Community Mural Workshops at Library

Be a part of the process!

Be a part of the process in creating a new indoor mural at the Mission Branch of the Oceanside Public Library! In partnership with Floating Hearts Connections and the San Luis Rey Band of Luiseño Indians, the Library will host a series of workshops where traditional Luiseño stories will be told by Elders from the San Luis Rey Band of Luiseño Indians. Muralist Gibran Isaias Lopez will work with participants to translate spoken word stories into visual representations. These visual representations will help to inform the final mural installation. The workshops will be held at the Mission Branch Library at 3861 Mission Ave in Oceanside. Workshops for children and families (ages 0-18) will be at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, March 3, March 10 and March 17. A workshop for teens (12-18), in collaboration with the San Luis Rey Band of Mission Indians Youth Program, will be held on Friday, March 24 at 4:30 p.m. The final workshop in the series will be for all ages, with an emphasis on adults, and will be held on Saturday, April 1 at 2:00 p.m.

The City of Oceanside is on lands that are the traditional territory of the Payómkawichum people, also known as Luiseño. The San Luis Rey Band of Luiseño Indians has kept its identity as a people within local communities that now exist on ancestral tribal lands, in the immediate areas surrounding the Mission San Luis Rey. Today the San Luis Rey Band of Luiseño Indians faces challenges in saving and preserving what remains of their cultural past, and in creating and sharing its heritage with future generations to come. This project aims to honor their past and future.

Muralist Gibran Isaias Lopez is a Mexican-American, Southern California muralist, currently living in Escondido, CA. He is a speaker, author and workshop facilitator on the subjects of introspection, personal development, spiritual well-being, creativity and team building. He is an intuitive artist that uses art to heal and grow. He has worked as a teaching artist with our Art for Older Adults program and has created murals throughout the US and locally, including at Jefferson Middle School in Oceanside and in the Cross-Cultural Center at Cal State San Marcos. He creates his murals by working with the community that will experience the space and incorporating their ideas into his work.

Support for this program is provided by The Oceanside Public Library Foundation and the Friends of the Oceanside Public Library. The Oceanside Public Library aims to empower the community by promoting literacy, information access, civic engagement, cultural inclusiveness and openness to new ideas. Visit www.oceansidepubliclibrary.com for more info about Library programs and services.