City Has No Plans for Surfing Madonna—Yet

Several days after a 10-foot-square stained-glass mosaic was installed below the railroad overpass on Encinitas Boulevard, the art has inspired praise and heated discussion among locals, but the parties responsible are still a mystery.

The unauthorized public art shows Our Lady of Guadalupe on a surfboard and reads, “Save the Ocean.”

According to Encinitas Assistant City Manager Richard Phillips, the mosaic is considered defacement of public property, but the city has not yet made arrangements for its removal.

An art conservancy firm has been retained to review the art, Phillips said, and the city should have a report in about a week. Since officials do not know the method in which the art was attached to the wall, they do not yet know how it could be removed without damage, he said.

“They put it up stealthily,” Phillips said of the mysterious artists. “Maybe they want to take it down stealthily.”

Either way, Phillips said the city is not heavy-handed on the matter.

“Worse things could be happening here, frankly,” he said.