Dick Lyon Mayor of Oceanside
1923 - 2017

It doesn't get any better than This!

These were the words Dick Lyon said to me when he was interviewing me for the vacant Arts Commissioner position for the City of Oceanside. He was standing at a lectern in front of his office window looking out over the Pacific Ocean. This is my desk he told me “I hate to sit down when I can stand have the pleasure of this View.

This was in 1992. I was only a year's resident in the City of Oceanside when one morning there was in the local paper an announcement of a vacancy for the Arts Commission. I said to my husband Robert, “do you think I should apply for this position?” He said yes, and that's why I was now standing in the Mayor's office talking about Art.

I did not know him well, but he was a Great Man of many interests and abilities. His was a world view of the human condition, and this understanding of how humans related to each other was infused by his travels in the military and the many conflicts in which he fought for our Country. He told me that one of the bridges to the appreciation of other cultures was through the Arts, and so we had a common ground of understanding of one way to serve Oceanside.

Many a time on the way to my studio in Artists Alley as I was driving in my car, I could see Dick Lyon bicycling on the pathway next to 76...peddling away and waving to all as we went by. What a guy! We all looked up to him and knew that here was an exceptional man we had the privilege to call Mayor.

He was Mayor when I went before the City Council one fine day and asked that the Alley across from City Hall be designated Artists Alley. The case was made that my first studio could be a catalyst and this could be one day a venue patterned after the Gas Lamp district in San Diego. A banner was placed above the Alley proclaiming to all that here was something new. Something to replace the rampant decadence of the underside of Oceanside and bring a new force to our City which had never before had the Visual Arts as an element of Community. This force was the energy which combined with OCAF brought the Oceanside Museum of Art into being which changed the face of the City.

The Artists Alley Artists were the seed planters for all that followed and today there is energy, art murals, a flower shope and The beautiful Muramid Mural Museum. The trees are lighted at night, and music wafts though the air on the First Friday for the Four Seasons Art Walks...”It doesn't get any better than this...”

Dick Lyon

More at the Union Tribune

The Dawn of a New Day

Yesterday at the by-monthly meeting of our Arts Commission, there were actually people in the audience. How many times in the past years have I sat in the Council Chambers and no one was there but the Commission and Staff. What a wonderful feeling to have the Community come up to the lectern and have a passionate dialogue which they care about as Stakeholders in our Arts Community.

There were two board members from the Oceanside Museum of Art as well as the New Executive Director Maria Mingalone, Main Street Oceanside represented by Gumaro Escarcega, My favorite Union Tribute newspaper columnist, Lola Sherman, Oceanside Cultural Arts Foundation board members, Dmitriy Demidov – Vice President, Ann Mortland OSAF Secretary, and others from our Oceanside Community.

I am happily optimistic about this new change for our Arts Community and I believe that it has a lot to do with the Commission's new liaison from the City council Jerry Kern. A champion for our Art Museum, the enthusiastic supporter of last summers Phantom Gallery, a continuing presence at the Muramid Mural Museum, and an advocate for funding for the Commission.

His warm and friendly presence at our Meetings will generate the perception for our City's commitment to the Arts as an economic driver for our business Community.

There was lively commentary from those in our audience concerning the participation of a Steering Committee to have a Stakeholders contribution of concerns and visions with the chosen Art Consultant who will be developing a Master Plan for the Arts in our City of Oceanside. We are hopeful that the Stakeholders in our City who have spent decades in creating events for the Arts, Supporting the Arts with their time, money. Blood, Sweat and Tears will have a voice in our City's unique needs in the implementation of a policy that will define our image in the Art World Regionally, Nationally, and Internationally for years to come.

We all look forward to this new and vigorous participation in the coming year. It does take all our collective efforts not just voices to make a difference for our vision of Oceanside to become an Arts Destination on our North Coast of San Diego County and Beyond!

Find out what Our Arts Commission is promoting and the new opportunities for our Community Artists and Art Patrons.

On the Agenda; A new mural for Libby Lake...we do need the inspiration of our Artists and Community members to take their energy to this beautiful park which has had many problems over the past year. So hooray for the Arts lets help make a difference!

There is to be discussion about the RFP  for the Master Plan for the Arts for our City of Oceanside. We need our Community members to take a stand on the importance of a Stakeholders inclusion to the process. There should be an ad-hoc committee to be a dominate voice in this process. After all, OCAF, MSO, The Muramid Museum, The Oceanside Friends of the Arts and OMA are the folks who's  energies have made things happen in the Arts for the Past 25 years. They should not be ignored. I urge all of these organizations to show up on Monday and make their voices heard loud and clear

CA Arts Council Cultural Districts Pilot Program is also on the agenda for discussion. Again the organizations listed above should be proud to make this part of the Discussion, for Oceanside can be the hub for the Arts in North County if we make it our mission to participate.