Peterson Street Art Wall and Garden in Jingletown

Last April, the good folks of Jingletown broke ground on a long-planned project: the Peterson Street Art Wall and Garden. I've written about this project in past posts. The wall is long and empty and the "garden" was a messy dog walking area about 10' wide.

The ground was leveled, railroad ties created a "curb",  cardboard was laid to keep weeds at bay, mulch was spread, etc. As usual, the neighborhood showed up in large numbers with each person doing their share. Then the artists started adding their murals.

 By September the artists had been working feverishly and by November it was time to add a walking path and landscaping to the garden area. The center panel of the wall is a mosaic mural of the Virgin of Guadalupe (created by me). She has become a place where people are leaving flowers, candles and other offerings.  So a special area was 
created with railroad ties, gravel, pavers and 
rose bushes in front of her. 

Here is some of the art so far:

 Bill Silveira's Oakland Riviera spray paint graffiti. (Love the "bricks"!)

Carlos Jahen is painting this mural of all the dogs in Jingletown. 
This 'hood is a dog-loving place! Carlos also is the architect of the garden path and landscaping.

 

 This is my friend Saundra Warren, tile maker and mosaic artist. The "leaves" of this mosaic tree were made by Jingletown residents in her studio. They all have people's names or their pets' names or whatever struck their fancy! 

Then Saundra and I started the mosaic itself. It's still in progress, as much of this project is. 

But it's turning out beautifully so far:

 

Here is Russ Osterweil, photographer extraordinare. His mural consists of 9 of his photographs printed on ceramic tiles. The surrounding area, painted gray for now, will have some type of "word art" but he is still pondering this next step. Stay tuned!

 

This is a painting by Jill McLennan. 

Darwin Price, a religious scholar, gives us the Elephant God, Ganesh.

There is more to come. I am waiting for the names of the artists. Stay tuned!