Sausalito might soon get its first new public art in more than 30 years — a colorful painted mural on downtown steps.
The City Council voted Oct. 5 to accept a donated mural for the Excelsior Stairs on Bridgeway across from Viña del Mar Park.
“This is going to spark more projects in town and this is a spectacular start to that,” Mayor Steven Woodside said.
The Parks and Recreation Commission recommended the mural.
“Not only is it our first use of the Park and Rec new system for improving public art, but it’s a partnership with our sister cities,” Vice Mayor Melissa Blaustein said. “This is just a triumph.”
The mural, sponsored by Sausalito Sister Cities, a nonprofit, will be painted by Sausalito artist Raylene Gorum.
Gorum designed the “All Our Children United” mural on the Highway 101 underpass between Sausalito and Marin City.
Viña del Mar, Chile, became Sausalito’s first sister city in 1960. Sakaide, Japan, followed in 1988. Cascais, Portugal, in 2013.
Recent exchanges with Viña del Mar have focused on women-led businesses and fire departments sharing best practices – including the Southern Marin Fire Protection District donating an out-of-use engine.
The mural will be painted on the gray cement stairway’s risers between its 52 steps. It features two women embracing a globe of the western hemisphere with imagery from wine-growing regions.
At the bottom, above a dress whose pleats are rows of grapevines, is Gabriela Mistral, a Nobel Prize-winning Chilean writer. At top, below a flower-filled arbor, is a Sausalito woman embracing the globe.
“It will add color and vitality,” said Caroline Revell of Sausalito Beautiful and the Downtown Sausalito Association during public comments. “Both our organizations endorse the proposed mural as another contribution to beautifying and enlivening our downtown.”
“It’s tremendously gratifying that, thanks to the work of staff and my fellow commissioners, the first approval of public art under our new policy moved so quickly,” said Stacy Kray, chair of the parks commission. “I’m also thrilled that Raylene’s artwork will embrace – quite literally – Sausalito’s relationship with our sister city Viña Del Mar, and honor the first Latin American writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature.”
Earlier this year, the City Council adopted a new five-step review process in which the commission vets applications for public artwork and recommends the council accept proposals.
The art is donated. In this case, the stairway project has a $100,000 budget and is seeking tax-deductible donations, said Robert Miros, a Sausalito Sister Cities board member.
To date, it has received a $5,200 grant from the county and a $10,000 donation, he said. The sister cities project is hoping to raise the balance and paint the steps by next spring.
“Our plan is to ‘sell steps,’ meaning that at certain levels of funding you will be recognized as having supported a specific step,” Miros said. “Details are still coming together.”
Bryan Vitali, city community services director, said the project is “requesting city support” to power wash and prep the stairs for resurfacing, which could cost $8,500.
The project’s supporters brought a 1/12th scale model of the stairs and mural to the council meeting. It can be seen at the City Hall library branch.
An artist’s rendering shows a proposed mural for the Excelsior Stairs above Bridgeway at Bay Street. (Provided by City of Sausalito)