Young artists in Santa Maria will have the chance to dip their paintbrushes and leave their mark on the community as the city seeks help from its youth to work on a new mural that will be displayed at the city’s civic center.
“We really hope the teens take the opportunity to learn not just about the styles and techniques, but how creativity is such an important part of life,” said Dennis Smitherman from the Recreation and Parks Department. “Creativity is about alternative thinking and how to problem-solve creatively. Those are the takeaways we hope teens take away from this program and the many art programs we have in this city.”
To incorporate art into the city, Santa Maria added an Art Master Plan in 2015 outlining several goals to make the city more walkable—by adding artwork throughout the downtown area and having youth help create the pieces, Smitherman said.
“We like to include teens with many aspects of the Parks and Recreation Department, and art is no different,” he said. “It creates opportunities to participate in positive experiences and encourages them to be creative. Creativity is a real boost in helping teens through life; we try to include them in most of our projects.”
For this project, teens will get to participate in three workshops from Jan. 5 to 7 (times vary) led by artists Kym Cochran and Johnathan Smith. Cochran works with theme parks, and her work is featured at Disney’s Cars Land in Anaheim, Disney’s Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance in Anaheim, and the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando, Florida, Smitherman said. Smith specializes in projection and light art, with his work featured at music festivals Coachella and the Electric Daisy Carnival, as well as Santa Barbara’s Sea Center at Stearns Wharf.
During the three-day workshop, teens will learn about technology and scaling up art for large murals, learn about different painting techniques, and put their skills to action as they apply base colors to a few of the panels that will make up the mural. Once completed, hopefully by some time in February, the mural will be 16 feet high by 32 feet long and made up of smaller panels that will depict Santa Maria’s past, present, and future.
Although she couldn’t go into specific details, Cochran told the Sun that agriculture and its development throughout history with the assistance of new technology will play a major part in the mural. It will have an “amazing” level of detail, and it’s “very stylistic,” she said.
Other than working on the mural itself, Cochran said she’s very excited to be a part of the mural and to conduct the workshops. Originally, they weren’t going to hold the workshops because of the short time frame, but she advocated for the community’s involvement.
“For me … arts education is very important. It’s not about teaching them to become artists but teaching creative thinking and collaboration. Those are things people need in any industry,” Cochran said.
She wants the youth in her workshops to learn to think outside of the box and take the time to self-reflect. There’s this notion that the first application of paint has to be perfect, and that’s not what art, or life, is about, she said. At the end of the day, she hopes the kids will leave with a feeling of accomplishment
“It’s allowing yourself the time to make mistakes, it’s the third or fourth or hundredth time you go over it. It’s those final touches,” Cochran said. “Don’t worry about pure perfection, and don’t worry about if it’s not exactly what you’re envisioning your first time around.”
Visit santamaria.org/art to find more information, sign up for the three-day workshop series, or learn more about the city’s other art programs. Direct questions to (805) 925-0951. Ext. 2260.
Highlight
• Santa Maria Regional Transit (SMRT) announced its ridership is up 31 percent for 2022 when compared to the same period last year. The increase is attributed to several factors including pandemic normalization, higher cost of living, and the route improvements initiated in January. Route 2 with service to Pioneer Valley High School is now the city’s most popular route, with Routes 1 and 11 routes on Broadway as the second and third most popular routes, respectively. According to the city, other factors that helped increase the use of public transportation include temporarily reducing the cost of the monthly pass to $31, introducing the new $3 unlimited ride One-Day Pass and $12 unlimited ride Seven-Day Pass, and introducing a mobile ticketing option via the SMRTpay app.
Taylor O’Connor wrote this week’s Spotlight. Reach her at toconnor@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Dec 15-22, 2022.
