By Keaton Larson
North Beach sits a bit brighter along the San Clemente coastline again. A new mural on the concession and restroom building, reminiscent of the previous Character Counts mural that was removed in 2017, reached completion in early August.
The mural depicts a scene of strolling surfers, their surfboards, and the ocean, draped by a setting sun and the words, “Character Counts.” Each surfboard in the mural displays its own inscription—trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and citizenship.
“The North Beach community loved that mural,” said Joshua Paskowitz, a professional muralist and resident of San Clemente, referring to the original design, which was painted in 2000.
The mural lived on the North Beach concession stand until 2017, when the city removed it to perform repairs on the dilapidating structure.
The San Clemente Sunrise Rotary Club and Interact Club filed a public art application with the Beaches, Parks & Recreation Department in June to install a new mural at North Beach. The City Council voted unanimously on July 19 to commission the mural for the concession stand.
“We quietly went there one evening and projected the image on the wall and traced it in black,” said Sally Guon, immediate past president of the San Clemente Sunrise Rotary Club and youth service chair.
Over the course of the weekend, Estella Olivares, a senior and Advanced Placement art student at San Clemente High School, and Paskowitz completed the design.
The beach was busy the weekend that Estella and Paskowitz were there, said Guon, and many beachgoers came by to express their excitement that a new mural was finally filling the wall. The goal was to create a mural that was fashioned in a similar vein as the past design while also embracing the future of San Clemente.
“On this mural, one of the fundamental cornerstones of what we wanted to do was bring kids to the arts,” said Paskowitz.
And Olivares fit that role well. Olivares’ proposed drawing was the winner of a competition to decide which mural the city would use, and Paskowitz served as a mentor on the project.
Olivares, Paskowitz, and Guon wanted the design to embody a multicultural, multigenerational spirit that stood for the community of San Clemente. Olivares, who is Hispanic, wanted to reflect her heritage and the diversity of the town in the wall, said Paskowitz.
Guon also emphasized the student-led nature of the project, and the capability of Olivares at the helm. San Clemente High students from the Interact Club, a youth organization of 12- to 18-year-olds within the larger Rotary Club network, also showed up at North Beach to help.
“She had only done something like a 16-by-20 (inch) before and never a mural,” Guon said of Olivares’ painting, before noting the different canvas sizes. “What do you do when you do an art of scale?”
It was a great learning experience for her, Guon added, and one that Paskowitz helped her through.
There were some hiccups as the mural began to take shape, said Paskowitz. As you’re doing the mural, he added, it seems disastrous in a way, because so much of it is the process of painting. But at the end, it all came into focus for Paskowitz and Olivares.
Paskowitz is excited to see the heritage of San Clemente and its surf culture reflected in art throughout the community.
“The most important thing is that the community has reached out to us … and told me and Estella how much they love the mural,” said Paskowitz, who noted that as an artist, that is all he can ask for. “It’s about the whole community working together and making something that is successful and also satisfying to the people that are living with this thing.”
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