In Phil Yeh’s rendering of San Bernardino, fast food pioneers Glen Bell, Neal Baker and the McDonald brothers share the same space with Dorothy Inghram, the county’s first black teacher, and famed Inland Empire dancer Twyla Tharp.
Where else but on Yeh’s mural at the McDonald’s Museum can passersby see a portrait of Chester Carlson, the San Bernardino physicist credited with inventing the process of electrophotography, near portraits of beloved Simpsons and Peanuts characters?
For six years, Yeh, a local, renowned cartoonist, has implored his friends to add their characters to his murals.
On Friday, Kevin Eastman is coming to San Bernardino, and he’s bringing his comic book turtles with him.
“This is an awesome, historical thing to be a part of,” said Eastman, co-creator of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. “I absolutely adore Phil Yeh, and for many, many years, I’ve supported a lot of his projects. He’s put forth a Herculean effort over the past couple decades in promoting literacy, and I’ve always made sure to lend a hand whenever I could.”
In 1985, Yeh formed the group Cartoonists Across America & The World to promote literacy and creativity.
The crew has painted more than 2,000 murals in 49 states and 18 countries – many with the help of students. Yeh’s network of cartoonist buddies is expansive, and in conversation, the 63-year-old is wont to allow a fun fact or two about their origin stories.
Yeh and Eastman met and first collaborated in 1990, about six years after The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles debuted as a black-and-white comic book. Eastman funded Yeh’s 1991 children’s book “Theo the Dinosaur,” which features a foreward by First Lady Barbara Bush.
Friday’s collaboration – on the heels of Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo and Raphael’s 34th birthday – will be the pair’s latest.
“This is the most detailed mural I’ve ever done,” Yeh said. “This mural has taken me six years, two days a week, each week. … Kevin showing up, I hope will encourage other friends of mine who are well-known cartoonists to also come.”
In 2012, Albert Okura, owner of the McDonald’s Museum, offered Yeh the outside walls to create murals. One year after suffering a stroke, Yeh got to work.
The 12-foot-by-100-foot south wall illustrates San Bernardino’s history through landmarks and noted people; the same-sized north wall depicts California’s Route 66 from Needles to Santa Monica. Sandy Fisher Cvar, Beth Winokur, Rory Murray and Jan Windhausen are but a few artists to add to the murals.
From noon to 3 p.m. Friday, May 11, Eastman will draw The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles into cars rendered by Murray on a third mural – Yeh’s fantasy version of San Bernardino. The quartet will be added as they started, in black and white.
“I hope seeing the Turtles inspires people to embrace reading, to embrace creativity,” Eastman said. “There’s no silly idea. If something as silly as The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles can become this insane, humbling worldwide phenomenon, seeing them might encourage kids to want to read comic books and create comic books.
“Because great things can come from the smallest and silliest ideas.”
The public is invited to watch Eastman, but it is not a public signing.
The McDonald’s Museum is at 1398 N. E St. in San Bernardino.
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