Temecula Students Create Mural Celebrating Autumnal Equinox, Unveiled At Sam Hicks Park

TEMECULA, CA — A student-created temporary mural installation is coming to Sam Hicks Monument Park, the City of Temecula shared in a recent news release. The theme honors fall colors and the Autumnal Equinox for 2022.

The City of Temecula, the Community Services Department and the Temecula Valley Museum announced the Student Mural Project which supports emerging artists by providing a space to showcase their craft. The mural project encourages student artists to work together and paint a mural on varying topics. The project is facilitated by Bigfoot Graphics and students from the Clarissa Creative Foundation.

In September and October, we celebrate the autumnal equinox with Fall Colors with a mural created by students from schools across the valley including Evan Tovar (17), Susan H. Nelson, Ava Schroeder (16) & Kayleen Castillo (14) from Chaparral High School; Allie Lindley (14) from Temecula Valley High School; Camille Gallup (12) from Dorothy McElhinney Middle School; Savriel Aquino (12) from Temecula Preparatory School; Mia Flores (13) & Kyla Alvarez (14) from Temecula Preparatory School’s National Art Honor Society; and Abby Lee (12) from Day Middle School.

This mural depicts the fall colors of Temecula with hot air balloons floating through the crisp autumn air, a city spokesperson wrote.

Artistically speaking, the Autumnal Equinox is ideal for a fall mural. The equinox happens when the Sun is exactly above the Equator and day and night are of equal length and either of the two points in the sky where the ecliptic (the Sun’s annual pathway) and the celestial equator intersect.

In the Northern Hemisphere, the Autumnal Equinox falls about September 22 or 23, as the Sun crosses the celestial equator going south. According to the astronomical definition of the seasons, the autumnal equinox also marks the beginning of autumn, which lasts until the Winter Solstice on December 21 or 22 in the Northern Hemisphere.

Temecula Mayor Matt Rahn commented on the project and what it stands for.

“The City of Temecula celebrates the changing of the seasons with this mural," Rahn said. "The students from Clarissa Creative Foundation are to be congratulated for creating this vibrant mural depicting Fall in a uniquely Temecula Way.”

Temecula Mayor Pro Tem Zak Schwank agreed.

“As Clarissa Creative Foundation provides a tuition-free visual arts program for youth who face economic or social disadvantage, we are very pleased to have the ability to offer this creative outlet which allows their students to the opportunity showcase their talent in a public forum.”

The mural is now displayed in Sam Hicks Monument Park. The museum will also celebrate the Autumnal Equinox through facts and free crafts in the museum's Art and Education Room. All are welcome to come by, learn and create.

For more information, please call (951) 694-6450.