'Fabric of Our Heritage' the latest colorful mural to grace Lemoore's cultural history

The newest mural, entitled “The Fabric of Our Heritage,” is unique in the idea that it pays homage to many of the several cultural groups that make of up the population of the community, from the Tachi Tribe and Portuguese influence of the Azores to the thriving Lemoore Filipino population.

Approximately 150 persons were on hand late Friday afternoon as Linda Lahodney, one of the prime organizers of the new mural, and speaking on behalf of the Sarah A. Mooney Museum, revealed Lemoore’s latest painting. The crowd of art enthusiasts was also treated to a variety of entertainment, including colorful dance routines and traditional music from local groups, including a corps of Tachi Youth dancers as well as representatives of the Kings Cultural Center and local Polynesian dancers.

Lemoore may be running out of wall space soon as it added its latest mural to the world of art. The previous works, ranging from “The Present Looks at the Past,” a representation of old-time Lemoore to a “Tachi Sunset,” a reverent masterpiece placed colorfully on the old Bank of America building both of which gaze upon the quaint downtown park.

Both were works by Colleen Goodwin Chronister, who so majestically chronicled life in Lemoore from the early days of Native Americans to Lemoore’s early modern era.

The latest contribution to Lemoore’s artistic vision of Lemoore graces a building and vacant lot that over the years, and during its heyday, once housed a bank and newspaper and quietly overlooked a car lot. Today, the mural is within viewing distance of Dr. Jeff Garcia’s Family Eye Care. It was the owner of the lot, Garcia, who volunteered the west wall of the Tropicana Asian Market for the new mural.

Except for the mural entitled Lemoore 2000 – "The First Ten Decades,” which hangs on the Wells Fargo Bank building, it was a solo artist, most notably Chronister, who was responsible for six of the eight artworks.

What separates “The Fabric of Our Heritage” from most of the other murals was that it was a conglomeration of local artists that contributed to the project for more than two years. But it did have a guiding force, and the master force was Lemoore artist and teacher Mario Gonzalez, a longtime art instructor at Lemoore High School – and a pretty good artist in his own right.

Several of his murals grace the Lemoore High School campus.

“It was community-based,” said Gonzalez who helped organize the various groups and artists who contributed to the many panels that make up the final project. “All the ideas came from within the community. Ideas came out of a large group, and it was approved.”

It was Gonzales who took the ideas, sketched them into paintable panels, and then invited the community in to bring color and reality into the artworks. “We went right to the panels and sketched it out, and then we allowed the community to come in at their own leisure time  - a scheduled time – into the arts and ceramics building (at LHS). Everybody just came together and said yeah or nay.”

The final results? “It’s fantastic. So far, everyone who sees it say positive comments about it, and I have to agree with them.”

The “Humanities for All,” which provided some of the funding for the project, is a grant program that supports locally-initiated public humanities projects that respond to the needs and interests of Californians. It encourages greater public participation in humanities programming (particularly by new and underserved audiences) and promotes understanding and empathy among all our state’s peoples to cultivate a thriving democracy.