{"id":18129,"date":"2026-06-26T15:36:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T15:36:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=18129"},"modified":"2026-06-26T15:36:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T15:36:08","slug":"arts-orange-county-database-of-public-art-answers-the-question-whats-that","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=18129","title":{"rendered":"Arts Orange County database of public art answers the question, \u2018What\u2019s that?\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Editor\u2019s Note: This is part of a monthly feature on arts and culture offerings in Orange County, which is rich with indoor and outdoor, often inexpensive or even free, options that you might not know about.<\/em><\/p>

Read more Ex-national security adviser John Bolton pleads guilty to illegally retaining classified information<\/a><\/p>\n

Motorists traveling north on the 55 Freeway with any regularity have probably noticed the 136-foot-long mural rising almost 60 feet above traffic, depicting a woman with a lotus flower in her hair, the word \u201cWelcome\u201d scrolled in cursive directly above her head.<\/p>\n

Painted on the freeway-facing side of the Baker Block apartments in Costa Mesa, another section of the mural shows a dove and surfers riding waves.<\/p>\n

Some may have wondered about the story and artist behind the murals, which took 136 cans of spray paint to finish.<\/p>\n

Arts Orange County, the officially designated arts council for the county, has the answer: \u201cWelcome Home\u201d is by famed muralist Shepard Fairey.<\/p>\n

The massive mural is among the nearly1,400 pieces of public art the organization has catalogued in Orange County \u2014 pieces that make the county a 791-square-mile open-air museum that never charges admission and never closes.<\/p>\n

It is a colossal task Arts Orange County has taken on, cataloging virtually every public mural, sculpture, painting and installation in a database that can be searched online.<\/p>\n

Ever wondered about the meaning behind that sculpture you pass on your way to work, or the artist of the mural on your evening walk, or the title of the painted electrical box out from the local elementary school? The catalogue can be searched by city, artist and other factors.<\/p>

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