PANORAMAS OF CIVIC PRIDE ARTISTS NAMED FOR NEWHALL MURALS.

Byline: JUDY O'ROURKE

Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA -- Cities like Los Angeles have long told their histories with colorful murals spanning walls and embankments, and for the first time, Santa Clarita will do the same.

The names of artists hired to paint historic-theme scenes in Newhall's aging downtown core -- poised for a redo -- were announced this week.

"We're really excited to have these murals as the next step in the city's public art program," said Phil Lantis, the city's arts and events administrator. "And particularly that they will be in Old Town Newhall, and part of the city's efforts to redevelop and beautify that historic part of town."

The paintings will adorn walls of El Trocadero Steakhouse and Work Boot Warehouse at the well-traveled corner of Market Street and San Fernando Road.

California vaqueros -- the first cowboys to settle cattle ranches -- will be depicted at the steakhouse. The boot store will feature a dreamy vision of luminaries honored on the nearby Walk of Western Stars.

A civic committee plucked the two winning entries from a pool of six finalists chosen by the properties' owners. Neither of the artists is local.

Nicole Ponsler will work in the comfort of her Northern California studio instead of in the elements down south. Her painted panels will be bolted to the stucco. Ponsler, an art teacher at a charter high school near her home in Point Arena, roughly four hours north of San Francisco, oversees murals painted by at-risk youths along the southern coast of Mendocino County.

The 32-year-old painter, who studied in Florence, Italy, shows her work at the Stewart/Kummer gallery in nearby Gualala. She studied art history in college, focusing on Baroque and Renaissance periods, and drew inspiration for her mural from those genres and from famous Mexican muralists, such as Diego Rivera.

"The kinds of Renaissance and Baroque paintings that I find so inspiring are bombastic, gesture-oriented, dramatic compositions that sort of force the viewer to be included in the narrative," she said. "I hope this technique allows viewers to appreciate the extreme nature of the environment vaqueros encountered."

Victoria Sulski has taught college-level art and painting courses for the past 17 years.

She favors pastels, but is practiced in oils and stone carving. Sulski's work has been shown nationwide.

Instead of familiar constellations such as Orion's belt, Sulski's scene features made-up stellar dot-to-dots picturing Western stars gazing down on an old-time film shoot.

The artists will each be paid $3,000 and the works must be done by mid-June.

Twenty-nine proposals were submitted; 19 for the steakhouse, 10 for the boot store. Five local artists applied for the assignment, but neither the business owners nor members of the Santa Clarita Arts Advisory Committee knew who they were. A local arts group commended the city for its foray into public arts projects, but voiced sorrow local artists were not represented.

"That's definitely a step forward," said Sandy Fisher, president of the Santa Clarita Artists' Association. "The (city) doesn't have much in the way of public art. I think it's always disappointing when a local artist isn't chosen -- I would feel the people who live in the community know the community better."

Anti-graffiti coating will be applied to protect the artworks from vandalism. Other municipal art projects include life-size decorative fiberglass bears displayed throughout the city, and painted metal trash cans dotting San Fernando Road in Newhall.

A well-respected Los Angeles-based organization that's had a hand in creating the half-mile-long "Mother of All Murals -- The Great Wall of Los Angeles," in the San Fernando Valley, is rooting for Santa Clarita's fledgling effort. The behemoth "Great Wall" chronicles contributions made by ethnic and minority people to the nation's history, from prehistoric times to the 1950s. More than 400 youths worked on the project -- which will eventually portray events through the 1990s.

"The power of murals is they tell a people's story," said Debra J.T. Padilla, executive director of the group, the Social and Public Art Resource Center. The center occupies space in the old Venice Police Station and maintains the largest mural archive in the world.

"There is a precedent for communities who want to show civic pride," Padilla said. "And the use of murals is a direct link to something that becomes 'My story, it becomes our story."'

judy.orourke(at)dailynews.com

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2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) A mural of the Walk of Western Stars was one of two winning entries chosen by the city to be painted in downtown Newhall. This mural will be painted on the Work Boot Warehouse at the corner of San Fernando Road and Market Street.

(2 -- color) The mural titled "California Vaqueros" will adorn the El Trocadero Steakhouse in downtown Newhall. It was one of two murals chosen by the city to help tell the story of Old Town Newhall.