Innovation Lights the Way
Merging the subjects that Da Vinci spent his lifetime exploring, the mural incorporates scenes and landmarks from the community, including a map of Bella Vista from 1962, an astronomy chart, and the Christian Street Baptist Church. It celebrates what brings communities together: food, meeting places, and the common textural landscape. This is represented with the botanical illustrations of thai basil and the poblano pepper, the bark from one of the incredible trees on the block, as well as a segment of stained glass, both common sights around the neighborhood.
To honor Da Vinci’s innovative spirit that lit the way for scientific thought and exploration for future generations, a recent example of scientists pushing the boundaries of what contemporary knowledge understands atoms to be is included in the mural. The model of two atoms colliding looks a bit like the inside of a human eye and represents how the influence of Da Vinci’s passion for understanding the world around him is still alive today.
The hanging tissue paper flags, papel picado, represent a craft common in Mexican culture. The artists chose to incorporate imagery within each of the 4 pieces strung together: the pepper symbolizes food; symbols of the Mexican popsicle paleta’s (which you can get in the Italian Market) and the John’s Water Ice cup; a third has a hand painting to nod to DaVinci Art Alliance’s work to highlight artists; and the fourth has imagery of the sun as well as candles, to reiterate the tradition of honoring the past while looking to the future for new ideas and opportunities.
Paper lanterns found commonly along the boats in Vietnam float along the top portion of the mural. As they angle upwards, they symbolize lighting the path of discovery for the future, and, in Vietnamese culture, represent happiness and health. They float over top of a rendering of the oxytocin molecule, the chemical your body releases when experiencing close bonding with another person, for example, in a community.
The artists decided the Baptist church that was on Christian St. and torn down was important to show in the mural because it highlights the forever changing landscape of the community, and is an example of the neighborhood coming together to speak up about losing another neighborhood landmark.
The Samuel Yellin gate is an iconic ironwork used in the border is a nod to the Fleisher Art Memorial, and represents the crafts people who helped build the neighborhood and create a foundation for the arts community.