SANTA ANA : A Mural Is Re-Created, Dedicated

Artist Emigdio Vasquez didn’t have much to say Wednesday when local dignitaries officially dedicated the mural he painted on the wall of the Santa Ana Transit Terminal. He seemed quite content to let his work speak for itself.

Vasquez, 51, of Orange, spent six months working on the 80-foot-long mural, a chronological depiction of 400 years of Orange County history.

Rather than consulting history books or old newspaper clippings for his work in the transit terminal, Vasquez had only to rely on his memory. The mural, entitled “Visions of Orange County,” is a second rendering of a work he created in 1987, when he was artist in residence at Bowers Museum in Santa Ana.

Museum officials told Vasquez last year that the wall on which the mural was painted would have to be demolished to make room for a $12-million expansion project. Since extracting the mural from the museum wall would have been too expensive, they began to search for a new wall on which Vasquez could re-create his work.

“We needed to turn to the community to have the mural preserved,” museum director Josie DeFalla said. “The Orange County Transit District generously stepped forward and offered the wall of their terminal. We’re delighted with how it’s worked out because I think the mural looks even more imposing here than it did at the museum.”

Bowers paid Vasquez $16,000 to paint the new mural, which required about 25 gallons of acrylic paint and more than 1,000 hours of labor.

Although Vasquez has created more than 20 murals during his 30-year career, he said having to re-create a project he had done before was the biggest emotional challenge he ever faced as an artist.

He said he was “devastated” when he was told that his original 100-foot-long work would have to be destroyed. But as he began painting the new mural, he said, support from the community helped to lift his spirits.

“So many days when I was out here painting, people would drive by and honk, give me the thumbs-up sign or say that I was doing a great job,” Vasquez recounted. “The positive feedback I got made me realize how many more people would get to enjoy the mural.”

Vasquez said that although he had painted the scenes before, the project remained interesting to him because he was able to make several subtle changes in the mural, which depicts historic periods in local history ranging from early Spanish settlers to the creation of Disneyland. It also includes images of people representing the area’s diverse ethnic groups.

The colorful mural so impressed Havinka Luangpraseut, an art teacher at Andrew Jackson Elementary School in Santa Ana, that she brought some of her students to Wednesday’s dedication.

“This mural is about history, and it will inspire people to think about our past,” Luangpraseut said. “I think it helps to bring together our differences. It’s very important . . . that we put all cultures together.”