ESCONDIDO — Four newly completed murals now adorn the walls of Washington Park’s recreation buildings, the eye-catching result of a partnership between the city and a local school district.
The student mural project first started in 2019 as a partnership between the city of Escondido along with the Public Arts Commission and the Escondido Union High School District.
After pandemic restrictions prevented students from gathering to paint the murals in 2020, some kids opted to apply vinyl stickers of their designs on the walls of the Washington Park poolhouse and recreation buildings. Due to vandalism, only one of the original five stickers remains today.
The following year, students switched to painting the murals directly on the walls, all of which remain intact.
Now in its third phase, Del Lago Academy students in teacher Sudi Memarzadeh’s class have contributed four new murals at the park, recognized in a Sept. 30 unveiling ceremony.
Neighborhood Services Manager Danielle Lopez said the partnership has been “very successful,” so much so that it may require a new location in the future.
“We’re running out of space here, so we might be changing to a different park soon,” Lopez said.
Ava Manoochehri Farr, a junior at Del Lago Academy, was one of several students who pitched and painted a mural for the project.
“This gives us a space to express our feelings, our thoughts and help advocate for things that are important to us,” she said.
Farr, who is Iranian, was behind the mural honoring Mahsa Amini and the women’s freedom movement in Iran. A year ago, Amini was arrested by Iran’s morality police for not wearing her hijab properly, and within three days, she was dead. Massive protests followed word of her death.
Farr said the protests have had a huge impact on herself as well as her friends and peers.
“It was really cool to get the opportunity to raise awareness,” Farr said. “It helped make my voice heard.”
Farr was joined by several other students who also pitched and painted the murals over the summer, including Katelyn Guardado, Zulma Serrano Rojo, Daniel Laguna, Vada Mock, Alex Cross, Yasmin Bhakta, Fernando Rocio Armenta, Marixa Nunez and Alexa Rodarte.
Councilmember Consuelo Martinez, who represents District 1 and Washington Park, recalled discussions about installing murals in the park around the same time as discussions about the new skate park there began.
“This was the youth’s idea,” Martinez said. “The community wanted these murals.”
Also contributing to the mural project was David Nemteanu, another Del Lago Academy teacher, and Charlie Mejia, a Valley High School teacher and experienced muralist responsible for the giant, colorful mural directly across the Escondido Creek Canal on the back of a tortilleria.
According to Memarzadeh, there are plans for a potential future project at Grove Park in partnership with students from Orange Glen, Escondido and Valley high schools.
