The City of Watsonville, Watsonville Wetlands Watch (WWW), and Community Arts & Empowerment are teaming up to design and install a new mosaic mural for the entrance wall of the new Nature Center scheduled to open in Ramsay Park in late 2025.
The artwork includes mosaic embellishments along the pathway from the Center to the nearby wetland trail. Funding for the project is being provided by the State Coastal Conservancy’s Coastal Stories grant program.
Brooke Sampson, Development and Community Outreach Director for WWW, said 26 artists from the Monterey Bay submitted artwork for the project. Then, three artists from the pool were selected: Priscilla Martinez, Jeronimo Sanchez, and Brittany Costanzo. Each received a stipend for rough designs reflecting the themes and community input. One of the three will be selected and paid to respond to community input at public meetings this summer and refine their design for production as mosaics by Community Arts & Empowerment and their volunteers.
This spring, WWW and City of Watsonville conducted an outreach to residents and organizations, and gathered over 100 survey responses to compile community input.
The mosaics will feature the themes of natural migration and environmental stewardship of the Pajaro Valley and wetlands.
Twenty-six artists from around the Monterey Bay area responded to the Request for Qualifications for the project. The project partners selected three artists from the pool of applicants, based on a review of their past works.
The finalists, Priscilla Martinez, Jeronimo Sanchez, and Brittany Costanzo, each received a stipend for rough designs reflecting the themes and community input. One of the three will be selected and paid to respond to community input at public meetings this summer and refine their design for production as mosaics by Community Arts & Empowerment and their volunteers.
Public comment on the designs may be submitted online until 5pm on July 14. The draft designs may be viewed and comments can be provided here. The artist selected to design the mosaic mural will use public input to revise and finalize their design.
