Marta Ayala

Last updated

Marta Ayala is a Salvadoran-American painter and a woman muralist in San Francisco. Her work involves experimenting with colors, themes, etc. [1] 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. [2] She experiments with various colors and uses easily definable lines in her paintings and murals. [1] 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. [3]

Contents

Early life

Marta Ayala's artistic career began when she immigrated from El Salvador to San Francisco in 1968 along with her family. Ayala started producing paintings and drawings as a child. [2] She received inspiration from her uncle Camilo Minero. [4] He was a muralist and she followed in his footsteps. Her artwork has primitive and childlike characteristics. She is self-taught, evident from the outlines used in her images.

She attended schools throughout San Francisco and in Venezuela to further her skills. [1]

Ayala received her college education in San Francisco. She attended San Francisco City college between 1977 and 1978. After a short break, in the years 1980-82, Ayala left San Francisco for Venezuela to study at the Art Institute of Sucre. From 1989 through 1993 she went to the Precita Eyes Mural Center to apprentice with Susan Cervantes (Latina muralist). She returned to San Francisco City college after her apprenticeship.

Career

She teaches various members of the Bay area community about murals, especially children. She works with young children in a "Spanish Through Art" class. Because of the murals she painted all over the city (with contributions from others) she received Best Public Art award in San Francisco. [4]

Ayala has contributed to the infamous Balmy Alley in the Mission District of San Francisco. Las Mujeres Muralistas paved the way for Ayala and other Latinas in the San Francisco mural movement. [5]

Works

Self portrait

This 18 × 24 inch painting was created with oil on canvas. Ayala painted herself grinning with satisfaction while her dream-like self is depicted in darker colors with a serious demeanor in the background. The style is primitive as there is a clear distinction between herself and the background. [1]

Dreaming

Dreaming was created using charcoal. Ayala contributes to a theme that is common to many Latin American artists–dreams. In this piece, a woman is lying down dreaming of a naked angel-looking-man that the woman is drooling over. The third part of the image appears to be a heart inflamed. It is stated that Ayala is trying to depict the sin of lust. The woman seems content, but a mixed emotions flow because of the enflamed heart–portraying shame. [1]

Manjushri (2001)

The Manjushri mural is in Balmy Alley. It shows an enlightened Buddhist creature painted with various colors surrounding the piece. Ayala uses elements from Tibetan Art with a mix of Latin American Art. [3]

Waiting for 52 Excelsior (2001)

This public mural was created with paint on a wall. Nature and urbanism are displayed in this mural but without clear distinctions; everything flows together, symbolizing both worlds living together. The mural is located on Excelsior Avenue. [6]

Garfield High Mural (2006)

This mural was painted on a wall at Garfield High School in Palo Alto, California. This work involved the students of the high school as instructed by Ayala. It has childlike characteristics as it was painted by children. The mural displays a small town on a grassy hill filled with butterflies full of color and flowers throughout. It irepresents the transformation of their city or hopes for transformation to a more positive and beautiful one. The cursive words above the mural read, "Latino Power Hope to Transform Our City, Our Future Community, Leadership, Our Friendships, Family." [ citation needed ]

Silver Avenue Family Health Center (2006)

The Silver Avenue Family Health Center mural is a colorful piece. The mural displays people dancing in different ways in various color schemes. This was a piece of art created with the community.[ citation needed ]

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions

Group exhibitions

Collections

Honors and reward

Related Research Articles

The Mission District, commonly known as the Mission, is a neighborhood in San Francisco, California. One of the oldest neighborhoods in San Francisco, the Mission District's name is derived from Mission San Francisco de Asís, built in 1776 by the Spanish. The Mission is historically one of the most notable centers of the city's Chicano/Mexican-American community.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Margaret Kilgallen</span> American artist (1967–2001)

Margaret Leisha Kilgallen was a San Francisco Bay Area artist who combined graffiti art, painting, and installation art. Though a contemporary artist, her work showed a strong influence from folk art. She was considered a central figure in the Bay Area Mission School art movement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Precita Eyes</span>

Precita Eyes Muralists Association is a community-based non-profit muralist and arts education group located in the Bernal Heights neighborhood of San Francisco, California. It was founded in 1977 by Susan and Luis Cervantes.

Clarion Alley Mural Project (CAMP) is an artists' collective in San Francisco's Mission District. CAMP is a community, a public space, and an organizing force that uses public art as a means for supporting social, economic, racial, and environmental justice messaging and storytelling. The project is currently co-directed by Megan Wilson and Christopher Statton with a board of directors that includes Wilson, Statton, Shaghayegh Cyrous, Keyvan Shovir, Ivy McClelland, Kyoko Sato, Fara Akrami, Katayoun Bahrami, and Chris Gazaleh. Clarion Alley runs one block in San Francisco's inner Mission District between 17th and 18th streets and Mission and Valencia streets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edith Hamlin</span> American painter

Edith Ann Hamlin (June 23, 1902 – February 18, 1992) was an American landscape and portrait painter, and muralist. She is known for her social realism murals created while working with the Public Works of Art Project, Federal Art Project and the Section of Painting and Sculpture during the Great Depression era in the United States and for her decorative style paintings of the American desert.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Balmy Alley</span> Street in San Francisco, California

Balmy Alley is a one-block-long alley that is home to the most concentrated collection of murals in the city of San Francisco. It is located in the south central portion of the Inner Mission District between 24th Street and Garfield Square. Since 1973, most buildings on the street have been decorated with a mural.

Mission Muralismo was an artistic movement that brought awareness of issues as well as depicted everyday life as lived by the people in the San Francisco Mission District and other barrios around the world. The Mission was an artistic playground for muralists to speak out about injustices and social issues around their city, the country and the world. Latin American muralists voiced their cries for international attention and aimed to create awareness for the social and political problems of Latin America through the murals they painted. The Nicaraguan community especially contributed to artistic projects to shed light on the Nicaraguan Revolution and their struggles from 1979 to the 1990s.

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">Lydia Emily</span>

Lydia Emily, aka Lydiaemily Archibald, is a street artist, muralist, and oil painter. Her signature style is realistic oil portraits with political and current themes. Her portraits are always painted on the Sunday New York Times sealed to canvas. She then translates her oil paintings into large murals in cities including New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Berlin, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Lydia Emily is considered one of few prominent and prolific female street artists in a predominantly male field. In 2012 she founded The Karma Underground or TKU, a not for profit organization that advocates for a free Tibet.

<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.

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.

Edythe (Edy) Boone, 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.

<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.

Sirron Norris is an American illustrator, muralist, and arts educator. He is known for his work on the FOX animated television show Bob's Burgers and for numerous cartoon-style public murals, including ones at Balmy Alley, Clarion Alley, and Mission Dolores Park, and galleries around San Francisco. His murals often include political messages, local themes, and his signature blue bear. He has worked with several local non-profits, including SPUR and El Tecolote.

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.

Graciela Carrillo is a Chicana artist and muralist in San Francisco and member of the all-female Chicana/Latina artist group Mujeres Muralistas. She is a co-founder of Galería de la Raza, a gallery utilized to showcase the everyday lives of the Chicano community through art during the Chicano Civil Rights movement through the Chicano muralist movement.

Nancy "Pili" Hernandez is an Irish Chicana interdisciplinary artist and activist. Her art often portrays climate injustices, with a key topic being water pollution. Her artwork is intended to promote changes in climate policy, and spread awareness about climate change.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Henkes, Robert (1999). Latin American Women Artists of the United States. McFarland. pp. 26–32.
  2. 1 2 "Roots and Frequencies Basic to our Education". ArtAround. January 2016. Retrieved May 27, 2019.
  3. 1 2 Cohen, Jonathan (December 31, 2013). "Manjushri – Balmy Alley, Mission District, San Francisco, California". ipernity. Retrieved May 28, 2019.
  4. 1 2 "Featured Artists". The Mission. Retrieved 2019-05-01.
  5. Sprague, Alyson (May 2012). "Mission Murialismo: Examining Identity in San Francisco's Mission District Via an Exploration of Public Mural Art" (PDF).{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  6. Young, Kerri (2020-03-20). "Public Art in the Excelsior". San Francisco Heritage. Retrieved 2024-03-04.
  7. "Marta Ayala | San Francisco Public Murals and Paintings | About the Artist". martaayala.com. Retrieved 2019-05-01.

Further reading