>La Grande Observer | Union and Wallowa Counties' News Leader

Artist at work: Gil Dominguez puts a signature to the mural he recently painted at Wildflower Lodge. (Observer photos/BILL RAUTENSTRAUCH).

Bill Rautenstrauch

Staff Writer

A well-known California artist recently took a hand in an effort to give Wildflower Lodge, a La Grande assisted living facility, a little homier feel for the residents.

Gil Dominguez Jr. of San Diego spent three days last week painting a mural on the wall of the corridor outside his father's room in the memory care wing.

The mural sports a Southern California motif, complete with palm trees and a pool of water in front of a desert background.

"My dad lived a long time in Palm Springs and that's why we decided on the desert motif," Dominguez said.

His 91-year-old father, Gil Dominguez Sr., was one of several residents who gathered daily in the hallway to watch the artist at work.

Those same residents got together later, and guided by Dominguez Jr., picked up brushes and created an oil painting of their own.

"We like our clients to feel like they're a part of what's happening around them. This is an example of how we promote that," said Administrator Carliene Bolen.

The painting done by the residents will be hung in the unit.

Gil Dominguez Jr. is a Brooklyn, N.Y.-born artist most famous for artwork on permanent display in the Carlton Arms Hotel in New York City.

In the 1980s, the hotel was transformed from a shabby, low-rent hostelry to an upscale establishment that doubles as art museum and artist

lodging.

Dominguez, who worked as a desk clerk there in the early '80s, did several interior paintings before he moved to Southern California.

In San Diego, he is a freelance artist whose "Art and Soul" studio recently played a major part in the city's Community Faces project.

Wildflower Lodge is home to 43 clients on the assisted living side and 22 in the memory care wing. The facility employs about 45 workers.

Bolen said a general spruce-up is under way, with special effort being made to give clients more say in their surroundings.

"We're painting different areas, and as we do, we're asking residents what they'd like to see on the walls," she said.

She said a patriotic, "Support the Troops" theme has been added to the decor. In another area, the theme is NASCAR auto racing.

On the assisted living side, space is being remodeled into a "teacup room" where residents can meet and take part in activities.

"The idea is to make the facility more comfortable and provide opportunities for residents to do activities they've done in the past," said Bolen.

Dominguez Jr. is a brother of Diana Dominguez, an artist and retired school teacher living in Summerville.

They say they are happy their father is in a small-town facility that accents home touches.

"We thought this would be the right place for him, and that's turned out to be true," Dominguez Jr. said.