McHugh Memorial Pool Mural - Alturas, CA
N 41° 29.254 W 120° 33.550
10T E 703765 N 4595760
This mural is located on the side of the McHugh Memorial Swimming Pool in the corner of N Warner and W 4th Streets in Alturas, CA.
Waymark Code: WMJNKQ
Location: California, United States
Date Posted: 12/09/2013
Views: 3
Located on the west side of the McHugh Memorial Swimming Pool is a pastel-like mural depicting a rancher holding a calf while his dog watches over a group of cows, with the Warner Mountains in the background.
The artist of this mural is Walter Van Der Heyden and he has painted many murals throughout Alturas. This particular mural expands the entire length of the west side of the swimming pool and wraps around to the SW corner, giving it a three-dimensional sense.
Van Der Heyden has a personal Facebook profile and I was able to locate a PDF document that contains a few pictures of carved wooden pieces that he creates in addition to painting.
This mural depicts a typical landscape that one may find in Modoc County. Agriculture is a major way of life throughout Modoc County and surrounding counties in northern California. Van Der Heyden's murals all look very similar in style and use of colors with each scene containing good use of contrasting hues and flat-like two-dimensional use of shapes. There's definitely a sense of professionalism in his work and it expands to his woodworking skills as well.