June 2010 – Next time you walk down Coast Highway 101, look up at the small light standards. Or when you stroll past the DEMA office get a double take of the new window dressings. These banners are no run of the mill, factory produced canvasses. Instead, the inspiring banner series promoting environmental awareness and the natural beauty of Encinitas is putting first class art with a message in the public sphere.
“Downtown is like a large gallery space,” Executive Director Dody Crawford said. “I knew when we decided to do these banners that they needed to be instructive, but for me, they needed to be artistic. In the end, art is the reflection of the world we live in. Choosing to reflect the beauty of the environment and our care for it, I think, makes the message all the more meaningful.”
While the banners serve a function, to promote DEMA’s Environmental Film Series each summer, their form allows the message to reach a much broader audience. “I am hopeful that these will be iconic and lasting,” Crawford said.
Local artist Ron Lemen created the series of seven banners using DEMA Program Assistant Carris Rhodes as the model. “The figure is interacting with the environment-we can’t separate the two,” Lemen said. “So I tried to show them in harmony with one another.”
Something manmade can merge with nature in a way that doesn’t conflict. This subtle but powerful message is reflected by the style of art Lemen used to create the banners.
While the design was original Lemen, he was inspired by turn-of-the century artist, Alfonse Mucha. “This is a homage to him and it made it appropriate to sum up all of the themes in this way. The look and the feel are very ornate and graphic which is very reminiscent of what he would do,” Lemen said.
Not only are pedestrians stopping in the DEMA office to inquire about the banners and compliment the project, but Rhodes’ own mother is impressed with the end result. “I think they all make a graceful, and alluring statement, complementary to the natural beauty that is Encinitas. And isn’t that what essential environmentalism is?-preservation of the beauty and harmony of our environs,” Raylene Rhodes said.
The emotion that was evoked in Rhodes is exactly what Lemen was hoping to accomplish. “Art is a very powerful voice,” he said. “We all are aware that there are problems, we’re looking for solutions, the artwork is leaning towards that-finding a solution.”
“Messages need to be told through art,” according to Lemen. “When the art becomes too abstract the message gets lost.” That’s certainly not the case with the banner series. Rhodes applauded DEMA and the artist for using the subtle style. “The Art Nouveau period to me signifies the graceful expression of beauty in nature-a time of new art; a new awareness. I hope to see the environmental movement gain strength in appealing to every person’s connection to this beautiful blue planet. Art has a way of reaching people that reason alone cannot,” Rhodes said.
Indeed, the banners will serve as an aesthetically charged medium to promote a sustainable community for years to come.
The banners were funded in part, by the City of Encinitas and the Mizel Family Foundation Community Grant Program.
