History
Precita Eyes Muralists Association was founded in 1977 by Susan and Luis Cervantes, who had come to the Bay Area several years before and started a family. Susan Cervantes was inspired by Las Mujeres Muralistas, the first all-women group of collaborative muralists. Cervantes adopted the Mujeres uralists' philosophy of collaborative, accessible, community art. [1]
The organization evolved from a community mural workshop in which the participants designed and painted the mural “Masks of God, Soul of Man” for the Bernal Heights Library. [2] The group signed the piece as Precita Eyes Muralists because the project was a collaborative effort. The name of the organization comes from the fact that most of the muralists were from Precita Valley, which gets its name from Precita Creek. Precita is a diminutive form of the Spanish word ‘presa,’ which means dam; the word ‘Precita’ means little dam. [3] The ‘Eyes’ in the name are what we perceive the visual world with, our own eyes.
After the first mural, the group of artists continued to be interested in creating murals. They completed two major mural commissions and several more portable murals. Two years later, the group applied for non-profit status in 1979. In 1998 Precita Eyes expanded its operations with the purchase of the building at 2981 24th Street, near the well-known Balmy Alley. [4] As of 2007, Precita Eyes had supported nearly 100 murals in the Mission neighborhood, [5]
Precita Eyes celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2007 [6] and continues to conduct several mural projects each year. Recent projects include two international projects, one in Beijing, China [7] and the other in parts of Palestine and Lebanon. Other recent local projects involved the restoration of two San Francisco Parks, Excelsior Playground and Crocker-Amazon Playground. They also host an annual Urban Youth Arts Festival, with artists painting on boards in Precita Park. [8]
Murals are an expression of the culture of the neighborhood; in an article about Precita Eyes, muralist Juana Alicia Montoya said "In the 1960s and '70s, the Mission District became the cultural heart of the Chicano movement in California... and the murals were an integral part of that movement, as was theater and poetry." [9] The book Chicana and Chicano Art: ProtestArte says "Arts organizations such as Precita Eyes continue to support Chicano muralism's original objective: to create public art that authentically represents a community's history and culture." [10]
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.
The Royal Chicano Air Force (RCAF) is a Sacramento, California-based art collective, founded in 1970 by Ricardo Favela, José Montoya and Esteban Villa. It was one of the "most important collective artist groups" in the Chicano art movement in California during the 1970s and the 1980s and continues to be influential into the 21st century.
Judith Francisca Baca is an American artist, activist, and professor of Chicano studies, world arts, and cultures based at the University of California, Los Angeles. She is the co-founder and artistic director of the Social and Public Art Resource Center (SPARC) in Venice, California. Baca is the director of the mural project that created the Great Wall of Los Angeles, which was the largest known communal mural project in the world as of 2018.
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 in Calle 24 between 24th Street and Garfield Square. Since 1973, most buildings on the street have been decorated with a mural.
The Chicano Art Movement represents groundbreaking movements by Mexican-American artists to establish a unique artistic identity in the United States. Much of the art and the artists creating Chicano Art were heavily influenced by Chicano Movement which began in the 1960s.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
A Mexican American is a resident of the United States who is of Mexican descent. Mexican American-related topics include the following:
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.
A Chicano mural is an artistic expression done, most commonly, on walls or ceilings by Chicanos or Mexican-American artists. Chicano murals rose during the Chicano art movement, that began in the 1960, with the influence of Mexican muralism and the Mexican Revolution. The murals are an illustration of Chicano’s ethnic pride or a form of activism against police brutality, social issues, political issues, and civil rights issues. It started being done by young Chicano artists in commonly marginalized neighborhoods, schools, and churches, demonstrating cultural art and ideas. The murals are characterized by their art style of bright color, religious symbols, and cultural references to Mexican and Mexican American history. Chicano murals have been and are historically found in the Southwest states like Texas, Colorado, and most famously, California, where the national landmark Chicano Park is located. The popularity of the Chicano Murals has allowed a sense of community, culture, activism, and storytelling about elements of being Chicano. Various states are currently looking to preserve and restore some murals as they carry historical meaning for the geographical community and the Mexican-American community.
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.
Jesus "Chuy" Campusano, was an American Chicano visual artist, and muralist. He was a well-known contributor to San Francisco's arts in the 1970s and 1980s; and was a co-founder of Galería de la Raza, a non-profit community focused gallery that featured Latino and Chicano artists and their allies.
Calle 24 (“Veinticuatro”) Latino Cultural District, is a neighborhood and designated cultural district formally recognized by a resolution from the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, co-sponsored by then Mayor Edwin Lee and Supervisor David Campos, in May 2014. Often referred to as “The Heart of the Mission,” Calle 24 Latino Cultural District was established in recognition of its long history as the center of Latino activism, arts, commerce, and culture in San Francisco.
