Point Loma is home to a new public mural, courtesy of artist Hanna Daly and the Point Loma Association.
The painting of a colorful bouquet of assorted flowers is on the building of Schmidt Design Group, a landscape architecture and planning firm, at 1310 Rosecrans St.
The completion of the mural was celebrated May 28 with a community reception.
The painting is one of many local projects funded by the Point Loma Association as part of its mission to “advocate, beautify and preserve the quality of life on the peninsula,” according to PLA Chairwoman Beth Roach. “Public art is one of the ways we do this, and we raise money all year long through fundraising and donations.
“We are constantly painting murals and utility boxes. We match business owners with artists based on location and if the whole community would benefit from it. We are made up of volunteers who are ionate about living in Point Loma and making the community better.”
For the mural at Schmidt Design Group, Roach and other PLA board assessed what they felt would best represent the business as well as serve the community.
“We presented the group with six artists, they interviewed them and Hanna Daly was chosen,” Roach said. “From there, the artist worked with Schmidt Design Group directly, with funding from Point Loma Association.”
For Daly, the mural is an opportunity to create a legacy for the neighborhood.
“This is my 20th year in business. I do a lot of street art, schools, the children’s hospital, and it honestly is my dream job,” Daly said. “I work all over the county, but I love working for the different neighborhood associations, like Point Loma Association. As a small business myself, I like to give back to other local and small businesses.”
Daly collaborated closely on the mural with Glen Schmidt, owner of Schmidt Design Group.
“I sent over ideas to Schmidt and we began brainstorming together,” Daily said. “It was so great working with him; he was fun and open to all ideas. We narrowed it down to the bouquet as a nod to the Portuguese holiday Dia da Espiga [Day of Wheat]. It is a celebration where children pick flowers and create bouquets like the one featured.”
It’s also fitting given Point Loma’s historical ties to Portuguese fishermen dating to the first years of the 20th century.
As Daly got to know Point Loma more each day, she reflected on why projects like this are meaningful.
“Point Loma is such a great place to work. Everyone would drive by and honk and wave and give me a thumbs up,” she said. “It was so much fun. … It was so much excitement and plenty of chatting about the project.
“The art itself is going to be such a framework of the community, and I really think of it as such a gift. Especially for people who ed by and saw me painting it and can now see it every day completed.”
Schmidt, who applied for PLA funding for the project, said the mural represents an exciting era for his business.
“We wanted something colorful that would brighten up the neighborhood and have a connection to Point Loma,” he said. “We are interested in neighborhood beautification as a whole and we have owned the building for six years and plan to keep the mural there for many many years to come. We are so thankful to PLA for this and are excited that this will bring some more attention to the building and other local business as well.”
Roach said she and the Point Loma Association see giving to the neighborhood through art as a lasting reminder of Point Loma’s beauty.
“We are creating legacies that will go on for generations and beyond, like our kids and grandchildren,” Roach said. “It seems like in our society right now there are so many things that have the potential to divide people with fear, but public art is something that lifts everybody up, and we have made it our mission to unite people through beautification.
“There is a term ‘Bloom where you are planted,’ and that is what we aim to do. We want to do what we can in our community for not only people that work and live here but for those who visit.”
In conjunction with the mural, local shop Little House of Flowers is selling a replica bouquet for $75, with 10% of the proceeds going to the Point Loma Association. “The Village Bouquet” features daisies, peonies, delphinium, asters and snapdragons.
For more information about the Point Loma Association and its projects, visit pointloma.org.
For more about Daly, visit hannasmurals.com, and for the Little House of Flowers replica bouquet, go to bit.ly/4mN2Iaz.
