San Diego muralist Celeste Byers stood on the sidewalk of El Cajon Blvd when the influencer mom showed up. Byers, an Ocean Beach native known for infusing her art with environmental advocacy, had just wrapped up work on a brand new mural of the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
The mother had her two children in tow, one accustomed to taking his mother's picture but less willing to be in the picture. "His teacher was talking about it today," she said.
According to Byers, it was a scene not unlike the weekend, when Byers (with the help of three other local artists — Sasha Yanina, Talia Ceravolo and Nicholas McPherson) spent all day Saturday and Sunday painting the RBG mural on the North Park storefront of Folk Arts Rare Records.
Byers said that the Ruth Bader Ginsburg concept was Folk Arts Rare Records owner Brendan Boyle's idea — though he wasn't too specific. And the news of Justice Ginsburg's death was part of quite a rollercoaster of a day for the record shop.
"It was a strange day here on Friday," Boyle said. He and his employees showed up to work that morning to find one of the two large storefront windows shattered, shot out overnight by a BB gun. Rather than be distraught, they temporarily shrugged it off. Nothing from the store was taken, and storefront damage is not entirely unusual in the area.
The record shop had reopened in early May with a special COVID-safe process that felt both innovative and whimsical at the same time — employees would ask a customer what they wanted to browse, and then through the open door, they'd thumb through records and hold them up for the customer who remained outside. Now, they're open for in-person shopping, though just Thursday through Sunday, or browsing selections online or on social media.
RELATED: Legendary San Diego Record Shop Reopens For Socially-Distanced Crate-Digging
"In all honesty we were pretty unfazed by it because being on El Cajon Blvd., especially in a year like this year, we've kind of seen it all," he said of the broken glass. They spent the afternoon boarding up the windows with plywood.
"Two hours later, we heard about the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. And that's when we really started feeling down and out," Boyle said. They decided to find an artist. "It’d probably make us feel a little bit better, and make other people feel a little better, considering just the sheer state of powerlessness in this year," Boyle said.
One of his employees suggested Byers do the work, and they got in touch with her instantly — in fact it's how Byers found out about RBG's death.
Byers spent some time researching Ginsburg and sketching. "When [Boyle] asked me to do it, I honestly didn't really know that much about her," Byers said. She was moved by the remarkable life of Ginsburg, and excited about the opportunity to paint someone iconic and inspiring.
Byers has painted more than 70 murals over the last decade. The last few works have been massive commissions, each more than 100 feet in length, taking months to complete. Her work is often thematically linked to environmental issues, particularly the ocean, and one recently completed work in a Sorrento Valley business park showcased the native plants of San Diego wild spaces.
"I'm very into the native plants," Byers said. "Both my parents are super into science and biology — my dad was a biologist and ornithologist — and my parents are always telling me the species of everything," she mused.
This appreciation of local flora inspired the staging of Ginsburg in the portrait: she's holding a vivid orange California poppy, and wearing a similarly hued floral shirt. Even without Ginsburg's signature collar, the image is still instantly recognizable.
The poppy, Byers said, is a nod to climate change as well as Byer's nature-based style. And ultimately, they wanted the mural to have a singular call to action: "VOTE," which is lettered down one side, with a link to the California voter registration site near her signature.
As for the mural's legacy, later this year, Boyle and Folk Arts will leave the building and move the business elsewhere, after six years in the North Park spot.
"Because [the mural] is here, we started thinking of ephemeral art," Boyle said. "And me and Celeste are going to have this conversation when the time comes, but one possibility is the business vacates by the end of the year and we leave the mural as a reminder to the neighbors: 'Hey, we still care about you. The mural is meaningful because it's sort of like a reminder to the neighborhood that in general — like the royal we — we care about each other."
Byers also said the work’s meaning is broader than a memorial. "It’s a memory of her legacy, and maybe just a reminder that we still need to fight for equality."
