St. Philip the Apostle School Mural, San Francisco, CA
July 2015, Mural acrylics, 14’ x 9’H
Designed and painted by Stefan Salinas
Commissioned by Rev. Tony LaTorre
Paints from Precita Eyes
The schools disciplines and arts are all represented by children in a procession. Faith instruction leads, followed by literature, science, history, the arts (the mask is a face of a bruin – an English folk term for brown bear - the school’s mascot) and mathematics. The girl carrying the cross is stepping over a snake, a visual reference to images of the Virgin Mary stepping on the serpent. Other flora, fauna and architecture is local. A crab with the initials SLT in cursive on it represents Fr. Tony’s relative’s seafood restaurant, Sabella and LaTorre, down at Fisherman’s Wharf. Somehow, his dog Tennessee leapt into the mural.
The scripture on the document the student dressed as Lincoln holds is from the Gospel of Matthew, when Jesus said to his skeptical apostles,
“Amen, I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” – Mt 17:20
