Sante Fe Underpass Mosaics

Jeremy Wright, along with some of his art students and help from the community, created forty-eight new mosaics for the Sante Fe Drive underpass.  These mosaics, titled “Encinitas Up Close” represent the culture of our area by showing that all our differences can come together to make something unique. 

Before the underpass was even constructed, Tony Kranz, a city council member, reached out to Wright in 2018 to create these new mosaics. Originally, Kranz wanted to include only Wright and his students in the project, but Wright had the idea to include the rest of the community by opening up the project to any artists in the area that wanted to participate. He stood before the city council to represent the project and worked closely with the arts council. Each artist had a limit of 2 panels, there had to be students involved in the design, sketch, or building process, and only those who live in the Encinitas area could contribute. 

As part of the student element, many alumni were involved in the process. Marina Alberti (class of 2020) was responsible for designs, sketches, and the creation of  certain panels. Wright was responsible for overseeing the entire project, along with taking part in creating four different panels, two of which he designed with some help from his own kids at home, and one he helped co-design with Mike Upton, another SDA alumni (class of 2005). 

This project took a lot of time and effort. They were originally given 3 months to work but there were many setbacks such as construction that prevented them from working together, as well as Covid. Eventually, after working twice a week during this past summer, they were able to finish. Wright and the other artists were very proud of their work. “There was nothing but positive response,” said Wright. The Santa Fe underpass is now a mini gallery that our community can enjoy anytime. So if you haven’t seen it, go check it out!