Artist Sarah Stieber unveiled “Sky’s the Limit,” an original work on the side of the Monsaraz Hotel and part of the nonprofit Point Loma Association’s ongoing mural series, at a public unveiling on Jan. 13.
The mural on the side of the hotel at 1451 Rosecrans St. features an airplane flying toward the airport honoring the special Portuguese influence within the Point Loma community.
Stieber’s vibrant figurative paintings are cutting-edge. Stieber Spaces, the design arm of her business, has been featured in numerous magazines. She has created artwork for global brands Samsung, Marriott, and AT&T. Her paintings have also been exhibited worldwide, and were recently featured on billboards in Times Square in New York, Picadilly Circus in London, and on the Duomo in Milan.v
Of the genesis of her Monsaraz mural project, Stieber said: “The PLA came to meet with me and we all walked the property, and they generously shared with me what they wanted to be shared, and that let me run creatively. And it’s really important to me that all of my public-facing artwork is site-specific, and ties the community in with the artwork.”
Added Stieber: “This piece in particular features a man holding a woman on his shoulders and she’s painting an airplane in the clouds. The idea is it’s all about lifting one another up to paint your dreams into reality. This mural is site-specific because they’re painting an airplane that’s flying toward the airport, which is just two miles away. It’s all sky imagery, which blends in and is specifically for this space. And it was really important to the PLA and Monsaraz, which donated the wall for this project. The mural honors the heavy Portuguese influence of the Point Loma community. And the airplane I portrayed as a Portuguese airline.”
Asked about the rendering of Sky’s the Limit, Stieber noted: “The mural was based on a painting I had already created and changed things out for this particular piece. That concept of manifesting and creating the world you want to live in is a theme throughout my work, and it suited this project.”
In the process of doing murals, Stieber conducts elaborate photo shoots early on with outfits that she said: “I then freehand into the mural. It took me about a month on a 60-foot articulating boomlet, every day except weekends, and it was so fun to be up there.”
“Two years ago we started the Point Loma Mural Project and this is our second in that series,” said PLA chair Sandy Hanshaw. “Our goal is probably six to seven (murals) in total.”
Referring to the direction given muralists like Stieber by the PLA in rendering their murals, Hanshaw said: “It’s not themed, per se. It’s what fits the natural environment. This theme we all worked as a group to come up with. Sarah was the driver of that, and it just seemed fitting for where we’re at (Monsaraz).”
Of future PLA-sponsored murals Hanshaw added: “I’m soliciting private walls. I need a building owner to give us the go-ahead to be able to do a mural.”
The first PLA-commissioned mural was last year at S.E.S. Portuguese Hall of San Diego at 2818 Avenida De Portugal.
The nonprofit Point Loma Association is comprised of a 20-member board, 10 committees, the Mean Green Team, Graffiti Busters, over 1,000 resident and business members, sponsors, donors, and scores of dedicated volunteers working for community beautification.
A wine reception in the Monsaraz’s courtyard followed the formal mural unveiling.
