Proposal for Painting of Freeway Wall Is Assailed

VENTURA — The idea of letting famed marine artist Wyland paint a giant whale mural on a wall of the Ventura Freeway was assailed by more than a dozen residents Wednesday night during a municipal arts committee meeting.

A proposal to pay the Maui-based artist $250,000 to turn an 11,000-square-foot wall near the freeway’s northbound California Street offramp into his latest canvas has especially angered this area’s arts community.

“I’m a native of Ventura and I can paint whales just as well or better than Wyland and I can probably do it at half the price . . . and I’ll maintain it for free,” said David Miller, a onetime surf champion and local artist. “I’ve been wanting to paint that wall all of my life.”

Few Wyland supporters spoke up at the Arts and Public Places Committee meeting, where most of the 17 speakers denounced Wyland’s selection for the mural project.

Wyland’s lone supporter at the meeting was Bill Clawson, executive director of the Ventura Visitors & Convention Bureau, who initially came up with the idea of getting the artist--who has painted numerous murals in California and around the world--to work in Ventura.

“If any Wyland fans are out there, we better hear from them soon or they will forever have to hold their peace,” Clawson joked after the meeting.

After two years of cajoling and an offer of $250,000, Clawson recently received a commitment from Wyland to paint the 552-foot stretch of drab concrete.

Last month, Clawson proposed raising at least $125,000 for the project through private fund-raising, with the remainder of the cost to be picked up by the public art committee’s fund, which now totals $800,000.

The part of Clawson’s proposal sparking the most debate was that it did not include a way for other artists to bid on the mural project--a standard practice for public art projects in Ventura.

The tourism executive then suggested that any artist working or living in Southern California could submit a mural proposal, and that a selection committee made up of five members of the city’s tourism committee and five members of the arts committee choose the winning artist.

“I want to say that I appreciate Bill Clawson for elevating this conversation from talking just about Wyland, to one where we are talking about the decision-making process,” said committee Chairman Scott Boydstun. “I support the idea of a mural at California Street, but I don’t think a special committee is necessary.”

Boydstun and two other committee members were in favor of rejecting Clawson’s proposed compromise. Instead, they supported a plan to create a selection committee composed of one tourism representative, one public art committee member and three members of the public, who would review bids from all interested artists.

The lone dissenter was the committee’s Joy Berger. Committee rules require four votes to pass a resolution and three of the arts panel members were absent Wednesday night.

“I have reservations about spending all that money when the project goes outside of our normal parameters,” Berger said of plans to create a special selection committee. “I need more time to digest all of this information.”

By the end of the meeting, Clawson, who had earlier said any action [on the mural project] would be better than no action, said he was disappointed but willing to compromise.

“If any decision at all changes that ugly wall, I will just be proud to have had some part in that,” Clawson said.