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Poppies & Santa Rosa's Artstart

FEBRUARY 12, 2007

This past Saturday morning,
I met my friend Kathy Farrell
at the Flying Goat in Railroad Square...
Yummy coffee awaited...

as well as ginger bisquits,
and zuchini bread,
and a must read recommendation
of MFK Fisher's _The Boss Dog_...

The real reason for our visit,
besides good coffee and a chat...
was to see the California Poppy Mosaic Mural project
created by the student-artists of the Artstart Program...

under the guidance of Mosaic artist Diane Szczepanski

Kathy helped with this project and is on the Artstart board.

She has this to say about Artstart...

"Artstart is a non-profit agency who provides opportunities for student artists to be mentored by a professional artist and be paid for their work as an apprentice at the same time. The projects are commissioned by businesses, individuals, foundations and the City of Santa Rosa. On 4th street in the ally between the Chinese restaurant and the Russian River Brewing Company are two Artstart murals. One of the murals was completed by students from our Sister City in Korea and the other by local Artstart apprentice artists about Sonoma County. Artstart is always looking for walls and people interested in commissioning our program to provide pieces of public art."

If you live near, or visit Santa Rosa,
this is a must see...

Along the Prince Greenway Project,
just off of Wilson Street,
south of Third and along the Santa Rosa creek,
the wrap around art beckons you...

Here Kathy stands by the plaques that honor the student-artists
who worked on this project for over two years!

Kathy then points to these poppies, in which the student-artists
got to create a poppy with their own artistic flair...

There is even a section of the mural where the community
was invited to come and participate, bringing bits and pieces
of broken glass and pottery that had meaning to them...

This mural depicts the poppy
in all its seasons of growth, as well as the seasons of nature,
and the turning of night and day...

Until at last,

even the brightest flowers shed their petals,

sending them off into the wind,

releasing their seeds

for another season of beauty

after deep, deep rest...

And... as Kathy and I walked away,
we found tucked into the concrete walkway,
two tiny blue beads,
our own seeds of the day,
to take home and plant
remembering the beauty,
that awaits us in every moment...

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