Mosaic mural threatened by school renovation

With much fanfare, a colorful glass mosaic mural designed by acclaimed artist Jose Antonio Aguirre, funded by $25,000 in donations, and worked on by hundreds of students, was unveiled at McKinley School in 2006.

Now the survival of the 111-foot-long, 4 1/2-foot-tall mural on a retaining wall in the playground is being threatened. A Measure TT-funded school renovation, scheduled to start later this year, includes removing the wall and flattening the two-level play area.

"I feel very disappointed, it was very surprising to me," said Aguirre, an internationally recognized artist whose daughter attends McKinley. "The material used was supposed to make it permanent. Why is this happening to the mural done by children? There's a lack of respect for children's art."

The fate of the "Wey yano'one"' mural (Mayan for "Here We Are") could be decided by the Pasadena Unified School District board in the next two weeks, and board member Ed Honowitz said he hopes it can be relocated.

"Demolition is one option we're trying to avoid," said Honowitz, whose daughter was one of the McKinley students who worked on the mural.

"We're looking at trying to determine if we can actually relocate it to an alternate site on campus," he said. "We recognize with the modernization going on we have to remove the retaining wall it's sitting on and we have to determine how to do it and how much it would cost."

Money is a big part of it, he said,along with the logistics of moving a large artwork made up of 65,000 tiny Venetian glass tiles.

"Measure TT funds are very tight," he said, adding that there's the possibility of raising private funds to relocate the mural. "We're looking at options for what would work, what's realistic - anything can be done for a price."

The colorful mural, depicting two snakes in a geometric design reflecting Southwestern, Mexican, Native American and Asian influences, was designed as a permanent symbol to "capture the spirit" of the McKinley community, according to the opening-day celebration literature.

"It is with great hope that this mural will serve as an inspiring symbol of the many rich dreams, gifts and experiences each McKinley student brings, that together create vibrant, lasting beauty," the flyer said.

Aguirre - some of whose public art pieces can be seen at Metro Gold Line Highland Avenue Station and the East Los Angeles Public Library - said he welcomed school improvements, but was puzzled that the playground renovation was designed without regard to the mural.

"Somehow they never took it into consideration, I don't know what they thought about it, or who's in charge," he said. "But it's very obvious there's a mural in the middle of the playground, so why go ahead and do all these plans, deciding from the beginning that the mural's going to be moved? I think it's down to the issue it's not important, it's a `kiddy' mural."

Aguirre said he learned about threats to the artwork after returning from Mexico, where he was on a Fulbright-Garc a Robles 2010- 2011 award, implementing a Public Art project at Universidad Aut noma Metropolitana-Azcapotzalco in Mexico City.

Since then, he has met with the school board and enlisted the help of other McKinley parents, including Phil Gold.

"It has to be saved," Gold said of the mural. "It was installed in a huge community ceremony, with 750-plus kids, only six years ago ... somewhere in the redesign there has to be a place for art."

Ironically, Gold said, the McKinley campus has a historic 16-by-40-foot Works Progress Administration Arts Project mural painted by renowned artist Frank Tolles Chamberlin, completed in 1942, and also a community project that students worked on.