My artist friend Laurie Polster sent me her newsletter a week ago, and I want to share her mural A Quilt of Many Colors, which she created with Debbie Koppman. It is beautiful, and in its colorfulness abstraction pretty much the opposite of the 641 Garage BLM Memorial Mural Project. Laurie and I go back to our theater days. At bottom about the artists' process.
"The project was designed to address the issue of "belonging" from two vantage points: to foster engagement within the racially and ethnically diverse group of seniors who enjoyed a strong sense of community pre-pandemic and who were feeling isolated due to the pandemic; and through the creation of the mural to make a permanent, visual expression of their diverse cultural backgrounds visible to a larger community.
The entire process start to finish was incredibly gratifying. During the several weeks when we were outside painting, people stopped by daily to chat and watch the progress – numerous residents, staff, neighbors, business owners, the mail carrier, passersby from all walks of life. We interacted with the entire gamut of people who passed by on San Pablo Avenue, many expressing excitement watching the mural come into fruition and grateful for our efforts in creating something beautiful to add to their neighborhood. The residents, staff, and board are thrilled with the outcome, excited that the mural captures the spirit of the community that lives there and gives them a public face to the neighborhood and beyond."
polsterprojects.com
Karina, thank you for sharing this. It was such a wonderful project to work on especially during the pandemic, inspiring in so many ways. From working with the residents, then designing the mural, followed by the very public process of daily painting, so much ongoing engagement with people during those several weeks. Humorous, tender, supportive, and poignant.
ReplyDeleteA year and half prior, we'd painted our first collaborative mural, "The Fabric of St. Columba", on the social hall façade of St. Columba Church, diagonally across the street from "A Quilt of Many Colors." The new mural becomes a companion piece, the two are in conversation with each other.
The act of painting in public has so many facets. From dealing with the elements, like windy days with gusts so strong paint was literally flying off brushes, to talking to strangers who may quickly become friends. One late afternoon when the mural was close to completion, while high up on my ladder, I accidentally dropped my rag. Not having much energy to get it, I looked down and saw that a passerby had graciously picked it up and handed it up to me. Sadly, he appeared to be one of our unhoused community members. As I thanked him, I was deeply touched that he had noticed, more observant than many, and that maybe in some small way our mural was bringing a bit of joy into his day.
Thanks, Laurie, for elaborating. And i can fully relate to your interactions with passersby. Yes, the unhoused are more observant in general, and not so much in a constant rush... Even now most people run by, or speed by on bikes, without ever looking up, or sideways, like people used to do a year ago, when everyone had time and an open and curious mindset for noticing...
ReplyDeleteFor me, or us, too, the interaction with public is such a big a part of the joy. So many surprises. I am still meeting close by neighbors, wonderful people from further away, interesting conversations, and a lot of dogs wanting to get petted :) Strangers stopping their cars middle of street, taking stills, commenting, especially Black people do this :) they are amazed to find a BLM memorial mural here. One guy recently called it a "billboard" as he described it to his friend on phone. He said to me: "This is good, like social media to help spread what's really going on, thank goodness for it."