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!

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!

In January I completed the mural for Association Sante Communautaire Mekin Sikoro and Centre D'Espoir, a community health clinic in Mekin Sikoro, a village community in Bamako, Mali. The theme of the mural is prevention and good health.

I used my community mural training to involve Sikoro residents in the creative process. Thanks to the community approach of Dr. Annie De Groot, the founder of project sponsor Global Alliance to Immunize Against AIDS (GAIA) Vaccine Foundation we got hooked up in Sikoro! Annie and I went to high school together. Her impressive work and love of the arts brought me into the clinic.

Clinic director Dr. Karamoko Tounkara and the village leadership identified important themes for the mural. The design was approved by the village chief, referred to as “Dugutigi” in Bamana, the most widely spoken indigenous language in Mali. My daughter Teresa Pineda co-directed the project, drawing and painting, and gaining the respect of villagers. Dugutigi blessed her at the dedication of the mural, calling attention to the significance of family involvement in the project. Sikoro artist Hamidou Maiga organized teens from Club des Amis de Mekin Sikoro to help prep the wall and recruited European volunteers to assist with the painting. Look for more murals by Hamidou! Miriam “Mamou” Thiam, an elementary school teacher and Moritz Brandenberger translated for us. Mamou helps GAIA VF guests with communication. Moritz, from Germany, works with Hamidou at a village children’s center and is creating an internet café for Sikoro.

Bay Area musician Yasine Kouyate introduced me to Mali ten years ago, when I worked for SFMOMA on education programs for an exhibition of Malian photographer Seydou Keita. Yasine grew up in Bamako. His childhood friends and university colleagues welcomed us in Bamako, providing personal perspectives on the culture. David Domoison, an internationally recognized photographer from Martinique connected us to Bamako’s artistic community. Last year his master class in conjunction with the 2007 Bamako Biennale of African Photography involved local artists. David’s introductions provided our project with technical help, cultural nuance, and a broader reception! I received expert advice about materials from Abdoulaye Konaté, an accomplished visual artist and director of the Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers Multimédia Balla Fasséké Kouyaté de Bamako. The Conservatoire offers graduate study in visual and performing arts, and digital media. Bamako photographer Amadou Keita expanded our understanding of traditions and the complexities of life in Mali. A visit to Musée Nationale du Mali grounded us in Mali’s rich history. Director Samuel Sidibi welcomed me to the museum. The two directors honored our project by attending the mural dedication and the mural project introduced them to Sikoro!

Portland filmmaker Dan Viens joined the mural project and traveled alongside Teresa and I. His Bamako, Mali film project encompasses artistic exchange, a family journey, the African AIDS epidemic and the effort to find a worldwide HIV vaccine. Dan posted daily progress reports on his blog and he continues to add content since our return. He is an incredible source of documentation and creative vision. Check out Dan’s blog!

Bay Area and Mali Projects

Welcome back to Storytelling Walls! In September, I co-curated the online exhibition “Centripetal Heart” at the ODCAP Gallery. My original photographs (including “Passengers 2”) compose the show. In October, the Museum of the African Diaspora, San Francisco commissioned me to paint a mural for the education area on the second floor of the museum. What a pleasure to return to MoAD, a year later, and contribute my artistry! The mural is painted in conjunction with the Hewitt Collection of African American Art exhibition. I encourage all to see this important exhibition. The mural is an enlargement of "The Street (Composition for Richard Wright),” c. 1977, by famed artist Romare Bearden. The original ink drawing is in the collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. This January 2009, through the invitation of the Global Alliance to Immunize Against AIDS Vaccine Foundation (GAIA VF), I will paint a permanent mural on the grounds of the Centre D’Espoir/Hope Center Clinic in the Sikoro village of greater Bamako, Mali. The mural will reflect the hope and aspirations of the Malian and international health experts as they share life-saving knowledge with the Bamako community. The clinic serves a community affected by AIDS and other serve illnesses. The practice of health professionals is an inspiration to me. I want to express their vital outlook and honor the work at the clinic. My daughter Teresa Pineda will assist in the creation of the mural! If possible we will post our progress during the month, and report on the project when we return. Until my next addition – stay creative, stay engaged!

Obama/Exhibitions

Welcome back to Storytelling Walls! The historic United States presidential election inspired “El Presidente,” the drawing mentioned in my first post. This drawing uses the Mexican game Loteria to comment on the 2008 election. The popular game is similar to the game Bingo. Players compete to fill placemats with tokens. Drawing from a deck of cards, players match figures from each card to the figures on their placemats. The first player to fill their placemat wins! The 54 cards that compose the deck have images of people, things, animals, plants, etc. “El Presidente” re-interprets the card called "El Negrito." The Afro-Mexican figure on the original card is replaced with a portrait of Illinois Senator Barrack Obama. The original title along with a second title "El Güerito," are scratched out and replaced with “El Presidente.” “El Güerito” is a Spanish term for fair skinned person. This is a hopeful portrait of the first African American person to become the presumptive nominee of a major political party. Shedding the references to skin color and changing the title to “President,” shifts the emphasis to that of the “role” rather then a physical attribute of the figure on the card. Loteria cards are great for making social statements as the game has a tradition of social commentary. The original drawing is on display in “Experimental Cartoon Drawing & Experimental Photography” exhibition at the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts in San Francisco.

My photograph, “Passengers-2” is on view in “New Visions: Introductions 2008” exhibition, August 28-October 24, 2008, at Pro Arts in Oakland. Come to the reception on September 11, 2008! In addition, I created an original watercolor drawing of my mural “Hoy (vey) como siempre” for purchase in an auction to benefit Precita Eyes Mural Arts and Visitor Center. A photo of the completed mural is under “Whose Stories?” in the “Storytelling Walls” website. The auction is part of the “Precita Eyes Muralist Gala for the Future,” September 13, 2008 at Martin Lawrence Gallery, 366 Gear Street, San Francisco. Come buy some original mural art!
Finally, I’d like to share “Tic & Tac,” a video about a hummingbird nest I followed last spring. Inspired by this natural life cycle and my concern with human/other species interaction, I was captivated by what unfolded and compelled to share this extraordinary passage. The nest appeared in the yard of friends in Oakland, California. It was presented conveniently outside their breakfast nook window at arm’s length from this “homebody.” Cinema and mural painting share significant qualities of historical documentation, cultural narratives and a popular tradition of expression fueled by improving consumer grade recording devises. With the help of friends (who allowed me regular access to their home and yard) and technical expertise from artist Joaquin Alejandro Newman (he did post production and contributed an original sound loop), this home-production view into backyard nature is made possible! Until my next addition – stay creative, stay engaged!

Welcome

Thanks to California College of Art student Manon Bogerd-Wada who designed this website with project management by LaserCom Design, I am able to share information about community murals and creativity! The contemporary murals on this website are from the San Francisco Bay Area. The projects reflect my grounding in community art. Please use the downloadable descriptions when visiting the murals. I am a Bay Area based artist who is returning to more focused visual art practice, after more than a decade of focus on art education and museum administration. I want to provide creative and educational services to local businesses, community organizations, museums, and schools. In my return to public art, I am collaborating with the accomplished artist Joaquin Alejandro Newman. We recently completed a 120 x 20’ mural for Straus Carpet Company in Oakland. We branded the new Straus Carpets warehouse with their signature female figure, painted on the original building next door, by Oakland muralists Dan Fontes and Ingrid Good, c. 2002-03. Both murals are hand-painted with acrylics, a refreshing possibility in a time when digital technology and industrial processes are producing large scale printed surfaces. If you want to appreciate the power of the hand, check out these murals at 2828 Ford Street, at the Park Street bridge to Alameda Island. I continue to draw. Check out my portrait of Barack Obama in a refashioned Loteria card at OD-CAP an important website on art and culture initiated by curator and cultural animateur Lizzetta LeFalle-Collins. Bookmark it and look in "Voices" for the Obama drawing. You can also see the original at The Greenlining Institute in Berkeley until Labor Day 2008. I will add regularly to this site. Until my next entry – stay creative, stay engaged! Eduardo