Edythe Boone

Last updated

Edythe Boone
Born
Edythe Boone

Brooklyn, New York [1]
NationalityAmerican
Occupation(s)Artist, muralist
Known forMaestraPeace
Notable work"Those We Love, We Remember", "Let a Thousand Parks Bloom"
Relatives Eric Garner (nephew)

Edythe (Edy) Boone (born 1938), is an African-American artist and activist. She has worked as a muralist, counselor, and art teacher throughout her life in an under-served area in California. [1]

Contents

She is the aunt of Eric Garner, an African-American man who was choked to death by New York Police Department officers. [1] His death, along with the death of Michael Brown, [2] led to protests and in part catalyzed the Black Lives Matter movement.

Career

Boone is well known for the many murals she has painted. She started with her painted murals on each floor of a building in Harlem, New York and her work has expanded through the years to one of her most notable projects, designing and painting the Women's Building mural in San Francisco, California. [3] She first was exposed to art when visiting her grandmother, who was a seamstress and Boone found herself surrounded by color, fabrics and textures. [4] During the time she lived in Harlem the problem with crack cocaine was rampant and had a large influence in her artistic development. It was there that she made guerilla murals to protest the situation. [2] It is her belief that art is for everyone, not just for professionals, aiming to empower individuals and communities through the use of art. [2]

Boone’s reputation for being socially conscious could be said to stem from many occasion but in the past she has been influenced by many social movements such as the Black Panthers and other various civil rights movements. [4] Boone is best known for her street murals in the San Francisco Bay Area which focus upon activist issues and the local community. Her topics have included the 1980s crack epidemic in America, AIDS, poverty, racial discrimination, and gender inequality. [1]

Works

Boone is perhaps most well-known for being one of the muralists behind the famous MaestraPeace mural on the Women's Building in San Francisco, California. The mural was created in 1994 by a cooperative of seven female artists, including Boone, Juana Alicia, Miranda Bergman, Susan Kelk Cervantes, Meera Desai, Yvonne Littleton, and Irene Perez. [5] The mural spans two walls and is five stories high. [6] A few of the many images on it depict the Aztec Goddess of the Moon Coyolxauhqui, Palestinian legislator and activist Hanan Ashrawi, poet and activist Audre Lorde, painter Georgia O'Keeffe, Puerto Rican revolutionary Lolita Lebrón, and Guatemalan Nobel Peace Prize winner Rigoberta Menchú. [5] The mural is a major tourist attraction in the city's Mission District. It was restored in 2012 and Boone participated in the restoration. [7] The building on which it is painted is a testament to women in itself as it is the first all women owned and run community building. The mural is a testament to women through the ages depicting the struggles and conflicts they have faced. [8]

MaestraPeace is notable not only for its massive scale and the numerous famous or mythical women it depicts, but for the multicultural and anti-colonialist sentiments expressed by artists of varying backgrounds. The piece represents "transhistorical, crosscultural and transnational connections between the African and indigenous cultures of the Americas" and its multicultural feminism suits the Women's Building's purpose and location in an ethnically diverse area. [9]

The group of artists themselves are a diverse depiction due to both nationality and sexual preference. In the group there are two Latinas, two African Americans, east Asian, two Caucasians and one Jewish lesbian, straight and bisexual. The mural depicts a symmetrical composition flanked by figures as those representing the African and Native American ethnicities. [10]

Those We Love, We Remember, a mural to honor lost loved ones, was painted by Boone in Balmy Alley in San Francisco, CA. [11] [12]

In the 1980s, Boone and a group of "guerrilla" muralists worked on Oakland Wall Speaks with local housing project residents. The murals depict the effects of crack cocaine on the people who use it.

Near Berkeley's People's Park, Boone collaborated on the mural Let a Thousand Parks Bloom, an allusion to the peaceful demonstrations of 1969 that occurred in the park in protest of the Vietnam War. [1]

She oversaw the creation in Berkeley, CA of a 100-foot mural (completed in 2018) on Ashby Avenue between Harper and Ellis Streets. The mural depicts images of people, places, and interactions representing the history of South Berkeley from the times of the Ohlone to the present. [13] [14]

Documentary

"A New Color" is Marlene “Mo” Morris' directing debut. [15] According to Morris, the film focuses on Edythe Boone's “illustrious career", stating “Edy has a way of inspiring people and embracing a number of causes”. [16] The film debuted at the Mill Valley Film Festival on October 10, 2015. [17]

Marlene Morris was a 2011 Berkeley Film Foundation grant winner for "A New Color", [18] which allowed for half of the footage to be shot. [16] In 2012, a Kickstarter campaign, created by Morris, raised $7,951 in additional funding for the film, [19] while the East Bay Community Foundation pledged to match any funds that were raised. [16]

Film Festivals Appearances

YearFestivalAwards
2015 Mill Valley Film Festival [17] MVFF Audience Favorite, Special Mention [20]
2016Peace on Earth Film Festival [21] Best Short Documentary [21]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Street artist</span>

A street artist is a person who makes art in public places. Street artists include portrait artists, caricaturists, graffiti artists, muralists and people making crafts. Street artists can also refer to street performers such as musicians, acrobats, jugglers, living statues, and street theatre performers. Street artists can be seen throughout the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mexican muralism</span> 20th-century art movement

Mexican muralism refers to the art project initially funded by the Mexican government in the immediate wake of the Mexican Revolution (1910-1920) to depict visions of Mexico's past, present, and future, transforming the walls of many public buildings into didactic scenes designed to reshape Mexicans' understanding of the nation's history. The murals, large artworks painted onto the walls themselves had social, political, and historical messages. Beginning in the 1920s, the muralist project was headed by a group of artists known as "The Big Three" or "The Three Greats". This group was composed of Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco and David Alfaro Siqueiros. Although not as prominent as the Big Three, women also created murals in Mexico. From the 1920s to the 1970s, murals with nationalistic, social and political messages were created in many public settings such as chapels, schools, government buildings, and much more. The popularity of the Mexican muralist project started a tradition which continues to this day in Mexico; a tradition that has had a significant impact in other parts of the Americas, including the United States, where it served as inspiration for the Chicano art movement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alma López</span> Mexican artist

Alma López is a Mexican-born Queer Chicana artist. Her art often portrays historical and cultural Mexican figures, such as the Virgin of Guadalupe and La Llorona, filtered through a radical Chicana feminist lesbian lens. Her art work is meant to empower women and indigenous Mexicans by the reappropriation of symbols of Mexica history when women played a more prominent role. The medium of digital art allows her to mix different elements from Catholicism and juxtapose it to indigenous art, women, and issues such as rape, gender violence, sexual marginalization and racism. This juxtaposition allows her to explore the representation of women and indigenous Mexicans and their histories that have been lost or fragmented since colonization. Her work is often seen as controversial. Currently, she is a lecturer at the University of California Los Angeles in the Department of Chicana/o Studies.

Juana Alicia is an American muralist, printmaker, educator, activist and, painter. She has been an educator for forty years. Juana Alicia, as part of the faculty Berkeley City College, founded and directed the True Colors Public Art program. Her sculptures and murals are principally located in the San Francisco Bay Area, Nicaragua, Mexico, Pennsylvania, and in many parts of California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bernard Zakheim</span> American painter

Bernard Baruch Zakheim was a Warsaw-born San Francisco muralist, best known for his work on the Coit Tower murals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Victor Arnautoff</span> Russian-American painter, muralist, and academic

Victor Mikhail Arnautoff was a Russian-American painter and professor of art. He worked in San Francisco and the Bay Area from 1925 to 1963, including two decades as a teacher at Stanford University, and was particularly prolific as a muralist during the 1930s. He became a naturalized U.S. citizen, but returned to the Soviet Union after the death of his wife, continuing his career there before his death.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Women's Building (San Francisco)</span> United States historic place

The Women's Building is a women-led non-profit arts and education community center located in San Francisco, California, which advocates self-determination, gender equality and social justice. The four-story building rents to multiple tenants and serves over 20,000 women a year. The building has served as an event and meeting space since 1979, when it was purchased by the San Francisco Women's Center. The building is shielded from rising real estate costs in the Mission District because that group has owned the building since 1995.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emmy Lou Packard</span>

Emmy Lou Packard also known as Betty Lou Packard (1914–1998) was a Californian post-war artist known for painting, printmaking and murals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Miranda Bergman</span> American muralist

Miranda Bergman is an American contemporary muralist born in 1947 and grew up in grew up in the San Francisco Mission District where she attended Balboa High School. Bergman is known for of the seven women artists who in 1994 created the MaestraPeace mural, the largest mural in San Francisco, which covers The Women's Building. Most of the murals created/co-created by Bergman straddles artistry and social activism, giving her a space to express both social struggles and cultural celebrations. She now lives in Oakland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mujeres Muralistas</span> Artist collective

Las Mujeres Muralistas were an all-female Latina artist collective based in the Mission District in San Francisco in the 1970s. They created a number of public murals throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, and are said to have sparked the beginning of the female muralist movement in the US and Mexico. Their murals were colorful and large scale and often focused on themes such as womanhood, culture, beauty, and socio-political change. Patricia Rodriguez, Graciela Carrillo, Consuelo Mendez, and Irene Perez are recognized as the founders and most prominent members of the collective, but other female Chicana artists assisted along the way and even joined later on, such as Susan Cervantes, Ester Hernandez, and Miriam Olivo among others.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dorothy Wagner Puccinelli</span> American painter

Dorothy Wagner Puccinelli, also known as Dorothy Puccinelli Cravath, was a New Deal-era artist and muralist. She was based in San Francisco, California.

Patricia Rodriguez is a prominent Chicana artist and educator. Rodriguez grew up in Marfa, Texas and moved to San Francisco to later pursue an art degree at Merritt College and this is where she learned about the Mexican American Liberation Art Front (MALA-F) and the Chicano Movement. In 1970, Patricia received a scholarship to the San Francisco Art Institute and this is where she met Graciela Carrillo. Together, they created and founded the Mujeres Muralistas, the first Chicana women's mural collective in San Francisco.

Jessica Sabogal is a queer Colombian-American muralist and stencil spray paint artist who is currently active in the Bay Area. She's best known for her "Women Are Perfect! " visual campaign which she created as an artist in residence in 2014 at the Galeria de la Raza, and she is currently active in the "We The People" public art campaign created in collaboration with Shepard Fairey.

Jean LaMarr is a Northern Paiute/Achomawi artist and activist from California. She creates murals, prints, dioramas, sculptures, and interactive installations. She is an enrolled citizen of the Susanville Indian Rancheria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Susan Cervantes</span> American artist

Susan Kelk Cervantes is an American artist who has been at the epicenter of the San Francisco mural movement and the co-founder and executive director of the community-based non-profit, Precita Eyes Muralists.

Elba Rivera is a Salvadorian-born artist who concentrates on realism, surrealism, and abstract expressionism. Rivera focuses on uncovering subjects related with human's dismissal for nature with surrealist and abstract expressionist techniques. She is best known for her participation in San Francisco community mural art movements and for the art piece, Family Expectations, which depicts an intricate composition of several women whose appearances indicates family union.

Margo Consuela Bors is an American painter, muralist, photographer and illustrator active in the San Francisco Bay area. She is an activist for protecting native plants and animals is supported by big organizations like the California Native Plant Society.

Marta Ayala is a Salvadoran-American painter and a woman muralist in San Francisco. Her work involves experimenting with colors, themes, etc. She is not tied to a single theme, medium or style. The majority of her work revolves around engaging with the community by collaborating together with other artists and teaching classes. She experiments with various colors and uses easily definable lines in her paintings and murals. Ayala's paintings and murals display a mix of colorful images reminiscent of childhood, earthly materials such as rocks and water with a mix of ancient culture. This is the reason for the word "primitive" to describe her work.

Irene Peréz is a muralist known for her membership in the Latina muralist group, Las Mujeres Muralistas and her contributions to the group mural Maestrapeace, at the Woman's Building in San Francisco, California.

Kristy Sandoval is a Xicana muralist based out of the Northeast San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, California.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Artist-activist Edythe Boone finds 'New Color'". SFGate. Retrieved 25 March 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 "Edythe Boone (Edy) – A New Color". anewcolordocumentary.com. Retrieved 7 December 2017.
  3. ↑ Lara, Elia. "Edythe Boone." Skipping Stones, Mar.-Apr. 2012, p. 12. "General OneFile". Accessed 25 Mar. 2017.
  4. 1 2 "DOC TALK/PETER KEOUGH When talking the talk is walking the walk - The Boston Globe". BostonGlobe.com. Archived from the original on 8 December 2017. Retrieved 7 December 2017.
  5. 1 2 "» The Mural". womensbuilding.org. Retrieved 11 March 2017.
  6. ↑ Heymont, George (16 September 2016). "Is There A Mural To This Story?". Huffington Post. Retrieved 11 March 2017.
  7. ↑ "Painters Scale Women's Building to Restore the "MaestraPeace" Mural". MissionLocal. Retrieved 17 March 2017.
  8. ↑ "» The Mural". womensbuilding.org. Retrieved 7 December 2017.
  9. ↑ Latorre, Giusela (2007). "Rigoberta Menchú, Yemayá and Coyolxauhqui: Afro-Indigenous Aesthetics in Maestrapeace". In Espejo, Ramón (ed.). Critical Essays on Chicano Studies. Peter Lang. ISBN   9783039112814.
  10. ↑ Latorre, Guisela (2008). Walls of empowerment : Chicana/o indigenist murals of California (1st ed.). Austin: University of Texas Press. ISBN   9780292793934. OCLC   311063888.
  11. ↑ "Those We Love, We Remember (1995)". www.sfmuralarts.com. Retrieved 11 March 2017.
  12. ↑ m., highsmith, carol. "[Mural: Those We Remember by Edythe Boone located in Balmy Alley, San Francisco, California]". The Library of Congress. Retrieved 11 March 2017.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  13. ↑ Mercy, Martin (7 September 2018). "New mural is a timeline of South Berkeley, from the Ohlone to the present day". Berkeleyside, 7 September 2018. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
  14. ↑ "The Invisible Becomes Visible: A Community Mural Project". Friends of Adeline.
  15. ↑ "Edythe Boone and the Intersection of Art and Community". www.alamedamagazine.com. 9 April 2016. Retrieved 11 March 2017.
  16. 1 2 3 Taylor, Tracey (4 June 2012). "Edy Boone: A life spent inspiring others captured on film". Berkeleyside. Retrieved 11 March 2017.
  17. 1 2 "Artist-activist Edythe Boone finds 'New Color'". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 11 March 2017.
  18. ↑ "Winners by Year". Berkeley Film Foundation. Retrieved 11 March 2017.
  19. ↑ "A New Color Documentary". Kickstarter. Retrieved 11 March 2017.
  20. ↑ "That's a wrap" (PDF). mvff.com.
  21. 1 2 "A New Color: The Art of Being Edythe Boone" . Retrieved 11 March 2017.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.