Sunset Over Santa Ana

Sunset Over Santa AnA California

“Sunset Over Santa Ana” depicts an interpretation of the local history and iconography of this Southern California town. 

This over 8000 sq foot mural was created during the Covid 19 pandemic by working remotely on poly cloth (a portable installable mural painting material) by teams in studios in by Philadelphia, Pennsylvania  and Oakland California over a six month period leading to the final installation in Summer 2021. 

Santa Ana, whose namesake is most associated with the annual wind events that bring wildfires across the state, lyes just about an hour south in the shadow of nearby Los Angeles. With a military, agriculture, and post war boom town history, the city is growing as the region is changing but its past is largely what inspires this mural. 

During WWII a major air base was located just beyond the site of the mural, which is now a recently constructed mixed use residential and retail space. The Pegasus was a symbol for the fighter pilots training for war, and can be seen in the mural as a tribute to the area’s past. Other statues scattered throughout the mural act as metaphors for the city’s landmarks and identity. Namely two river gods representing the Santa Ana River and San Juan Creek whose mainstream begins in the Santa Ana Mountains. There is also the centrally placed historic Chiarini Fountain that is a landmark center piece in the historic downtown. 

As new construction and development at site of the mural obscures the glorious and sprawling Santa Ana mountains to the west, so as a unifying backdrop to the mural they have been reintroduced to the space in the painting. Using architectural devices to frame the landscape, the mountain view both opens up the wall space and brings the natural world back into the concrete environment. 

Fruit and citrus trees, like the ones that were grown in the region are depicted throughout the mural and an homage to the city's agricultural past. As well as palms, and warm weather plants that are commonly seen in the Southern California region. 

As the sun sets on this city, the promise of tomorrow springs from its past and the present.