One of the newest murals at Liberty Station’s Arts District in Point Loma features bright colors, palm trees, cactuses, kites, clouds, hearts and more. Adding to the whimsy are funny faces on many of the creations.
As a first-generation muralist, illustrator, painter and installation artist, Paola Villaseñor wants her latest work to “make people smile.”
The painting on an arched walkway next to The Lot and the Joan and Irwin Jacobs Performing Arts Center (the future home of Cygnet Theatre), depicts what Villaseñor — better known as Panca — describes as “a quintessential San Diego summer day.”
“I captured the spirit,” she said. “What I am getting from people is the mural is very harmonious and positive and joyful. … It’s exactly what I was going for.”
The mural is part of the “Installations at the Station” public art exhibit, which features works from artists in the San Diego-Baja region. The program is overseen by the NTC Foundation’s Art in Public Places Committee.
Panca, who was born in the United States to Mexican parents, emigrated to Tijuana in 2004. As a binational, bilingual and bicultural artist, she intertwines both cultures in her work.
One of her murals, called “Mi Tierra” (Spanish for “My Land”), was unveiled in Ocean Beach in 2021 on a wall of Mexican restaurant La Doña.
She said her childhood experiences of traveling back and forth across the border, visiting museums in San Diego and spending time with families on both sides served as inspiration for her new piece.
She said she believes her parents exposing her to many different experiences as a child left her with a love of painting and color.
The mural includes San Diego’s seascapes, sunshine and mountainous desert landscapes.
The project “will bring even more vibrancy and life to the barracks and walkways by capturing some of the breathtaking natural wonders throughout San Diego,” said Lisa Johnson, president and chief executive of the NTC Foundation, a nonprofit that operates the Arts District.
Panca said she knew the process of creating it was going to be difficult, even as she was excited to take on the challenge.
The work involved climbing up and down on scaffolding, hauling supplies, working around the public and dealing with heat and wind.
She began by painting the exterior of the archway, which meant that at 5-foot-2, she was usually perched on a scaffold.
“I had to wear a lot of gear and kneepads,” she said. “The scaffolding I ordered, you would step on a board on one end and the other end would pop up. The boards were bending, there were a lot of splinters and bruises. The people around the building heard me freak out a couple of times.”
She refused to use ladders after reading some accident statistics. “I’m not afraid of heights, but I’m afraid of falling,” she quipped.
In addition, she started the project as San Diego was experiencing a massive heat wave.
“There were days with wind and horrible heat when I started,” she said, her voice dropping off. “But it was so fulfilling and exciting to get it done.”
The mural’s location next to the Performing Arts Center ultimately worked in her favor in more ways than one.
“It gave me the idea for the inside part of the art. I let it go and let it flow, and there is a lot of music that is part of the mural,” she said.
“Because people would come inside the archway to ask me where other buildings were, they would see the work that was being done. Then they would go outside and see the work on the exterior. People really took to it. The energy from the mural was bouncing off me.”
She discovered that the area around the mural was used as a picnic area, and families with kids and dogs became a common sight.
Near the end of the project, Panca invited others to help her create the mural during a community painting day that gave her a lot of emotions.
“I got COVID in the middle of the project and was out 10 days,” she said. “I was feeling overwhelmed. But the minute the families and children showed up, seeing how excited they were got me excited. It bounced off me and gave me the extra gasoline I needed to keep going.”
Many of the hearts and circles near the bottom of the mural were done by children.
“I want them to painting them and see they had a part in it and it was special,” Panca said. “And maybe one day they might grow up to be artists themselves.”
Later, some people familiar with Panca’s art “showed up with tools, ready to work,” she said.
She was especially touched by many of the mother/daughter duos who stopped by throughout the installation.
“Many of them thought my assistant, who was male, was the artist,” she said. “And then realizing it was me, I could tell the representation was so important to them. Their eyes would get big and they were amazed I was up on the scaffolding. It was a ‘We can be anything’ kind of moment.”
The mural was completed Aug. 5. Panca said she hopes it brings more attention to the arts and the creative side of Liberty Station, and maybe more people to the picnic area to see the art.
“By keeping it silly and weird, I hope people will get a kick out of it,” she said. “And more than anything, I am just happy.”
Panca — who has been featured at the San Diego Museum of Art, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, Chicano Park Museum and more — next is working on a piece for Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead. She is one of several artists whose work will be displayed during the Dia de los Muertos Festival in Barrio Logan on Sunday, Oct. 27.
For more information about Panca, visit aypanca.com. To learn more about Liberty Station and the NTC Foundation, visit libertystation.com or ntcfoundation.org.
