A desire to raise awareness about arts and culture while priming the community for an effort to give a local landmark new life led a partnership to create a mural in downtown Guadalupe on Saturday.

The Santa Barbara-based Squire Foundation and the Guadalupe Nipomo Dunes Center joined forces to help create a large mural featuring unique photographs of eight women from Guadalupe.

The Squire Foundation provided the artist, and the Dunes Center offered up an exterior wall of its future home -- the former home of the Far Western Tavern.

“Public art is our favorite thing,” said Jana Brody, Squire Foundation Artist in Residence program manager.

The art foundation regularly selects artists to come to Santa Barbara County to create art and expose local communities to the arts. For northern Santa Barbara County, members selected conceptual fine arts photographer Lindsey Ross to create art.

“It is an honor to get to do a mural on such a beautiful building in this town. I was really curious about the North County and Guadalupe,” said Ross, who is based in Santa Barbara.

The piece, now part of the former Far Western Tavern building, is called “Women of Guadalupe,” according to Squire Foundation officials.

“We tried to bring together a variety of ages, backgrounds and people who are an integral part of the community,” Ross said.

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