by Sam Juliano
She’s an urban Miss Rumphuis, a Lupine Lady who forges her craft with a brush instead of seeds. Yet few can argue Mira’s local beautification program is less effective. In fact, Maybe Something Beautiful: How Art Transformed A Neighborhood, based on an ever so true domino effect adventure, is one that revamped the once gray and drab East Village in downtown San Diego. The purveyors of this meteoric embellishment, one that resulted in lasting change in ways far beyond a cosmetic face-lift, were the artist Rafael Lopez and his graphic designer and community activist wife Candice who gave birth to the Urban Art Trail, a movement that attracted people from all walks of life. According to an inspiring afterward, police officers, graffiti artists, children and the homeless were among those who responded to this call to aesthetic arms. The couple painted poems in calligraphy on the ground to gain the attention of those who walked looking downwards. The mission left behind no prisoners as park benches, sidewalks, tree bases, buildings and even utility boxes were fair game for effervescent, kaleidoscopic reinvention, one that ended up with far-reaching implications. The book’s authors F. Isabel Campoy and Theresa Howell report that some of the painted benches went up for auction providing scholarships for at-risk art students. The rejuvenation attracted a flow of visitors, many of whom forwarded donations. But this was hardly the end. Like a Facebook post going viral, communities through the USA as well as Canada and even Australia have commissioned Lopez’s art, subsequently instituting community art programs based on the San Diego model. It would be difficult to imagine how positive energy can better impact the fabric of a community than this astounding, all-encompassing celebration of art.
The fact that Lopez himself is the book’s illustrator is a miracle of collaboration rarely executed in the business. Not only does it bring a hefty measure of artistic authenticity to the proceedings, but it imbues the project with the hands-on complicity and spirit from the person who spearheaded this noble venture. Much like the actual project itself, every aspect of the book is showered with illustrative attention. The cover is a feast for the eyes, a rainbow infiltration that even engulfs the title’s letters, echoing a similar artistic choice executed on Freedom in Congo Square, though Lopez employs acrylic on wood and digital photography to replicate the outdoor remodeling in work-in-progress mode. The end papers accentuate the metamorphosis. Shabby apartment buildings with fire escapes and billboard promotion dominate the city scape in the opening pair, with the only ray of sunshine emanating from the window of young Mira’s apartment house and the tree outside. The closing papers showcase the absolute limit of what color can achieve on these surroundings, and is nothing less than spectacular. The double page copyright/title page introduces the narrative arc porting over some vital elements from the cover, and with a burst of forward motion is wholly awash in pastel colors. Mira, a kind of St. Francis of Assisi with a paint brush is determined to turn all blank paper into colorful drawings of birds, flowers, animals, the sun and hearts. This gave her enormous joy in the middle of an urban jungle where people struggle with everyday problems.
Mira begins her personal crusade by handing over a drawing of a granny smith apple to a shop owner named Mr. Henry and one with a pink and yellow flower to Ms. Lopez. Like a girl scout eagerly peddling her mint cookies Mira will approach everyone and anyone in her quest to bring smiles to her otherwise world weary recipients. Mr. Sax is given an impressionist version of a songbird, while the policeman is moved by the gift of a red heart. She posts the ultimate symbol of ebullience, a smiley-faced sun on a shadowed wall, but then gets the break that sends her spirited drive into accelerated motion. A man with a pocketful of paintbrushes takes a look at her sun by holding his hands in a square configuration. As he ponders, the girls asks him what he sees. Maybe….Something beautiful he responds. The man, as agile as Gumby, is shown as a cornucopia of color, and on the following page, the first of the book’s stupendous vertical tapestries the man dips his brush in the paint and presto, miracles follow. Campoy and Howell offer up some of their loveliest metaphorical language in the book:
The shadows scurried away./Sky blue cut through the gloom./The man’s laughter was like a rainbow spreading across the sky.
Airborne and under the watchful eye of a delighted sun, this self-proclaimed muralist brings forward the final impetus to turn this modest show of positive energy into something large-scale. Muralist and painter join forces and the spirit is officially infectious. In one fabulous spread depicting Mira as a miniature Jackson Pollack she drip paints red and purple across a wide wall, encouraged by that omnipresent solar sphere. Even the girl’s top -a red and yellow flower pattern- is sublime. The man drew the pictures, Mira added the color. Mr. Sax and others join, some guided by the musical cues of salsa, merenge and bebop. Mira’s mama also comes aboard with a pail of yellow paint and a propensity for the cha-cha. A convergence of paint, music and camaraderie turn the neighborhood into a giant block party. Suddenly an interruption threatened to short-circuit the celebration. Maybe not on the level of the pogrom in Fiddler on the Roof, but still quite threatening. A policeman approaches as the music subsides. But to show how far they’ve come this man of the law asks for a paintbrush so he can join in. A fantastic canvas features an all-out community push to bring decorative accouterments to every inch of this city hamlet that can hold paint. Even the youngest children make vital contributions. The carnival atmosphere continues with wholesale desecration of anything gray. The colors define everyone’s spirit, everyone’s spirit dictates the extent of their sumptuous revisions.
The muralist declares that all his accomplices are true artists and he makes sweeping modifications. Mira draws a bird, wondering about all the possibilities, as Lopez like a film artist shows what a film looks like before and after extensive restoration. After the inspiring aforementioned afterward, we see end papers that evoke the final scenes of Albert Lamorisee’s 1956 French masterwork, The Red Balloon. Somewhere up above Barbara Cooney is looking down at what Rafael Lopez and his company have accomplished. And she’s smiling.
Maybe Something Beautiful is a flawless package of positive energy, made that much more meaningful because it actually happened, and continues to happen. The concept, the spirit, the sublimity of the art and how it has moved mountains in urban neighborhoods make it a supreme candidate for this year’s Caldecott Medal. Lopez is one of the master illustrators with so much past magnificence under his belt. He has not only provided the framework for a tremendous picture book, but has carried out its intricacies in real life. Is it among the very few left under consideration? Well, I’d bet my house on it, though not until Mira and her friend show up to work their magic on it.
Ace illustrator and project creator Rafael Lopez
Note: This is the fortieth entry in the ongoing 2016 Caldecott Medal Contender series. The series does not purport to predict what the committee will choose, rather it attempts to gauge what the writer feels should be in the running. In most instances the books that are featured in the series have been touted as contenders in various online round-ups, but for the ones that are not, the inclusions are a humble plea to the committee for consideration. It is anticipated the series will include in the neighborhood of around 40 to 45 titles; the order which they are being presented in is arbitrary, as every book in this series is a contender. Some of my top favorites of the lot will be done near the end. The awards will be announced on January 22nd, hence the reviews will continue till two days before that date.
