EXPLORING PALM SPRINGS? YOU CAN ADD POSING BESIDE THESE MURALS TO YOUR LIST OF THINGS TO DO.
There is plenty to do in Palm Springs, and visiting some of the creative murals in town may be worth adding to your weekend itinerary.
Palm Springs recently made it easier for artists and property owners to express their creativity through murals around the city. The city seeks to encourage artists and property owners to come forward “because it’s an easier process,” City Manager David Ready told The Desert Sun. These murals could be the start of a growing public art trend.
Logistics aside, these vibrant, thought-provoking renditions are likely to linger in your mind long after you’ve posed in front of them (because #StreetArt):
‘Las Tías’
Artist: Sofia Enriquez
Location: Palm Springs Art Museum, 101 N. Museum Dr., Palm Springs
Sofia Enriquez painted this mural in a week alongside students from the Palm Springs Art Museum. “I wanted to create a mural that was kind of dedicated to my family and my culture,” Enriquez told The Desert Sun. Growing up, she saw her mother and her aunts don paisley patterns in the form of dresses. There was a certain comfort there she hopes others will feel when observing this piece. “Palm Springs has a lot of that kind of culture here,” she added.
‘Jump For Joy’
Artist: Eyoälha Baker
Location: Palm Springs Cultural Center, 2300 E. Baristo Road, Palm Springs
This mural depicts people jumping for joy, as the title conveys. “The Jump for Joy Photo Project is about capturing the unique essence and powerful energy of joy to uplift individuals and viewers within a community,” Eyoälha Baker told The Desert Sun. “The mural then becomes a mosaic of the community and the community is invited to connect and come together with the mural.”
‘Mountain Charmers’
Artist: Angelina Christina
Location: formerly Bar (since closed), 340 N. Palm Canyon Dr., Palm Springs
The details in this mural, from the color scheme to the expression in the women’s faces to the snake are impressive, to say the least. There’s a sensation of almost being lured by their mystique, making it easy to forget you’re on a busy, commercial Palm Springs street.
‘Desert Highland Mural’
Artist: Richard Wyatt Jr.
Location: James O. Jessie Desert Highland Unity Center, 480 Tramview Road, Palm Springs
The James O. Jessie Desert Highland Unity Center is a place where people gather to play basketball, volleyball, badminton and indoor games. There’s also a weight room and a community room. On the outside, children and adults painted on a mural seem to draw from the comforting energy of the recreational site.
‘Palm Springs Community Mural’
Artist: Anne Marie Lapitan
Location: Wells Fargo Bank, 543 S. Palm Canyon Dr., Palm Springs
The Wells Fargo Community Mural Program seeks to “celebrate the legacy of the communities we serve, highlighting the geography, industry, and cultural diversity that give each community its unique character and sense of place,” according to their website.
‘Marilyn Monroe’
Artist: Curry Mendes
Location: Lulu California Bistro, 200 S. Palm Canyon Drive, Palm Springs
From the flower crown adorning her head to Marilyn Monroe’s signature stare, it’s highly unlikely to walk past Lulu in downtown without glancing up to stare at the ’50s icon. “This could not be more exciting. My art was selected for Public Art in a size that I could not love any more,” Curry Mendes wrote on his website.
‘Colette Miller Wings’
Artist: Collette Miller
Location: The Rowan Palm Springs, 100 W. Tahquitz Canyon Way, Palm Springs
Colette Miller, the artist behind one of Los Angeles’ most Instagrammed murals, created a Palm Springs rendition of the wings. The wings are part of Miller’s Global Angel Wings Project, which she started in 2012 “to remind humanity of our higher energy and higher selves,” she told The Desert Sun. She said the Rowan team specifically requested a gay-friendly color palette, which she has done before. Miller has sketched the popular wings throughout the United States — including Texas, Florida and New York — but she doesn’t plan to stop there. “I would like to put them in war zones,” she said, “as a symbol of peace and refuge.”
‘Unity Through Health Care’
Artist: Ryan Campbell
Location: Desert Regional Medical Center, 1150 Indian Canyon Dr., Palm Springs
Ryan Campbell said there was an ease to working with the city of Palm Springs. He was hired by an art consulting company and they took care of the applications and fees, but Campbell still had to present the design he intended for the Desert Regional Medical Center to the Arts Commission. He said that as an artist, you can plan ahead and try to explain what you have in mind for a mural, but “the magic happens as the artist is working.”
Campbell has two conditions: Temporal Lobe Epilepsy and Scotopic Sensitivity Syndrome, which affects his ability to perceive colors the way most people do. “When I’m looking at something that is predominantly white, the white drowns out all the words on the paper,” he told The Desert Sun. But while the condition limits his perception of colors, it doesn’t limit his artistry. He works with very specific shapes, usually in black and white. His designs often lead others to say his paintings feel like they’re moving, which Campbell said allows him to have “a normal visual situation and a connection with someone else because they’re experiencing it in a similar way.”
‘Woman In Glasses’
Artists: James Haunt and Zes MSK
Location: Commercial building at 2481 N. Palm Canyon Dr., Palm Springs
Fabulous doesn’t even begin to cover this mural, does it? James Haunt and Zes MSK, the two artists involved in this creation have collaborated before, in the streets of Los Angeles.
‘Batman & Robin and Fire Born’
Artist: John Moody (a.k.a. MDMN)
Location: Trio Restaurant, 707 N. Palm Canyon Dr., Palm Springs
The purpose of this mural with a “Batman, Robin feel” was “to bring more energy to the parking lot,” Trio restaurant owner Tony Marchese told The Desert Sun last year. At the time, artist John Moody said, “It’s almost like an abstract illustration which is what I’ve been focusing on lately.”
If there’s one thing these murals have in common, it’s the passionate artists behind them who strive to make others reflect.
