STOCKTON — Imagine a postcard from Stockton bearing a picture of downtown’s waterfront on a sun-splashed day.

Or a postcard celebrating the city’s diversity.

Or one that reflects the region’s agricultural roots.

Murals with just such picture-postcard themes soon will begin covering the drab walls of buildings in Stockton’s core, according to Cindi Fargo, executive director of the Downtown Stockton Alliance.

“We’re looking for sites oriented toward the street level so people will be able to stand in front of them and take a selfie,” Fargo said.

The Downtown Stockton Alliance is accepting mural proposals from artists through March 15. Two mural proposals will be selected March 22. Mural painting is to be completed by May 5. The selected artists for the two mural projects this year will receive $5,000 stipends.

“We think of ‘Postcards from Stockton’ as a celebration of Stockton’s history and cultural diversity expressed though large murals in a format of vintage postcards,” Fargo said.

Michael Oliva, a Stockton muralist, said the city is ripe with the need for more public artwork. Oliva, 61, said he often sees barren walls around the city, especially downtown, and realizes almost automatically how a mural would enliven it.

“I’ll be driving around and say, ‘Oh, that’s a good wall. That’s a great wall,’ ” said Oliva, founder of the Stockton Mural Art Resource Team, or SMART. “Any public-art projects are good for the community.”

Fargo said the Downtown Alliance’s new program is budgeted for two murals this year, with more downtown murals to come in subsequent years. She said specific locations for the murals that will be painted this year have not yet been selected.

According to the Downtown Stockton Alliance, the murals will help make the neighborhood more walkable, and each “will become an opportunity to learn more about each site’s history.”

Richard Florida, a well-known urban studies professor, has said public art can play a part in the recovery of a struggling downtown.

“Public art plays two roles in a community,” Florida said in an interview with the online publication “In The Fringe” in 2008. “It helps to create an authentic sense of place and serves as a tool for revitalization. Quality of place is one of the defining issues of the creative economy. Places that are aesthetically pleasing help to attract innovative, creative talent.”

— Contact reporter Roger Phillips at (209) 546-8299 or rphillips@recordnet.com. Follow him at recordnet.com/phillipsblog and on Twitter @rphillipsblog.