The places we move through every day become familiar in ways we do not always notice. A color, a landscape, a wall we pass on the way in. Over time, these small things become part of how a place is remembered.

The mural began with the arrival into Dunsmore Elementary and the idea that the entrance could reflect more of the character already present within the school and its surroundings. Dunsmore’s connection to its Japanese immersion program, the foothill landscape and neighboring Dunsmore Park became part of one visual language rather than separate ideas.

The colors were drawn in part from the historic rockwork at Dunsmore Park. Built as folk-art assemblage, the walls bring together local granite, stones gathered from across the West and found objects set into their surfaces. The mural borrowed from that sense of gathering, layering pieces of place, culture and school identity into one composition.

The design developed through collaboration with the school and community. Feedback shaped the early studies and helped refine the imagery, color and composition before the final design was selected. A grant from the Mary Pinola/Crescenta Valley Chamber Education Fund, together with matching support from Dunsmore, helped bring the project into realization.

To move the drawing from the page onto the building, the muralists first mapped a grid across the wall. The design was transferred section by section and painted by hand, allowing the graphic work to become part of the scale and material of the school itself.

Unveiled in 2022, the mural now sits within that everyday sequence of arriving at Dunsmore, seen from the park, the street and the walk toward the school. With time, I hope it becomes one of those familiar pieces of place that stays in a child’s memory.

Special thanks: Christin Briggs, Fusako Ogasawara, Ann Marie K. Smith and Harper Paradowski.