The San Diego City College mural that features 37 different species of climate-change threatened birds is located in the school’s Humanities Department building.

Inspired by the Audubon Mural Project, a public-art initiative that paints murals of climate-threatened bird species across the Manhattan neighborhoods of Harlem and Washington Heights in New York City – a San Diego City College professor, Lisa Chaddock, helped to organize students in the college Audubon chapter to create a San Diego mural that features 37 different species of climate-threatened Southern California birds, created in the school’s Humanities Department building.

Lisa also enlisted the help of art professor Terri Hughes-Oelrich, a former student of Lisa’s, to help lead the project, which was approved in April. After a wealth of student planning, City College approved the murals’ location and design, Lisa sent out a campus-wide message for any interested students and staff to join the Audubon chapter’s efforts. Students and teachers from across the campus reacted, which resulted in many students working on a number of bird portraits simultaneously. Over time students who painted together got to know each other, which Terri explained: “Develops more of a community.”

Karina Ornelas, former campus Audubon chapter president and now San Diego Audubon’s conservation outreach coordinator, explained that Professor Chaddock and the mural project provided her with mentorship and a chance to learn more about birds. But Karina believes the importance of the mural extends beyond its conservation message. “The mural project is so important because it allows students to make change and educate the surrounding community,” she explained.

Karina also contributed to the project by coming up with the idea to add QR codes to each of the paintings. The mobile phone-friendly barcodes allow students and others to learn more about the bird species illustrated on the mural and the climate-based threats they currently face. “Everyone agreed it was a great idea,” Karina said.

Samantha Hughes, an active member of the campus Audubon chapter, was another student who regularly contributed to the bird mural and found the experience of working on it with both professors rewarding. “With Terri, I got to see how art could be used in a different way,” Samantha shared; “She taught me some techniques that I could use while I was painting, and I got to see how art can inspire people.” For Samantha, the project was also a great opportunity to spend time with other students. “Being a part of the bird mural helped me connect with more people on campus,” she noted.

Creating a space for people to connect and form new relationships was exactly what Lisa hoped to achieve with the mural. “People were smiling and so happy to be together painting in person,” Samantha shared. “We had been planning for over a year, so getting together to paint the mural gave us a sense of how important our work is, and how much we mean to each other.”

Overall, the mural brings attention to a variety of birds people can see in the San Diego area and it emphasizes the importance of everyone doing all we can to improve our cities, towns, and states to reduce our effect on climate change and reverse the problems many birds are facing. Bird conservation requires many voices among birders, future birders, and ultimately, voters. Murals like the SDCC bird mural brings birds to mind, and they are important steps locally that add to long-term efforts on national and international scales.

To learn more and to refer to the original Audubon article, see How San Diego City College Audubon Club Found Community Through a Mural | Audubon