Arts Commission subcommittee aims to breathe new life into stalled efforts at restoring significant mural

A city commission on Wednesday voted to form a subcommittee dedicated to solving issues surrounding the restoration of a faded mural with significant meaning to members of the Palm Springs Black and African-American community. 

During its regular monthly meeting, the Palm Springs Public Arts Commission unanimously elected to create an ad hoc subcommittee, made up of three commissioners, that will work hand in hand with the Desert Highland Gateway Estates community on the restoration of a large mural painted by Richard Wyatt Jr. on an exterior wall of the James O. Jessie Desert Highland Unity Center.

The mural, painted in 1997, is on a south-facing wall and, over the decades, has faded due to the unrelenting desert sun and the impact of water sprayed on the wall during irrigation of a nearby lawn. Over the years, community members have done their best to repaint the mural, and in 2014 Wyatt repainted it himself. 

But almost a decade later, the mural of 10 Black faces of all ages now looks faded against the wall’s stucco. 

When it was first painted over 25 years ago, students from the neighborhood lent Wyatt a hand. Those children are now adults, but they still fondly remember the time spent creating the mural.

Laymond Gray, a neighborhood resident who helped with the mural when he was younger, recalled in a 2021 interview with The Post that, “I had friends who have passed on whose names are up there. So it’s a little nostalgic.”

Last September, the Public Arts Commission recommended that the City Council allocate $286,000 to the mural’s restoration. In October, that recommendation was approved. Instead of merely repainting the mural, however, the money was to go toward making the art more permanent by recreating it using painted tile.

The method has been successfully used with one of Wyatt’s other murals outside Capitol Records in Los Angeles.

With the money approved and the project signed off on from the engineering department, a contract was sent to Wyatt last December. The artist then informed the commission that he could not participate in the restoration, not even in an advisory role with other artists working under his direction.

The community has been asking for a solution for decades, but now they are right back where they started. 

To make matters worse, Commission Chair Gary Armstrong explained, the city can’t just take the already-approved $286,000 and give it to another artist. 

“We have to consider that money gone,” he said. “It can’t just be shifted over to a new artist or a new assignment because the money was approved for a specific artist at a specific time.” 

That’s where the subcommittee comes in. Commissioners on the subcommittee will meet and discuss options with members of the Desert Highland community now that Wyatt is no longer available to work on the mural. 

Armstrong said there are many options open. The community could ask for a new artist to come in and do the same plan with the ceramic tiles, use a more durable material like automotive paint on a non-porous material, or ask for a different piece of art in another medium.

Commissioner Shawnda Thomas Faveau, who lives in the Desert Highland community and is now on the ad hoc subcommittee, told commissioners not to expect significant changes in opinion. 

“They’re really adamant about this particular mural being refurbished,” she said. “I don’t know what other solutions can come from this.”

Faveau said the community, including herself, feels like they’re getting the runaround. 

“They’ve been fighting for this mural for two decades,” she said. “There’s a lot of heart and passion behind this.”

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