Mesa College will be the first Western college to complete a permanent memorial to Rosa Parks in the fall of 2009 at the southwest corner of Mesa College Circle and Mesa College Drive.
A public works project has been contemplated since former Mesa Professor Liz Hamilton took out a $10,000 loan, the standard donation to the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development, to bring Parks to San Diego on Feb. 4 and 5 of 1992 – coinciding with her 79th birthday.
The public art team chosen to design the project includes Gerda Govine, public diversity expert, Nina Karavasiles, public artist, and Mario Lara, public artist and Professor of Fine Arts at Mesa.
Dr. Govine, who met Parks at the Black and Latino Bookstore in Pasadena in the 80’s, is President of “Friends of the Pasadena Commission on the Status of Women” and board member of the Pasadena Chamber of Commerce and California Women’s Law Center.
Karavasiles, who has a Master of Fine Arts Degree from UCSD, was on the design team for the Colfax Avenue Bridge in Los Angeles, the Torrey Pines State Park interactive educational sculpture, and installed a mosaic river at the Deerfield Pump Station.
Lara, who has a Master of Fine Arts Degree from UCSD, was lead artist for the 25th and Commercial/Cesar E. Chavez Trolley Station Community Public Art Project and coordinator for the Save Outdoor Sculpture! Project administered by the Urban Corps of San Diego for the San Diego County area.
The public art team, Dean of Arts and Languages Jonathan Fohrman, Public Information Officer for Mesa College Lina Heil and ASG Sen. Miguel Murillo discussed the contemporary relevance of Parks and specifics for the memorial project the evening of Feb. 26 in room G102.
“We wanted it to be something that resonates with her [Rosa Parks],” said Dr. Govine, “to go with her personality, her quiet strength and her commitment to education.”
The project includes a covered MTS bus stop and a quiet reflection area.
The functional bus stop will feature a highlight of Parks achievements, a dedication to project contributors and four life size representations of current students that embody the spirit of “quiet strength” with roses over their hearts.
“This is an opportunity to take a snapshot in a point in time,” said Lopez, “immortalizing a group of Mesa students.”
The reflection area will consist of a curved bench and curved cement walls reading “quiet strength” pivoting around a cylindrical vessel containing rose bushes and embracing a large rose inlaid into the pavement.
“The vessel contains the spirit of Rosa Parks,” said Lara.
Rose bushes will envelop the area.
To protect the dignity of the design, advertising space was appropriated specifically for artistic use only.
Busses will not use the on campus stop until the East Campus Improvement Project is completed.
In concordance with the memorial project, The San Diego Mesa College 2009 Writing Contest is centered around the ideals set forth by Parks.
Entries in poetry, fiction, and creative non fiction should portray the qualities of quiet strength, identity, empowerment, community diversity, inclusion, education, leadership and service. The contest is open to all Mesa College students.
Selected writings will be published in the award-winning campus publication Mesa Visions.
“When you have an opportunity to be a part of history,” encouraged Professor of Black Studies Starla Lewis, “you should seize the moment.”