By Rebecca K. O’Connor | Contributing Columnist

Art inspired by nature has a long history of creating a connection to the land and its conservation in the United States. In the late 1800s, the work of Thomas Moran, an American painter and illustrator, was instrumental in the establishment of Yellowstone National Park. His sketches and paintings from an 1871 survey, in particular his painting titled “The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone,” persuaded Congress to designate the world’s first national park.

Artists continue this legacy at the national and community level, helping others to see the beauty and inspiration that can be experienced and preserved in nature. One such artist, Riverside resident and high school arts teacher Selena Wilson, creates work that connects her neighbors to the local natural environment.

When Wilson noticed there was a blank wall that edged a trailhead parking lot for Box Springs Mountain Reserve on Blaine Street in Riverside, she saw a canvas and an opportunity.

“I live in the neighborhood and would pass by and think to myself that there should be a mural to showcase the native plants,” she said. “There is a tendency for people to dump things in the parking lot. I thought if there was some beauty there, it would send a message that people care about this place.”

Wilson reached out to the property owner, who loved the idea of a mural on her wall, and then she got to work. After securing a Small Sparks and a Beautify Riverside grant from the city of Riverside to purchase supplies, she reached out to local artists to get assistance. Artists whose experience ranged from world-renowned professionals to high school students participated in the project.

The artists were provided a list of local California native plants and were asked to choose one to depict on the mural. The focal point of the mural, which Wilson painted, depicts Lorene Sisquoc’s hands weaving a basket. Wilson credits Sisquoc, curator of the Sherman Indian Museum and co-founder of Southern California Indian Basket Weavers Organization, for teaching her basket-making and furthering her connection to the land.

Wilson hopes that the mural will create a sense of connection for others to their community and to the native landscape.

“People in the neighborhood have been so encouraging,” Wilson said. “People will walk by, thank me, and ask questions about the mural. It’s been open arms.”

The mural offers an introduction to what can be discovered and enjoyed in the recently expanded Box Springs Mountain Reserve and its surrounds. In 2014, the grassroots community organization, Friends of Riverside’s Hills began working with Rivers & Lands Conservancy to purchase land and conservation easements from private willing sellers. More than 900 acres were ultimately added to the Riverside County Parks and Open Space District’s Box Springs Mountains Reserve and surrounding city of Riverside open space.

The conservation of these lands ensures public access, watershed conservation and habitat protection for wildlife. The full scope of the conserved area also creates a place where the community can discover and connect with the diversity of local plants and wildlife.

When the mural is complete, Wilson plans to include a QR Code to a website that will provide more information on the history of the land, its natural resources and the artists who helped create the mural.

“In a lot of ways, artists play an important role in documenting what is, what was, and what could be,” Wilson said. “We have a lot of blank walls in our towns and a lot of opportunities to show people visions of what could be both in our relationship to each other and to the planet.”

Rebecca K. O’Connor is the co-executive director of Rivers & Lands Conservancy, is a California Arts Council individual artist fellow and is the author of several books on the natural world.

Rivers & Lands Conservancy connects our community to natural, wild, and open spaces of Southern California through land conservation, stewardship,