A mural capturing the spirit and history of Point Loma will highlight the entrance to Harbor Point, the new 24,000-square-foot mixed-use office building at 5055 N. Harbor Drive in Point Loma.

The artist commissioned to complete the project is Betsy Schulz of Solana Beach.

Members of the Peckham family, which owns the Harbor Point building. felt the hyperlocalized mural was extremely necessary to give it a local flavor, said Doug Arthur, project manager at Sentre Partners.

The mural will consist of thousands of variously shaped tiles placed with thoughtful purpose along the entrance of the building. The tiles will illustrate images from tide pools and sea life to the historical landmarks of Point Loma.

Other images on the tiles are influenced by the building’s close proximity to Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery, nearby naval bases and the Old Point Loma Lighthouse.

“Betsy is clearly a very skilled artist, but her ability to creatively tie her mosaic work into a community theme set her apart,” Arthur said.

Schulz has created many public artworks, including the “Sapphire Tower Columns, The Tracks We Leave Behind,” located at 1262 Kettner Blvd., and the “Solana Beach Gateway Arches” at the northeast corner of Via de La Valle and Highway 101.

“What is great about the Peckham family is that they love having the community involved,” Schulz said.

Family members said they are excited the mural will allow visitors and residents to interact with the new building. It adds more than just a new structure to the area, Schulz said.

Schulz has worked with one to three assistants a day on the nine-month project.

The majority of the mural will consist of textured tiles but will also include flat tiles.

The tiles that will appear in the background were made by youths participating in the Liberty Station-based ARTS — A Reason to Survive — program. The students involved in this particular project were from the Juvenile Court and Community Schools (JCCS) element.

They participated in two workshops conducted by Schulz, during which she taught the youths how to design and prepare clay tiles.

Schulz said she always tries to incorporate an element of education or community fostering in her artwork project.

“The thing about doing clay work, it’s very tactile,” Schulz said.

It is a good medium for the students from JCCS to express themselves through, she added.

At the first session, Schulz had the children press shells and plastic bugs into the clay to create a rich texture.

At the second workshop, the students learned how to glaze and bake the clay. The students each made two tiles — one for the mural and one to take home.

In addition, Schulz enlists the help of Esme Bitticks, an intern from High Tech High School in Point Loma. Bitticks had the opportunity to work on many facets of the art project, from interviewing the project manager to creating tiles.

“The [Peckham] family has voluntarily made a financial commitment to providing public art to the community, and hopes that commitment, along with the building itself, act as a catalyst for the future improvement of the area,” Arthur said.

He said he anticipates the mural will be installed in late August, once the construction on Harbor Point is complete.

Schulz is creating the 100-square-foot mural project in her home studio.

She said she exptects the installation process will be tedious. She and her assistants will take the mural to the site in sections for installation.

“It will take a week or two to install,” Schulz said.

The Harbor Point building is slated to open in September, at which time the public may view the artwork.

“The idea that locals will take a part in creating and installing the art wall is incredible, and we hope through word of mouth it encourages others to stop by the building and appreciate the wall,” Arthur said.

Jul 23, 2010 |  By Leslie Carter

The small yellow cottage with its Spanish tile roof that houses the Center for a Healthy Lifestyle was living its mission on July 14 as children and staff harvested ingredients from the bounty just outside the door. The children made crepes topped with fresh peaches from a peach tree in the garden.

The scene was a “Fun and Healthy Cooking Class for Kids, underwritten by Jimbos…Naturally! and taught by Amanda Curry, owner of the Good Food Factory.

The center is part of the Harper Branch of the San Dieguito Boys and Girls Club at 533 Lomas Santa Fe Drive, and yet it is set apart. Sitting on the south side of Lomas Santa Fe it is the brainchild of Barbara Harper, whose name is now on the Boys and Girls Club branch that she has helped to nurture for years. The names of Pam and Marty Wygod appear in the stairstep tiles designed by Betsy Schulz as thanks for their support of the cottage’s latest renovation.

The mission -”to encourage children and adults to make good decisions for their own health and for the well-being of the planet” – guides the planners and volunteers in this special place.

You will find a teaching kitchen designed by Katie Pelisek and two consulting chefs-David Abella and Phillis Carey. There’s also an artist’s studio set up for teaching. The cottage is surrounded by rustic fencing that sometimes works as a trellis for the organic vegetables and fruits being nurtured by the creators and volunteers responsible for it.

The garden designer was Landscape Architect Pelisek, and she has created a kitchen garden of rare beauty. Stone planting boxes surround a sundial. The boxes are home to carrots, corn, squash, beans, gigantic Swiss chard and a small rosemary tree and more. There are apple trees, decorative gourds, artichoke plants and a striking fountain where the water is first caught by aluminum watering cans before falling into a washtub and then into the ground for recycling.

During the Kids in the Boys and Girls Club Summer programs, 150 each day enjoy activities in the kitchen and garden.

This innovative center was introduced to the community on Earth Day in April 2009. Since its opening it has been building a reputation for innovative classes and events, and they are not just intended for children.

According to Tamera Urie, the new director of the center, classes at the cottage emphasize Environmental Stewardship, which involves organic gardening to connect kids with nature, composting (with worms), and recycling, and Personal Wellness, to improve overall health of mind, body and soul. That program will feature cooking classes, nutrition education, fitness classes such as yoga, and a yearly health fair.

Artistic expression fits in here too. Books of both prose and poetry will be read and discussed, possibly as mother-and-child programs. There will be hands-on projects, parenting classes, and guest speakers will be invited who specialize in these areas.

Generating Income and Awareness will be the third area of emphasis aided by building community partnerships, and making the cottage available for rent for special events and private parties limited to 50.

“We are of planning a monthly open house, an afternoon into evening event with acoustic music and gourmet coffee, and light organic treats,” said Urie. “We intend to thoroughly use this space.”

And four times a year there will be a Gardenporium, a homegrown, handmade and hand-me-down market.

“Our biggest challenge is to let people know where we are,” said Urie. “We are tucked away … but once they get here they will realize how quaint and peaceful it is here.”

August 16, 2010

By Lee Schoenbart, Contributor

The art of Betsy Schulz that brought communities together in Carmel Valley, Del Mar and Solana Beach now reaches the northernmost part of the county, in Fallbrook.

After bidding on one of five art-related projects in spring 2009, Schulz was awarded the contract for the Major Donor Wall Mural on the east side of the soon-to-be-completed Fallbrook library.

The $11.4 million library (set to open in the fall) was designed by Ferguson, Pape, Baldwin Architects and Manuel Oncina Architects Inc. Schulz’s mural project got a $30,000 budget from The Friends of the Fallbrook Library.

The success of Schulz’s medium (handmade tiles and found objects that were the mainstay and a large part of the community art draw for the Del Mar library’s retaining mural wall in 2002) provided the experience and knowledge for approaching the much larger 84-square-foot Fallbrook project.

The Fallbrook mural, Schulz said, “is a completely different project. I talked to people about how they felt about Fallbrook to get a sense of the spirit of Fallbrook, did historical research, and decided people overall felt it was more of a rural community … that’s the part of Fallbrook that they really appreciated and enjoyed.

“I did research and determined that Fallbrook (farmers) were one of the (country’s) biggest avocado producers. I don’t know that they still are, but at one time they were. They have a lot of agriculture there. For the design, I wanted to bring out the agricultural part of (the town), the history and the people.”

As with the Del Mar Library Mixed Media Mosaic Wall, eight mosaic sitting walls at Fletcher Cove, and a pair of Solana Beach Gateway Arches along the rail trail, Schulz valued community participation in her projects and planned a workshop for the locals at the Fallbrook School of the Arts to explain her plan and how they could contribute to it.

“My assistants and I went there and worked with over 200 people. It was a great workshop. We had no idea (what to expect), and when we saw people coming, it was like ‘oh boy!’ I had no clue it was going to be that well attended,” said Schulz, a graduate of Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh with a B.A. in art and whose career accomplishments range from graphic artist to landscape design.

Those who participated learned how to press positive words and phrases into tiles for the background of the mural. The four panels have nature themes with a combination of plants and animals including sunflowers, avocados, birds, young acorns green in their cap shells, and an owl. The latter is the library’s mascot and appears to be swooping down on the open pages of a book.

“The idea was that the owl would be striving for wisdom with the words flowing out of the book,” said the former artist-in-residence for Del Mar Heights Elementary School. “It was so nice to have the community come in and create those words because every time people come and are involved or have friends who are involved, they are more likely to look at the mural as opposed to just walking by it.”

The library project is twofold for Schulz. The Fallbrook Friends also asked her to contribute to the garden room by constructing the reading garden wall. Guests must pass through the library to get to an outside courtyard.

As the fall deadline approaches, Schulz spoke confidently of completing the work on time.

“I’ve roughly designed it, but I have to get into the nitty-gritty of it. There are five quotes that I’m using for inspiration for that project, and those are going to be pressed into clay. Then I’ll have corresponding imagery that will support the quotes.

“Instead of having the community make tiles and bring things, the Fallbrook Gem and Mineral Society’s museum is donating some items to go into the section that’s going to be like layers of the Earth. I’m going to have some items that are ‘literally’ from Fallbrook – from the mines out there.”

The library should be completed in late October/early November with the installation of Schulz’s mural the first part of November.

“I’m probably the last one to install because they want to have the landscaping and everything in,” she said. “They’re just a little bit worried about damage, so right now the mural panels are actually hanging in my house.”

Reflecting on the community art projects she has undertaken, Schulz said: “Del Mar, La Jolla, Solana Beach, Point Loma and Fallbrook all have their unique flavors. A lot of it is in the way people feel about their community … people generally relate back to the history, especially if they’ve lived there for a long time. That’s really what makes a community, that’s what stands out.”

For more information, visit fallbrookfriends.tripod.com.

FALLBROOK — The new Fallbrook Library will be outfitted with distinctive artworks, including mosaic murals created by artist Betsy Schulz.

Schulz, known for handmade tiles and intricate mosaics, was brought onboard by the Fallbrook Library Building Task Force to create a mural at the entrance to recognize donors, and a mosaic mural in an outdoor reading garden.

“We saw other tile projects, but Betsy’s craft and skill is exceptional,” said Jerri Patchett, chair of the Library Building Task Force. “We are an arts educational community so art was a critical component to this library.”

Schulz, 42, who lives in San Diego and owns A Design Garden, started on both projects in May 2009. She’s nearly finished for an installation in November.

The 19,051-square-foot, $11.6 million building at South Mission Road at East Alvarado Street is scheduled for a grand opening in January.

The task force also commissioned nine other artists to create artworks for the library. Patchett said the group set aside $350,000 for the arts.

“We wanted the finest artists we could find locally and wanted different mediums,” she said. “Betsy is bringing a new art form of hand-sculpted tiles that we don’t have in Fallbrook.”

For the donor mosaic mural, Schulz wanted more than just plaques with names.

Schulz got her inspiration after visiting the Fallbrook Historical Society. The artwork, she said, represents the agricultural heritage of Fallbrook and historical reflections of its people and places.

“I wanted to have something interesting,” Schulz said. “For people who come to the library on a regular basis, they should be able to look at it and always see something new.”

Parts of the mosaic, such as an owl and avocado, are three-dimensional. The tiles, placed tightly together, give the appearance of a solid sculpture.

Schulz said it was important for her to involve the community. At the Fallbrook School of the Arts, more than 200 residents attended a workshop to help make tiles with inspirational words and phrases. They are part of the donor mural mosaic.

For the reading garden, Schulz created rural illustrations of native wildlife and plants that were sandblasted into the concrete wall enclosure. Sculpted tiles that spell out Chinese and Greek proverbs appear inside six recessed areas.

“My favorite part of this project is that the Fallbrook community is taking ownership of their public library,” Schulz said.

The original Fallbrook library opened in 1913 and was the first branch of the county’s public library system.

County supervisors approved spending $10.3 million for the new branch. The county will cover the bulk of the costs. Residents’ groups raised more money for the project.

Christina Macone-Greene is a freelance writer from Fallbrook.

Thursday, February 18th, 2010.
Issue 07, Volume 14.

Construction on the new $11.4 million Fallbrook library has taken large strides, and members of the community have been able to take part in the process.

According to Friends of the Fallbrook Library member Jerri Patchett, “Hundreds of locals turned out [on February 6] at the Art Campus to participate in the creation of their new library.”

“Renowned tile artist Betsy Schulz and Friends of the Fallbrook Library volunteers assisted children, parents and grandparents in preparing small creative tiles that will be part of the background for the Donor Mural,” said Patchett.

The art piece consists of various tile pieces that have been painted or textured by participants. Participants were even allowed to bring in artifacts to contribute to the artwork.

Construction on the building overall has been on schedule.

According to Jose Aponte, San Diego County library director, excavation and grading have been completed at the new library site, and plumbing rough-ins (supply, waste, fire, sprinkler and main) have been installed. Grade beams and footings have also been completed, and a cast is in place for a wall along the west side of the building.

Within the next two weeks concrete will be poured for the Reading Garden, Visual Garden, and Poets’ Patio straight wall, said Aponte, and cement for the Poets’ Patio radius wall will be poured on March 15, weather permitting. Concrete for the main slab of the building is scheduled to be placed on March 10, which is the date for structural steel to go up. Completion for structural steel is scheduled for April 5.

“Fallbrook’s library has a singular signature,” said Aponte. “It has an artistic statement and an aesthetic [component] that cannot be diminished.”

Coordination with artists for various art projects that will be integrated into the library’s construction continues to progress. Michael Stutz is constructing an artistic gate for the Great Room; Chris Pardell is constructing the reading garden trellis; Peter Mitten is constructing the visual garden gate; Janes Hubbell is constructing the Poets’ Patio gate; Karen Cunagin is constructing a soft sculpture; Schulz is constructing the reading garden wall; and Michael O’Brien is constructing a possible entryway table or fireplace hood.

Construction of the library is estimated to be completed on schedule and within budget by the end of the year, said Aponte.

Even though the library is located temporarily in a retail storefront on Main, it has been bustling, even though currently it is the smallest library in the county’s circulation.

“In January, the Fallbrook Library has moved 35,000 materials in a space that is 35 percent [the size] of their original building,” said Aponte. “That places Fallbrook’s library as the seventh busiest library out of 33. That is more materials than moved in Santee or Rancho San Diego’s libraries, which are much larger.”

Community members will have another chance to be a part of the library’s art projects within the next few months. For more information on the Friends of Fallbrook Library, to be a part of the community art project, or learn how you can make a donation to benefit the library, visit http://fallbrookfriends.tripod.com.