Celebrating history
Sunday, October 2, 2005 2:33 AM PDT
JESSICA KELLER
ARGUS OBSERVER
VALE
Planning for someday, while recognizing yesterday.
That's what the Vale Historic Mural Society hoped to achieve with its latest project that ended last week when four-murals, dedicated to the Chinese, Japanese, Basque and Hispanic peoples, were placed in Vale's downtown. The murals celebrate the contributions of all four cultures to the region.
The 48, splashy, bright-hued mural panels arrived in Vale Wednesday, along with the artist and her family, and by Friday afternoon the final results were up for everyone to see. The four new depictions bring the total number of murals scattered through Vale to 31, mural society project coordinator Frank Yraguen said, who started the project with the society two years ago.
It was not the first time the murals' artist Colleen Mitchell-Veyna has been to Vale or worked with the Vale Historical Mural Society since Yraguen and his wife came across her work at a California mural show a few years ago.
She was responsible for the "Sunday Go To Meetin" mural on the side of a church in town, which she painted on-site a couple of years ago. The current murals took her five months to create, including prep work, before she and her family made the two-day trip up from their home in Visalia, Calif., to deliver the panels.
Mitchell-Veyna said she was glad to take on the job when approached by Yraguen and the mural society. She liked the concept presented to her by the mural society and, she said, painting people is what she enjoys to do most.
"I said 'of course I'd do it.' I like the town, and everybody's so nice, and now the kids have friends here," she said.
While Yraguen, who is also responsible for the society's fund-raising, would not give the exact cost of the murals, he said a substantial amount of money had to be raised for the effort. A number of groups donated funds for the project, including the Mexican-American Citizen's League, the Japanese-American Citizens League and the Basque Club. The group also received a large donation from a former classmate of Yraguen's, and the mural society also contributed funds through its annual auction proceeds.
"A mural like this is a substantial investment," Yraguen said. "When we first started in 1992, the cost was not as great. Costs have gone up for everybody."
Yraguen said the mural society also sees the Vale murals as an investment for the community.
"Someday we hope to be a tour site for those who follow the Oregon Trail," Yraguen said. Yraguen said the mural society would eventually like the majority of Vale establishments to participate and benefit from the attraction of the murals.
"It's really part of a revitalization," Yraguen said. "And it was how do we revitalize a town like Vale. We're not there yet, but someday. Someday maybe even when I'm not here. But someday."
The murals are also a way to give the people of Vale something to be proud of, or at least more to be proud of, Yraguen said.
He said all four ethnic groups represented in the murals have contributed greatly to the area's history and culture, and the murals are a way to a recognize each.
"All four groups were important in building this part of the Oregon Trail," Yraguen said. Each mural depicts one of the four groups and their accomplishments. Dancers from each ethnic group run across the bottom of each 4-by-8 panel. Each, he said, contributed to the region's culture, growth and stability: the Basque sheepherders who later became ranchers and farmers; the Mexican vaqueros, driving cattle; the Chinese who were instrumental in the mining industry and the construction of the El Dorado Ditch and the Japanese who helped shape the foundation of current agriculture through their row crop harvesting in the early 1900s.
After looking at a few of the panels Wednesday afternoon, he said he was sure the latest murals will be something that standout.
"I just look at that Basque sheep-herder down there and I can just see a number of different people in that face," Yraguen said.
