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Tri-City Hospital Sidewalk Art Is Vision Of 1918 Pandemic
OCEANSIDE, CA — In 1918, as world war and pandemic ravaged America, the Red Cross issued a call for help through the striking illustration of nurse reaching toward the viewer as soldiers march behind her. More than a century later, the wartime image — captioned, “Have you answered the Red Cross Christmas roll call?” — inspired San Diego artist Lori Escalara to give it the full sidewalk treatment. On Friday, she added the finishing touches to an eight-foot-by-twelve-foot reproduction, drawn entirely in chalk, which is now on display on a sidewalk outside the Tri-City Medical Center in Oceanside. Escalara, who partnered with the hospital, created the piece as part of the annual I MADONNARI Italian Street Painting Festival, which has moved to a virtual format after the event was cancelled amid the coronavirus-related ban on public gatherings. “I knew it I wanted the piece to be something that related to first responders,” Escalara told Patch. “We’re supposed to be honoring those people who sacrificed for us.” To her, the Red Cross poster represents a strong message: “We are all in this together.” After Escalara first stumbled across the illustration — the work of influential illustrator Harrison Fisher — she took… Read full this story
