MEINERS OAKS: OJAI'S MURAL DISTRICT.

From Andra Belknap, Ojai Valley News:

 

Wendy Barker, executive director of the Ojai Valley Museum, was merely looking for an activity to engage locals for two hours during May's Third Friday in Downtown Ojai — a monthly event in which local businesses stay open late and offer specials.

She ended up with a mural in three panels, that was installed outside Meiners Oaks' Market 33 June 24.

“From something that just started as, 'We've got two hours to do something, what can we do,' to having a permanent art piece, is pretty phenomenal,” Barker said.

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The Ojai Studio Artists (OSA), the group behind the museum's recent “Scorched Souls” art exhibit, invited community members to help them paint a “thank you” mural May 18 that would be dedicated to firefighters and first responders. 
OSA artists Vera Long, Chris Beirne and Susan Guy led the effort.

More than 50 “citizen painters” of all ages showed up to paint, Long said, including a few firefighters from Ojai's Fire Station 21.

“It's a thank-you mural for the first responders who protected our valley, it's also a celebration of how the locals came together and how we take care of each other,” Long said.
She was particularly inspired by the way her Meiners Oaks neighbors supported one another during the December blaze, she said, mentioning specifically the work of Jon Furness of Coffee Connection, Grace and Dan Malloy of Poco Farms and Vaughn Montgomery and Laurie Cornell of Greater Goods. 
Meiners Oaks' Ace Hardware donated paint for the project, Long said.

The mural features Guy's distinctive, colorful renditions of the valley's mountainous landscape with fire trucks speeding along local roads to battle the massive Thomas Fire. The center of the mural hosts the image of a beating heart.