Mysteries abound with the painting that appeared at Carmel Woods.

Pam Marino here, with a mystery to solve, two mysteries actually. 

First: Who left a painting of a goddess-like woman in the Carmel Woods Serra Shrine niche designed by famed artist Jo Mora? Second: Who is she?

The niche with a red-tiled roof sitting atop a rock and cement mound at the intersection of Camino Del Monte and Alta Avenue once held a statue of Father Serra, carved by Mora out of oak. It was unveiled upon the opening of the neighborhood in 1922. 

The statue stood inside that niche for 98 years, until 2020, when symbols of racism and colonialism around the country were being vandalized and destroyed.

The City of Carmel took possession of the statue for safe keeping, even though the niche sits in unincorporated Monterey County, just outside of the city’s boundary. At the time, Carmel City Administrator Chip Rerig said the decision to protect the statue was made because of its artistic significance.

The statue remained hidden away as officials with the city, the County of Monterey, the Carmel Woods Neighborhood Association and the Catholic Diocese all conferred about who actually owns the statue and what should be done with it.

In 2022 it was determined that the association should own it but then-Monterey County Counsel Les Girard informed President Mark McDonald that they couldn’t put Father Serra back because the niche was located on public property and the statue was a religious symbol. The statue is being stored in a safe place for now.

For the last few years, the association has been attempting to finalize a maintenance agreement with the county for the shrine, which includes two benches and planters. To mark their 100th anniversary in 2022, the association had a new sign made for the entrance to the neighborhood, but to date they still don’t have county permission to install it, along with a second sign they’re asking for.

McDonald says they also want to put a wooden art piece in the niche where Serra once stood, something along the lines of Mora’s art and not at all religious.

It’s been a long journey to get the agreement approved, but McDonald reports that the county recently waived a permit application fee and the county engineer toured the location.

As all of the conferring was going on, people were having a little fun with the niche. Occasionally someone would hoist up a garden statue depicting Saint Francis into the space. The statue would disappear, and then reappear.

Recently a large vertical painting of a goddess-like woman appeared. The woman, dressed in a blue gown on a dark green background, is holding a painter’s brush in one hand and a palette in the other. She has flowing blond hair and is wearing a headband and is flanked by two blooming plants common to the coastal area: a tree aloe and an echium. Underneath the woman is the word “Delinea,” which in Latin means to sketch out or delineate. A solar-powered light illuminates the painting at night.

The neighborhood association is trying to determine who left the painting. It’s signed “Calamus.” McDonald says they want whoever created or owns the painting to come get it. 

As to the second mystery of who the woman in the painting is, I focused on her brush and palette, wondering what the symbolism could mean. McDonald’s wife thought the woman was a goddess, part of the female Earth-goddess movement.

I searched for a goddess of art and came up with the Greek goddess Athena, who is more known for being the goddess of wisdom and strategic warfare, but she’s also the goddess of handicrafts, which some have stretched to mean art, as well.

Does anyone have any ideas as to either ownership or meaning? Let me know what you think.