San Diego State University |
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This photograph features part of George Sorenson's 1936 WPA mural "San Diego's industry," which depicts various stages of the tuna fishing industry. |
Restoration Begins on "Lost" WPA-Era Mural Genevieve Burgeson Bredo's Works Progress Administration era mural, "NRA Packages," was completed in 1936 while Bredo was a student at San Diego State College. Long forgotten and covered by a drop ceiling during renovations to Hardy Tower made in 1957-59, this mural, along with George Sorenson's "San Diego Industry," were rediscovered by campus workmen in 2004. | |
| Typical of WPA era art, the focus of the rediscovered murals is laborers employed in local industry. Bredo's mural depicts men unloading boxes from a truck near San Diego's Hillcrest neighborhood, while Sorenson's 6' by 30' fresco portrays an ethnically diverse group of local workers in progressive stages of the tuna-fishing industry, including fishermen, dock workers, canning women and merchants. The rediscovery of the "lost" murals sparked a campaign to fund their restoration and relocation to highly visible positions under the library's dome. Seth Mallios, professor of anthropology at SDSU, is collaborating with Connie Vinita Dowell, dean of the SDSU Library, to increase community awareness of the murals and to secure funding for their repair and reinstallation. "This is a wonderful opportunity for the library to showcase part of San Diego State's heritage created by our own students. A function of today's library is to create an intellectual environment for users, to give them opportunities to experience the kind of culture that, for a long time, has been associated with museums and galleries," Dowell commented. We are pleased to announce that, thanks to gifts from a number of the Friends of the SDSU Library, along with a grant from the Parker Foundation and generous support from President Stephen Weber's Leadership Fund, work is about to begin on restoration of the Bredo mural. The mural will first be cleaned, then consolidated, faced with fabric via adhesive, removed from the wall, transported to the conservator's workshop, restored, and transported back to SDSU before being reinstalled in the library. Completion of the project is anticipated for October 2007, with "NRA Packages" becoming the centerpiece for a library exhibit of California WPA art and architecture in spring 2008. The exhibit will celebrate the 75th anniversary of the WPA. | ||
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"NRA Packages," the 1936 mural painted by Genevieve Burgeson Bredo, was uncovered during 2004 in Hardy Tower. (Courtesy of Seth Mallios.) | |
| The library is exploring opportunities for programs that would bring elementary school students to SDSU during spring 2008 to see the restored mural and learn about the rich WPA heritage through the library's exhibit and by visiting the historic WPA-era structures of SDSU. The library and Mallios continue to seek funding for restoration of the second, and larger, Sorenson mural. "Wouldn't it be wonderful if that could be accomplished during the WPA anniversary year of 2008?" ponders Dowell. | ||
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