By Khalida Sarwari
On the wall of the main chapel at Alameda Family Funeral and Cremation, visitors can find the “Tree of Life,” a new mural by artist John Pugh that speaks to the connectedness of human life and nature.
Pugh, who used to be a Bay Area resident and now lives in Truckee, said this piece–which he worked on over the span of five months and completed in 2012–was one of his most unique.
“It was a good opportunity to work on something that was a little more on the spiritual side of things,” Pugh said. “It was a different road to go down.”
Depicted in the “Tree of Life” is a large oak tree with an array of leaves that symbolize the different seasons. The tree is surrounded by a pond with a swan swimming downstream and into a tunnel that could reflect the unknown or the afterlife, but not as a place that’s foreboding.
“Maybe a place that around the corner is going to be something beautiful,” Pugh said.
The message behind the mural is designed for a room where memorial services are held and eulogies are read. When producing the piece, Pugh said he had intended to create something with a contemplative quality to it that would allow people to reflect, meditate and be inspired.
“It’s kind of meant to be nothing religious, but a spiritual full cycle of life type of tone to it, and to kind of embrace the cycle, the naturalness of what’s going on with life and with nature,” Pugh said.
He said he was initially approached about the project by Zoe Alameda about 10 years ago, but started working on it about four years ago. One challenge of creating such a piece, Pugh noted, was balancing the spiritual concept with the trompe l’oeil effect which he specializes in. The term, which is French for “deceive the eye,” is an art technique that gives the illusion of a three-dimensional scene behind the wall.
Pugh has completed well over 200 murals throughout his career. He said he takes on an average of two to four projects a year, each one taking anywhere from months to nearly a year to complete. His murals can be seen in Los Gatos, at the Palo Medical Foundation, Kaiser Santa Clara and numerous other public and private spaces round the world, according to Heather Durham, the community outreach coordinator for Alameda Family Funeral and Cremation.
“His work is simply amazing and world renowned,” Durham said.
Pugh lived in and around the Los Gatos area for 24 years and maintains a studio in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Though he is working on several pieces, Pugh put down the brush for a few days to return to the Bay Area for the unveiling of his mural in Saratoga on Nov. 20.
To learn more about Pugh and see examples of his work, visit his website at artofjohnpugh.com.
Link: John Pugh creates ‘Tree of Life’ for Alameda Family Funeral and Cremation
