Isabel Figueroa, also known as “Chavela”, 2020

Corner of Horne St and Civic Center Dr, at 1001 Civic Center Dr

The mural, Isabel Figueroa’s first, is a tribute both to the Pozole Neighborhood, which falls within the boundaries of the Oceanside California Cultural District, as well as to Anita Cruz Romero, who brought the community together in selling her famous pozole, originally a sacred dish of the Aztec gods. Pozolé is a dish created for ceremonies and consumed to nourish the body and soul to give to the gods such as Tlaloc to ensure rich rainfall and a bountiful harvest by sacrificing to Xipe Totec the god of spring and renewal and Chicomecoatl the goddess off maíze. “Each time you eat a bowl of pozolé you are filled with the energy of the hands who harvested and prepared the meal as well as the energy of the gods who sent down the abundance to bring us together. I feel deeply connected to this subject since my grandpa worked in agriculture his whole life and how my aunt and mom cook posole around Christmas time and it brings everyone together. Food is how we share our culture and make memories and that’s what the neighborhood was founded on, a woman’s need for survival carrying generations of struggle and ancestral knowledge to create and bring people together.”

Through a collaborative mentoring opportunity with Dinah Poellnitz, Isabel Figueroa worked with Gloria Muriel whose YinYang Dragons mural is around the corner. This “project came with its own struggles since it was painted almost in protest of the murals being commissioned by the city using artists from other places; as a local, I along with many others felt the city gentrifying and wanting to bring art that just felt generic and underrepresented Oceanside’s diverse culture to cater to its growing tourism.” “What makes me most proud in my artistic journey is that I’ve been lucky enough to make a significant cultural impact in my city by putting up murals that highlight the local culture and that I may have helped the people in my community to feel seen.” “While I was painting my first mural ( La Sagrada Ofrenda) there was a moment when I had stopped to take a breather and I saw a mother and her son, maybe about three or four years old. She was pushing him in his stroller when she stopped to look at the piece and she looked at him then pointed up and said “look, that’s your culture”.

Part of the Art That Excites program by MainStreet Oceanside

📸 2023 © Brigid Parsons (except image with artist)

“The Sacred Offering,” Figueroa's first mural, is a tribute to the women of Oceanside’s Eastside Pozole Neighborhood.

The day Isabel Figueroa completed her mural she walked us through the amazing meaning behind her work. “The mural tells a story about a woman named Anita Cruz Romero who moved to California from Mexico in 1910 and was one of the first residents in the Eastside neighborhood. In order to make more money for herself and her son she began to make and sell pozole; walking around the neighborhood shouting ‘pozole!’ Attracting many people near by they came together as a community and the neighborhood later became known as Eastside Pozole. One hundred years later this is how many locals still refer to the neighborhood as Pozole and this mural is a tribute to that very woman who brought a whole community together with the power of her famous soup. She is depicted pouring the bowl of soup that later extends into a serpent who is an Aztec god by the name of Quetzalcoatl. He is a creator god born of the deities Ometeotl which is the image depicted at the center of the mural. Ometeotl was chosen as a symbol of the good and the bad that happens in the neighborhood as Ometeotl is about duality. The two women on each side represent motherhood, taking care of each other and the wisdom and strength that comes with age. The eagle at the top is representative of Indigenous Mexican roots because the Mexican flag has a golden eagle at the center and the eagle holding a snake is the marker of where the Aztec settled to build their empire.” ⁣- Isabel Figueroa

Local Art Walk

Nautical Neighbors

Fishies

Cynthia's Artistic Expressions (thru 2022)

La Sagrada Ofrenda

Ikigai Mural (thru 2023)

HOPE