SECTION FIVE

panel 20 heritage

In the middle ground I painted Hispanic folkloric dancers against a landscape backdrop and a portrait of the Held-Poage Memorial Home which houses the Mendocino County Historical Society. Look closely at the first image…

Normal sketching with paint wouldn’t work here, since the house had to be put on top of existing landscape. So I sketched with tape and string! (see above)

Mexican Folkloric Dancers

Keeping cultural traditions alive through the generations is an important way to honor our origins and share ourselves with others. Clearly many subjects would illustrate “heritage.” I chose Folkloric Dance for its striking visual quality, but the panel represents the universal value of heritage across cultures.

The lower scene expanded across two panels takes place in the lobby of Ukiah’s beloved Palace Hotel and now contains twenty-nine portraits! Plus Nixon on a coin-operated TV.

panel 21 hospitality

Hospitality is both a deeply engrained personal trait and a very vibrant industry in our community. Hotels, motels, inns and private homes all welcome guests to the area and make up a huge segment of our current economy.

Underneath a beautiful architectural element painted in 2018, I planned for a man and a woman to be seen opening the front doors of the building in welcome. As I worked on this panel, its population grew!

I painted that open doorway, the interior replicating the Palace Hotel interior after its 1980 remodel. The man and woman welcoming you are two portraits, one contemporary, one historic. Beneath that are two icons of hospitality, the Ukiah Valley Conference Center itself and the Palace Hotel in about 1930.

As I worked, the meaning of heritage and hospitality entwined, since a healthy society honors one by means of the other.

panel 22 manufacturing

In this panel, the old and new appear, located at the same site but at different times:

• The historic Masonite plant, seen from the eastern side with its raw material, a huge mound of redwood sawdust, in front.

Mendocino manufacturing more than doubled in the 1940s, comprising one third of all jobs by 1950, led by Masonite, which became Ukiah’s largest employer. By the end of the century Masonite was closed and manufacturing had slipped to a much lower percentage of total jobs. But other innovative, precision manufacturers have grown, such as Retech (metallurgical processing equipment) and Factory Pipe which makes exhaust systems for snowmobiles and watercraft.

• Underneath the Masonite plant, so iconic to Ukiah, as was the smoky belching air, I painted Factory Pipe, the innovative and thriving modern factory located on the same property.

In the middle ground is a scene from the production line.

Permanent plaques that describe the contents of each panel have been created in 2022. These will be mounted on the columns between panels so viewers can read content that heightens appreciation of each scene!

panel 23 innovation

Real Goods Solar Living Center is depicted from an aerial view.

Mendocino County has been a leader in handcrafted, organic products, renewable energy systems and installation, and environmentally friendly goods and resources. All of the above are offered by Real Goods, established in 1978 by one of those original back-to-the-landers (John Schaeffer). The facility is solar powered and a functioning demonstration of permaculture practices. At its center is a spiral pond.

Ukiah Brewing Company – with its copper boiling and mash tanks and equipment – appears below.

Founded in 2000, the Ukiah Brewing Company was the first certified organic brewpub and the second certified organic restaurant in the United States. Going back a bit further, Mendocino Brewing Company opened the first post-Prohibition craft brewpub in California (the second in the US) with its Hopland Brewery in 1983.

Both establishments have seen changes, but happily UBC has reopened in its iconic downtown Ukiah location, and the Hopland Brewery, now Taproom has reopened and is going strong!

At the base of the innovation panel are a young computer coder realizing success with an app he is creating and a woman charging her electric car.

As is true of nearly all the figures in this mural, these are portraits of real people. Find out their stories on the panel page (coming very soon!)