Walls that Speak: The History of Gilroy Murals

Gilroy’s murals turn otherwise bland brick walls and concrete freeway underpasses into tokens of history that are speckles around town.

The three-panel mural on Hornlein Court, which depicts city hall, an American flag sprung from flowers and two smiling young girls, was painted shortly after 9/11 by local artist Nancy Grieves. Titled, “In Celebration of Gilroy's Past, Present and Future," the mural was commissioned to capture Gilroy’s culture.

“It has a down to earth quality that Gilroy has,” Grieves said. “Even the way it’s painted is a kind of Americana style."

Paid for in part by the city and half by community donations, the $15,000 art piece provides a southern gateway to downtown. It was the first official project of the Gilroy Public Art Committee (PAC).

The Gilroy Arts and Culture Commission drafted public and mural art guidelines in 2000. The Policy called for members of PAC to work in tandem with the Gilroy City Council and the Arts and Culture Commission.

Grieves' mural was the city's first project. She was hired in the fall of 2002, and finished it in the spring of the following year.

City employee Cathy Mirelez was assigned to work with the culture commission and PAC to create a few of the mural projects in town.

“Local artist Sheryl Cathers, working in collaboration with the Gilroy Police Department and particularly Rachel Munoz, painted two murals on underpasses to help prevent them from being vandalized by graffiti,” Mirelez said. “They're beautiful.”

According to Mirelez, the Gilroy Library Commission approached PAC and the city's recreation department in the spring of 2010 about creating a temporary mural to surround the new library on 6th and Hanna Streets during its construction.

Local theater director and artist John Bisceglie was contracted to create and draw the mural, which he did along with the help of locals and various city organizations.

PAC member Joan Buchanan, who has been involved with several of Gilroy's older mural projects, said that she and former council woman Suellen Rowlison searched for areas where murals could be painted around town. 

"Suellen Rowlison and I were walking downtown one rainy evening and started brainstorming about how we could get murals in various areas. We walked several blocks and looked for locations of blank walls,” she said.

Although the eyes of locals pass over these creations each day, many of the mural artists came and went years ago, leaving behind nothing but their art.

Buchanan said a traveling artist, whose name has been lost, visited Gilroy and worked on some of the town’s most famous murals, including the train on the side of Sue’s Coffee.  

“The most important one is on the south wall in the parking lot of 5th and Monterey,” Buchanan said of the mural depicting Gilroy’s garlic fields.

The mural has faded over the years, but Buchanan said the Gilroy Downtown Business Association is currently looking into having it restored, adding that the business association also helped fund some of the older projects.

David Peoples, owner of The Nimble Thimble quilting shop, says the garlic mural is among his favorites.

“My favorite one is the bird of paradise down the road on the control box, but I’d have to say I have to favor the [garlic mural] on the side of the parking lot,” he said.

“Every day you see someone standing there taking a picture of it. I think that goes along with our claim to fame here, and that’s garlic.”