Mural at Skyline Set to Turn Bland Entrance Into Public Art

Visit Building 1 of Skyline College on any weekday and you are bound to see a number of people walking in and out of it for more than just for the purpose of getting to an art class.

The building, located near several student and staff parking lots, is often used as a main entrance to the campus. When they pass through the building, most people probably are too preoccupied to notice that it houses some of the school's most creative minds because, let's be honest, there isn't really anything on the building that screams, "Hey, look at me, I'm an art building!"

"An awful lot of people enter the campus from this door, and it's just a very brutal-looking entrance," said Paul Bridenbaugh, a Skyline art professor and the school's gallery director. "I mean, it's a loading dock."

In a few months, though, campus visitors will see the scenery change when a new mural goes up at that entrance.

A mural being painted by Bridenbaugh — a Berkeley resident and painter by trade who has taught painting, drawing, design, and color theory at Skyline for 20 years — and some of his students is expected to completely change people's experience as they pass through the building, as they will now be welcomed by a vibrant piece of art designed to bring them blessings and tranquility every day.

The mural is part of an ongoing effort by the San Mateo County Community College District to beautify its three campuses, said Donna Bestock, dean of the social science and creative arts departments at Skyline.

The community college district set aside money from construction funds to have murals painted on each campus, and the artists were selected by a committee, Bestock said.

In addition to the mural Bridenbaugh and his students are working on, Skyline has another mural — painted by Bridenbaugh — and several other public art sculptures on display. Two other murals are set to be created, Bestock added.

Bridenbaugh's mural on the Building 1 entrance will be a Vietnamese dragon painted across the panels of the east-facing wall.

Bridenbaugh said the idea came to him in a dream in which someone kept talking about dragons. After doing some research and consulting friends, he settled on painting a dragon because the mythical animal represents wisdom and blessings in many Asian cultures, which ties in with the demographics of the student population — 22 percent Asian — on campus. Dragons also tend to live in the sky in fables, which ties in with the school's name, Bridenbaugh said.

The project  is expected to be finished in October.