An Artful Approach to the Wilderness

The artists wanted inside the Laguna Coast Wilderness Park to get a look at the rugged wilderness tucked behind a barbed wire fence and make paintings of its beauty.

Park officials wanted to camouflage a trailer just off Laguna Canyon Road that temporarily serves as the park’s headquarters.

So they struck a deal.

Tim Miller, head of the county’s Harbors, Beaches and Parks department, told the artists they could get inside the park by performing a public service, painting a mural across the broad side of the trailer to make it blend with the surroundings. (The public has limited access to the park.)

“They were peering over the barbed wire fence at the park,” said Miller, recalling the day he met the painters. “I said to them, ‘See that trailer, that ugly, stark-looking trailer? . . . How would you like full access to this park to paint?”

The artists jumped at the chance. “We said, ‘Well, it’s a deal,’ ” said Saim Caglayan, one of about eight artists who painted the 45-foot-long mural on plywood forms attached to the trailer.

“These are the first artist volunteers for the park,” said Mary Fegraus, director of the Laguna Canyon Foundation, which bought the materials for the project. “They will be able to paint forever out there in the park.”

Members of the general public can take guided tours of the 3,000-acre park on Saturdays. After one tour, they can hike alone on Wilderness Access Days, which occur once a month.

Park officials say the restrictions are necessary, partly because of the park’s sensitive environment and because its boundaries are not clearly defined to hikers.

The park probably won’t be completely open for two or three more years, Miller said.

The next Wilderness Access Day is Aug. 17. Information: 854-7108.