Description

During the summer months of June in 2021, Kim Emerson was commissioned by the Francis Parker School to restore a lost and found item that still remains a beloved school project. In 1962, this mosaic mural was designed and created by artist, Belle Baranceanu (1902-1988), and was made alongside her 8th grade students. Baranceanu, was a well-established professional artist known mostly for her paintings, and she painted a few Depression Era WPA murals located in San Diego. In her later years she was a very popular educator and taught fine art, painting, and mosaics at the school for several years. 

This mosaic mural is made-up of the very popular vitreous glass tile of the 1950’s and 60’s, and is mounted on one solid sheet of heavy marine-grade plywood. Being on wood, it is quite fortunate that the mural was not hanging directly outdoors exposed to the elements. Luckily, it was mounted on a wall underneath a breezeway cover where the students would “run their fingers along the mosaic while walking past…” though it did suffer some wear a tear. 

During a remodel at the school decades later, the mural was taken down, covered with plastic mailing tape in attempt to preserve it. The tape yellowed, peeled, and it eventually ended up behind another wall and forgotten. It was once designated for the trash, until the maintenance man, named "Shorty", found the mural again and saved it.

Belle Baranceanu is now being re-discovered as one of the most accomplished and esteemed artists in San Diego’s history!