How did a mural on the side of Santa Maria’s Chamber of Commerce building end up in a book? It was all the doing of author Kevin Bruce, inspired by his admiration of muralist John Pugh and his fascination with small-town murals.
Not that Pugh created the Santa Maria mural depicting Broadway circa the late 1940s/early 1950s. That piece comes courtesy of local artist Glenda Stevens.
And the book wasn’t really directly a result of Bruce’s fascination with murals, because before he put it together, he was surprised to learn that murals played such an important role in the retelling of some small towns’ histories, and that they could make a measurable impact through tourism dollars.
“It’s surprising that there’s this microcosm known as mural societies getting these programs going and keeping them going basically for economic purposes,” he said.
The framework for the book came when Bruce was doing his thesis on Pugh, who he considers “probably the best trompe l’oeil muralist in the world.” Bruce’s thesis focused on Pugh’s ability to combine narrative storytelling within the illusionism framework.
From that thesis came his first book on the murals of John Pugh. One of the chapters to go into that book was “Large Art in Small Places.” Bruce liked the name of the proposed chapter, but the structure of the first book changed, and the name was tossed aside. But he never let go of it as a good idea.
[image-2] Then, as fate would have it, he attended a mural symposium in Bishop, Calif. He was joined by his publisher at Ten Speed Press, who also happened to be a fan of murals. Bruce was amazed that the art form got such attention.
“It was fascinating to find out there is a California mural symposium—and there’s a global one,” he said.
So he pitched the idea of creating another mural book, this time calling it Large Art in Small Places. Four years later, it’s arrived.
The book features select murals by both professionals and amateurs and provides information on the significance of each mural, as well as location and town information for visitors.
The book features the Cruisin’ Broadway mural in Santa Maria and several in Lompoc among the many featured California murals.
One of Bruce’s favorite murals was
created by John Pugh in Twentynine Palms. Called Valentine’s Day, it depicts a muralist painting another mural. That mural is incomplete, and the muralist is asleep on the scaffold. Meanwhile, a bull has wandered near the sleeping muralist, in front of the incomplete mural. It’s a great example of Pugh’s talent for visual illusions.
Bruce said both Lompoc and Santa Paula boast an impressive collection of murals, and he stressed the importance of the art forms used as a means of history-telling for small communities, the way Lompoc uses its murals. But most importantly, Bruce created the book as a travel guide.
“The whole idea of the book is for people to get out of these large metro areas and see the rest of their lives,” he said.
Arts Editor Shelly Cone is buying tickets for the rest of her life. Contact her at scone@santamariasun.com
This article appears in Sep 10-17, 2009.
