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Soñando con una Serenata / Dreaming of a Serenade

Mural Artist: Josué Baltézar
October 2025

This series of murals, designed beautifully by Lead Artist Josué Baltézar, are located on the exterior walls of Serenade on 43rd, a new affordable housing community in City Heights. In partnership with Wakeland Housing and Housing Innovation Partners, ArtReach gathered stories, ideas, and inspiration from residents, neighbors, and local organizations to guide the mural’s imagery. The result is Soñando con una Serenata / Dreaming of a Serenade, a vibrant visual journey celebrating home, safety, resilience, nature, and music.

The creative process centered on community participation: residents, neighbors, and local organizations shared their stories and ideas through in-person sessions and an online form. They then contributed directly to the artwork during an ArtReach-led Community Paint Day, leaving their mark alongside ArtReach’s artists, who completed the detailed and elevated sections to bring the collective vision to life.

The mural spans four walls and unfolds like a day’s journey-moving from sunrise to nightfall. On the left wall, a heron in flight rises in the morning, symbolizing hope and new beginnings, layered over six guitar strings and elegant F-hole motifs that reference a serenade. Flowing between buildings, a trumpet sends blooming poppies into the air, a striking image that represents music’s ability to bring life, beauty, and connection into shared spaces. At midday, an osprey soars with strength and resilience. The imagery continues to the north wall, where a sleeping jaguar rests beneath a luminous moon, representing safety, rest, and home.

Throughout the artwork, musicality and movement tie the three walls together. Josué Baltézar’s signature flourishes ripple through the design like dancing sound marks, with flowing mountains connecting each scene. By combining natural imagery with musical motifs, the murals bring both serenity and energy to the urban landscape of City Heights, creating a welcoming and uplifting environment for residents and visitors alike.

These murals at Serenade on 43rd not only celebrate nature, music, and resilience, the artwork also brings a sense of home and belonging to this community where half of the residents have previously experienced homelessness. Through this artwork, ArtReach highlights the power of storytelling, creativity, and shared pride to transform both walls and community life.