If you drive along Tehachapi Boulevard in the vicinity of Kohnen's Country Bakery, the VFW Post and Auntie's Em's Antiques, you'll notice that an old utility box has suddenly become an attractive artwork, thanks to the considerable talents of local resident Col. Mark Pestana.
The large metal structure has been transformed by a mural depicting various branches of the U.S. military and their equipment: planes, ships, satellites, spacecraft, tanks, etc. It is a tribute to the veterans who have protected and preserved this country for the past 250 years, by a man who is himself a decorated veteran.
I've known Mark and his wife, Karen, for about 25 years, and they are stellar members of our community. And this isn't Mark's first contribution to the Downtown Tehachapi art environment: he was the one who created the cool Air Mail mural on the east side of Tehachapi Hitching Post Theater in 2007.
Karen is best known as the coordinator of the Tehachapi Western Bluebird Nest Box Program, a volunteer effort that she has undertaken for 25 years. Mark has also helped her with this citizen science project from time to time over the years.
Mark is an extremely competent, high-achieving individual. He was a research pilot at NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center, Edwards AFB. He is a member of the International Association of Astronomical Artists, the Society of Illustrators Los Angeles, the American Society of Aviation Artists, and the U.S. Air Force Art Program.
His aerospace art is in private, corporate and government collections, and 15 of his paintings are in the Pentagon collection. Mark served in the U.S. Air Force as a space operations engineer and as a command pilot, flying more than 5,000 hours, and logged 213 combat intelligence sorties. Mark also served in the NASA Astronaut Office at Johnson Space Center as a flight crew operations engineer in the development of the International Space Station. He also has the unique distinction of designing nine space shuttle mission patches for the astronauts, so he was nicknamed "Patches" by some of his fellow pilots.
Art was part of Mark's life from the time he was a boy. "Crayons, pencils, pens, you name it -- I used a variety of mediums and was drawing things since I was a little kid," Mark told me. It came naturally to him, for his mother, who is now in her 90s, was an artist with oil paint, so Mark had encouragement and support from her.
Mark's father provided some of the subject matter inspiration, for he was in the U.S. Air Force, and Mark grew up on air bases around the country.
Mark aspired to be involved in the space program, and he noticed that all of the astronauts seemed to have started as military pilots with lots of flying time. So that settled it -- he joined the Air Force and became a pilot. And kept right on developing his art throughout his long career in aviation and the space program.
Interestingly, there was a little overlap in his own and his father's careers: around 1960, his father was stationed at Castle Air Force Base near Merced, where he worked as part of the air crew of a Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker, operating a boom for the in-flight refueling of aircraft.
Then 20 years later, around 1980, his son Mark was a pilot of that same KC-135, refueling planes in the air. That very aircraft is now part of the Castle Air Museum, located at the former air force base, which was decommissioned in 1995.
And that KC-135 even made it into Mark's new mural -- the east side of the artwork shows aerial refueling taking place with a KC-135, thus representing Mark's and his father's service in a subtle way.
Mark and Karen Pestana raised their children, Jill and Steven, here in Tehachapi and the Pestanas have contributed to their community for many years. It is wonderful to see some of Mark's amazing aviation and space art decorating our Downtown. He is one of the leaders of his specialized art field, and as a pilot and engineer, he brings firsthand knowledge of aircraft and spacecraft. Stop by and check out this innovative new artwork when you get a chance.
Have a good week.
Jon Hammond has written for Tehachapi News for more than 40 years. Send email to tehachapimtnlover@gmail.com.