Painters Paint Tehachapi’s Unique History

The Tehachapi Main Street Murals Committee has been hard at work over the last seven years, raising funds and planning a series of historical murals to showcase the rich history of the Tehachapi Valley. In October of 2008, the eighth mural wascompleted, and when fundraising allows, more murals will be produced. The murals are meant to beautify the downtown area, showcase the history of the area for local residents, and serve as a historical guide for visitors to Tehachapi.

The Murals Committee made a commitment early on to produce only first quality murals, and Tehachapi now has a model murals program.

The first mural, featuring the world famous Tehachapi Loop, was designed by nationally known trompe l’oeil artist John Pugh, completed with the help of his associate, Mark Spykerbos.

The second mural features a street dance held in 1915 when the first electric streetlights were installed in Tehachapi. Phil Slagter, another well-known mural artist used original photos from 1915 to design and paint the mural. Faces of current local residents, and those from the history of Tehachapi were incorporated into the scene. At the time, Slagter lived nearby, in Canyon Country, but has since moved to Montana.

Tehachapi was fortunate to have Visalia artist Colleen Mitchell-Veyna to paint “People of the Mountains,” depicting Tehachapi’s Native American Nuooah or Kawaiisu tribe. It incorporates a village scene from before contact with the white man and portraits around the perimeter show more recent members and elders of the tribe, as well as the type of baskets for which the local Indians were known.

At the Apple Shed Restaurant, the Mural In A Day was designed by master artist Art Mortimer, who sketched the mural on the wall to scale and mixed all the paints. Then 15 local artists did the actual painting in one day, starting at 8 am and continuing until 5 pm. at that time, the scaffolding was whisked away, the area cleaned up, and a dedication was held. Mural In A Day is a way for local artists to learn the techniques and challenges of working on a more monumental scale than that to which most are accustomed.

Local artist Lyn Bennett designed and painted the Blacksmith Shop mural, taken from an actual photograph of a circa 1900 blacksmith shop, located directly across the street. She was assisted by Brenda Anderline.

The Avelino Martinez mural depicts this legendary Tehachapi resident who worked as a groom for the notorious Joaquin Murrieta horse gangs that rounded up stray horses and other livestock to take back to Mexico. Martinez lived to be 113 to 115 years old, according to various accounts. It was painted by Patti Doolittle.

One of the 2007 murals will commemorate the first airmail flight from Tehachapi to Bakersfield on May 19, 1938, painted by Mark Pestana, and the other will be a salute to the 100th anniversary of the town of Monolith, the cement plant that gave it its name and its importance to the people of Tehachapi.

A brochure of the murals is available at the Chamber office. Other grants, fundraisers, and donations from the building owners, as well as the community, have provided additional funding. A DVD about the Tehachapi murals program is available. For more information call 661-822-6519.

Charles White - Cell #972-0958