Photographs and more

Photography has become an important part of my work. I started to use photography for quick compositions but never mastered the darkroom. Later, I used it to document murals and to incorporate subjects into mural designs, but always struggled with exposure. Ray Patlán taught me to use slides to transfer mural designs (scaled drawings) on to walls at night, the innovation of David Alfaro Siqiueros. Siqiueros taught the inherent documentary power of photography and film. Because my end result was painted, I didn’t focus on developing the skills to master the medium. However while working as a museum educator, I learned more about the practice – a product of SFMOMA’s strong interest in photography. Returning to art making, I recognized a love for taking pictures and through digital photography, easier access into the medium. I’m still working on exposure, post-production, composition, etc. but with a dedication to mastery that wasn’t important in the past.

In April I completed a set of photographs about the newly restored art deco Alameda Theatre for an engaging exhibition, Alameda On Camera, April 3-25, 2009, at the Frank Bette Center for the Arts on Alameda Island. The concept of the exhibition is to assign 48 artists to take photographs of the island in 48 hours by dividing the island into 48 geographic areas. We drew lots for random assignments. I drew the Wildcard and was assigned the theater, February 27-March 1, 2009! In June I finished a set of five photographs, called Collections, for Alameda County Arts Commission ’s Small Scale Artwork Commission program. I want to spark the imagination of viewers by posing dancers with artwork and objects in galleries at The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and the Oakland Museum of California. It was a great ego boost to have the Arts Commission invest in my photographic vision!

In between the photo projects, Joaquin Newman and I completed two murals for the Fox Courts Apartments. This was an art education and public art project in Oakland’s Uptown neighborhood. There is a photo-centric quality in these walls too. Thanks to Deni Adaniya at Resources for Community Development the project sponsor, Mike Pyatok, principal Pyatok Architects, Inc., Jordan Rose, AIA, teachers Andrew Junge and Heidi Cregg, and executive director Donn Harris at the Oakland School for the Arts, and Chris Edenborough, Operations Manager, California Group.

This month, I produced a mural for the Museum of the African Diaspora, in conjunction with The Art of Richard Mayhew exhibition. This mural uses passages from The Street (Composition for Richard Wright), c. 1977, an original drawing by Romare Bearden. I cut up The Street and rearranged the figures the way Bearden cut up magazines for his collages. I changed the clothing, hair, and adornments of the figures to reflect the multicultural Bay Area and added plants, ants and birds to suggest the changing relationship between humans and nature. Check it out in the second floor Salon of the Museum!

Stay creative! Stay engaged!