WATSONVILLE—Watsonville’s Ramsay Park will soon be a showcase for local art.
The Watsonville Parks and Recreation Commission at its Monday night meeting unanimously approved a trio of images that will be made into movable murals and another image that will be made into a mosaic.
When completed, that quartet will grace the exterior of the park’s Community Center at the Main Street entrance.
All three murals come from local students—two from Watsonville High School students and the other from a student at Cesar Chavez Middle School.
One work depicts a bed of colorful flowers and strawberries, the region’s top crop, under a bridge and clear blue skies. Another is a stylish mishmash of the Pajaro Valley’s agricultural roots and the services—sports, art and academic aid—provided at the center. The third is an active and vivid universal representation of the soccer and skateboarding that dominates the park.
The murals will be 8-by-16 feet and will be installed on the Main Street side of the building, which is currently a blank wall. They will be on display between six months to a year, and then will be swapped out for new murals.
The glass-on-glass mosaic, however, will be a permanent installment from local artist Jaime Sanchez. His piece features a pinkish flock of birds in the shape of a heart flying through a two-toned sky and scattered clouds.
Sanchez’s piece was selected through an online public poll conducted in February that received more than 400 votes. Organizers received 55 entries. According to City of Watsonville staff, the top three were selected for their “aesthetic value and adherence to the theme,” The Heart of the Pajaro Valley.
It will be fabricated at the Muzzio Park Community Center with the help of local artist Kathleen Crocetti and then installed in the skylight at the entrance of Ramsay’s Community Center. It measures roughly 5-by-7 feet.
The overall project is a group effort between the City of Watsonville, Pajaro Valley Arts and Community Arts & Empowerment. That trio was awarded a grant from the California Arts Council that will fund the project.
