New Deal/WPA Art in San Geronimo, CA


San Geronimo Valley Cultural Center

The Trillium Fund has just successfully completed its fundraising drive to fund the restoration of the Maurice del Mué Works Progress Administration mural now housed in the San Geronimo Cultural Center in San Geronimo, Marin County, California (formerly the Lagunitas School building). Work on the restoration is is now in progress. This 8x17 foot mural was painted in 1934.

San Geronimo Cultural Center - Newsletter and restoration progress pages
Restoration Newsletter (text only)
Rededication Ceremony (text only)
San Francisco Chronicle Magazine, November 16, 2003 - "Valley of the Artists / Mural still speaks to bucolic San Geronimo,"
"Restoring the Glory," April 6, 2004 article about the mural restoration, Marin Independent Journal


November 10th, 2003
San Geronimo Valley Cultural Center Newsletter
http://www.sgvcc.org/this_week.htm


MURAL RESTORATION PROJECT

Please support us in restoring the 1934 W.P.A. Mural by Maurice Del Mue in the Cultural Center lobby to preserve a valuable part of our American and Valley Heritage. Here's what you can do to be part of this effort: Purchase a beautiful color-fast print of the mural digitally restored and printed on archival paper by Trillium Press. Unframed prints are $250*, size 15" x 30"($50 will go to the Trillium Fund, a non-profit organization for art student education) Make a tax deductible donation to the "Mural Restoration Project." All monies will go towards the actual restoration to be performed by Anne Rosenthal, a professional restorer of historical artwork.


A FEDERAL ART PROJECT CONSERVATION SUCCESS STORY

Committed community members from Marin County are thrilled that they have a "like new mural" again at their San Geronimo Valley Cultural Center. "The mural, 15 feet wide, 7 feet tall and 50 feet off the road was originally painted for the Lagunitas School and portrays the area along the way to Olema and Point Reyes," noted Sam Whiting in his November 16, 2003 article in the San Francisco Chronicle Magazine. The school, now the cultural center, once again has a bright and vivid mural and folks will note that little has changed in reality since this landscape was painted some 70 years ago by French muralist, Maurice Del Mue. Last summer and after that article came out last November, Susan Lahr, Richard Lang and Trillium Press developed a fundraising venture that has brought in the $20,000 needed to conserve the mural and its a done deal--a New Deal conservation success story! Trillium Press made digitized fine art prints of what the mural would look like when restored and these were traded for a $250 donation. Fifty dollars went to the Lang's Trillium fund, a non-profit for art students, and the rest went into the restoration fund. According to a February 2004 article about the muralist in the Marin Independent Journal, he painted two other murals for Tamalpais High School. One was destroyed and the other one forgotten. Now Lang and Lahr are working to raise the funds to restore the forgotten one. They are also searching for others known to have been done at other schools.


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