All That Glitters: St. Patrick’s Church (Watsonville), 1989

All That Glitters is an homage to the dreamers and schemers that make the Bay Area unique. San Francisco artist Kaytea Petro uses a homemade hibiscus ink to illustrate historic photos, lovingly depicting a bygone era. More of her work can be seen at kayteapetro.com or on her Instagram.

All the the writings were created by students at Ruth Asawa School of the Arts. Many of the source photos used to create the drawings come from the San Francisco Public Library’s Photo Collection.

St. Patrick’s Church (Watsonville), 1989

October 17, 1989

By Adela Kelemen and Malia Marinchak

…

A church.
A place of prayer
A sanctuary for 105 years
Beautiful
Stained glass windows
High arched ceilings
Jesus pinned to the cross
Echoing laughter
Quiet mournful piano
A place of sincerity and feeling
Of regret and forgiveness
All held in these walls
…

Gone in a swirl of dust and destruction

…

Five years time of rebuilding
Building their future
Healing and renewing
The broken pieces
Sewn and brought together
A community that came together again
To show both where they had come from
And where they were going
Lending a hand to each other

For if something is destroyed
It is put back together
Ever stronger
And lost memories
Start coming back

About the Authors: Adela Kelemen and Malia Marinchak are high school students at Ruth Asawa School of the Arts.