceanside’s future.”

Our utmost thanks to all who have donated and brought this mural project to fruition. Your support and your engagement with this project have created not just one but two intersecting murals that embrace Oceanside’s civic identity and art diversity while representing our community’s past, present and future. To learn more about the Art That Excites Program, visit Mainstreetoceanside.com/artthatexcites. Read about our next public art mural, the Ocean Glass Mosaic Mural, in "Mosaic Mural Update."

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SPECIAL THANKS

Ronald Pearlman, partner manager at Mission Square; Dinah Poellnitz, The Hill Street Country Club; the City of Oceanside; MainStreet Oceanside Design Committee; and the Art That Excites selection panel members: Maria Mingalone, executive director of Oceanside Museum of Art; Mary Ann Thiem, downtown resident and vice chair of the MainStreet Oceanside Board of Directors; Jane Marshall, president of the Oceanside Coastal Neighborhood Association; Peter Grego, professor emeritus and Downtown Oceanside ambassador; Anne Ortega, co-owner of Northern Pine Brewing; and Kim Millwood, co-owner of That Boy Good BBQ.