The Right to Good Health

Joaquin Newman and I started painting The Right to Good Health mural for the Mission Neighborhood Health Center (MNHC) in San Francisco. Students in anthropology professor Mariana Ferreira’s class at San Francisco State University surveyed patients, staff and administrators at the Center as part of the anthropology methodologies class. Their findings helped us create the design. The Right to Good Health mural is funded by the Center for Minority Health and Health Disparities of the National Institutes of Health (Grant 1R13MD005792-01). In addition, the students initiated the San Francisco Mural Project that places photos, descriptions, and video clips on a mural map using Google Earth. The map is on the Right to Know, an interactive web project dedicated to human rights and co-founded by Mariana.

We are painting the mural on canvas at Joaquin’s Forrealism Studio in Alameda. MNHC has embraced our project – thank you Director Brenda Storey, Deputy Director Fernando Gomez-Benitez and the staff! We will install the mural at the Center in January 2011! Our mural will join two murals from the initial wave of San Francisco community murals. In 1977, Michael Rios and Garciela Carrillo painted the murals on the Shotwell Street entrance to the Center. People will see The Right to Good Health mural as they go through the doors between the Rios and Carrillo murals.

Finally, I will exhibit Heartthrob, a photo developed in a commissioning program of the Alameda County Arts Commission (2009) in the 26th Annual January Juried Show at Gallery Route One from January 21-February 20, 2011. I was given a merit award! Come to the reception on Saturday, January 23, 3-5 pm.

Stay creative! Stay engaged!

New Exhibits and Murals

I co-curated Images: Independence and Revolution an exhibition for The Mexican Museum in San Francisco that opened last month. The museum is starting up again with its third exhibition since October 2009. Check out the show!

Joaquin Newman and I received a commission from the Alameda County Arts Commission to decorate a temporary construction fence surrounding Highland Hospital in Oakland, CA. We will generate images for the mural in a series of hands-on workshops with families to launch 100 Families Alameda County: Art and Social Change, now an official arts education program of the Arts Commission. After designing the mural on laptops, the mural will be printed on plastic panels and installed on the plywood fence that encloses the hospital renovation project. It’s great to work with the Commission again!

We are also developing a mural on the Right to Good Health with Mariana Ferreira and her anthropology students at SFSU. This project is part of the annual Human Rights Summit and funded through the National Institute of Health. We hope to secure the site in the coming month and complete the mural by the end of the year!

We received recognition from Supervisor John Gioia for Earth Speaks, the mural at the El Sobrante Public Library. Thanks to the SPAWNERS and Earth Team Environmental Network!

The Fox Courts mural is highlighted in Artful Teaching, a new book for teachers! It’s exciting to be recognized in print and an honor to be cited in a book for educators!

Also receiving recognition is the mural Ray Patlán and I painted for Gundlach-Bunschu Winery in Sonoma, CA in 1990. Checkout the photo in the San Francisco Chronicle! The Bunschu family was great to work with and they have a beautiful winery with fantastic wine! And what a mural!

MoAD and Mexico

This year began with painting a third mural for the Museum of the African Diaspora. Collaborating with Joaquin Newman, we painted a map of the African diaspora for the current exhibition African Continuum: Sacred Ceremonies and Rituals , composed of photographs by Bryan Wiley accompanied by altars created by Dowoti Désir. Media artist Miguel Osorio designed the map and a companion book about the photo project. The MoAD project reconnected Joaquin and Miguel, who knew each other earlier in their careers. MoAD connects people in this personal way but also through shared cultural histories. Thanks to writer and educator Miriam de Uriarte, I visited the Alhóndiga de Granaditas in Guanajuato to view the mural by José Chávez Morado dedicated to the abolition of slavery in Mexico’s independence from Spain in 1810. The mural relates to MoAD’s Slave Narratives exhibition. At the end of 2009, I painted my second mural for MoAD, a re-interpretation of Romare Bearden’s The Street (Composition for Richard Wright). Between the MoAD projects Joaquin and I painted and installed a mural for the Family Resource and Education Center in Oakland. This model program serves the East Oakland community.

Last year the Bekris Gallery opened at 49 Geary. Dedicated to showcasing contemporary African artists, it’s a unique and impressive gallery in San Francisco. The Bay Area is fortunate to have a venue for rarely seen contemporary work from Africa. Check it out! My enthusiasm for the gallery prompted a collaboration with gallery owner Cynthia Plevin and muralist Raymond Patlán to introduce South African artist Bruce Clarke to visual art students at the California College of Art in December 2009.

I contributed to Alameda on Camera exhibition on view at the Frank Bette Art Center until May 1, 2010. My contribution this year was spontaneous historical re-photographing of streets and houses on the island. With a temporary loan from the Bay Area Electric Railroad Association archives, my photographs of Encinal Avenue can be compared to Encinal Avenue approximately 100 years earlier during the first days of electric train service and 70 years ago in the final days as that same rail service was shut down. Finally I also participated in the Photo Alliance portfolio review, March 12-14, 2010. I received much-needed strokes for my efforts and insightful challenges from the professional photography community. I highly recommend the annual review to those that want collegial wake-ups and affirmation of good work.

At the end of April, I will lead a mural by the Aqua Team, a program of Earth Team Environmental Network. These young environmentalists at Richmond High School learn about environmental stewardship and use visual art to encourage us to take responsibility for the shared environment. The Spawners, along with Earth Team and the Contra Costa County Library sponsor the mural. Take a moment to view the mural at the El Sobrante Public Library. Then view the San Pablo creek currently under restoration at this site. It is energizing to work with a new generation of ambitious youth in Contra Costa County! Stay Creative! Stay Engaged!