Creative Update

This year is about curating! I began working with Evelyn Orantes and the rest of the Oakland Museum of California staff to curate the Days of the Dead exhibition coming up October 9-December 8, 2013! It’s an honor to return after curating the show last year – Forgotten Stories, Remarkable Lives: Días de los Muertos 2012. The concept of that exhibition was inspired by the museum’s history collection. The upcoming exhibition will connect directly with the Natural Sciences collection and will be presented in the new Natural Sciences galleries. Mark you calendars now! I am also curating a one-woman show of Rosa M. Valdez’s work for the 2x2 Solo series at Proarts! Rosa managed our REACH Ashland Youth Center public art project for two years and in that time she modestly kept her professional artist side separate from her administrative role. It wasn’t until I reviewed portfolios for the 2x2 assignment and was captivated by her work, that I selected her and did a little sleuthing in order to confirm she was the same person I’d be working with at the Alameda County Arts Commission! Look for that show in September 2013, just before Days of the Dead. Being selected as one of the curators by the pioneering artist run space (I remember when Proarts was newly forming about 30 years ago) makes me feel connected to the local arts fabric. It follows a successful artist panel with Favianna Rodriguez and Camille Utterback organized by Pamela Ybañez and held at Proarts on February 14, 2013. I was the elder among the panelists as we talked about how to take good care of your self in an artistic career. Pamela saw a much needed discussion in the creative community and started to address it! Favianna and Camille are local giants! I finished my fourth semester of teaching mural painting at the California College of the Arts. The mural class grew out of Ethnic Studies that was established in the late 1970s when Malaquis Montoya taught at the art school. Several other artists taught mural making after Montoya left in about 1990. I took over the mural class from Ray Patlán who began teaching the class in about 2004. Ethnic Studies has become Diversity Studies and the murals are produced in different neighborhoods in Oakland. Ray continues to teach mural classes at Laney College (since 2000) and Juana Alicia Araiza at Berkeley Community College (since 2008). For the second year, Joaquin Newman and me collaborated with Mariana Ferreira to create another mural as part of her anthropology class at San Francisco State University. In February we finished a mural for HealthRIGHT 360 in San Francisco. The mural is inside at a closed facility. It was an emotional project about the journey towards recovery after addiction. Last year’s project for the Mission Neighborhood Health Center was published in a research paper by Alison Sprague in the International Journal of Arts & Sciences. Wow! Last January we completed the public art project at the REACH Ashland Youth Center! This two-year project is my first work in cast concrete and laser engraved pavers. It is another terrific commission from the Alameda County Arts Commission. The commission has supported our community work and provided great opportunities for my creative growth. In December 2012, we installed murals for a lovely new restaurant, Palmer’s Tavern in San Francisco that will open soon. This was an interesting mash-up of Fillmore District historic images and 1940s style painting. The murals decorate dining booths along one side of the restaurant. In another mash-up, Joaquin took his signature Days of the Dead Mexican movie posters and tailored them for Masa café on the Google campus, adding some flavor to that idyllic work setting! The two large paintings are made to travel so they can be used to transform Google events. This, along with the Tina Tamale Transporter (did I mention the painted truck?) and the Zinzanni characters form a rollicking vision that extends our creativity into the business community. The Tamale Transporter is a culinary movie (yet to be made) promoted on a painted truck for Tina Tamale while she cruises to out-of-restaurant locations to deliver her popular menu. Stay Creative! Stay Engaged!