Location:  San Francisco General Hospital, 1001 Potrero Avenue, Building 90, San Francisco, CA

  Description:   Healthy urban living is the central theme captured among the dense imagery of the Precita Eyes mural design for the Center for Vulnerable Populations. San Francisco’s iconic Golden Gate bridge with California’s golden hills provide a backdrop along with imagery of CVP’s immediate neighbors, Bernal Hill and the Potrero del Sol recreational park. The large “caring heart” including in it a DNA path, opened by a chain being broken by the Caduceus is a symbol of CVP’s goals to help citizens break free of disease and sickness, rising up the path of life through healthy eating, exercise and preventative care. The mural is also displaying a relationship of how natural food can be locally grown at our community farms and made accessible at our local markets. The large painting demonstrates how community members actively living a healthy lifestyle can create a better life for themselves in a easy and enjoyable way.

  Location:  St. Francis Hospital, 900 Hyde St, San Francisco, CA

  Description:   The Saint Francis Hospital Staff wanted a mural that reflected their past as well as highlighted the advancements that they have made in the medical field. They are known for their excellent burn unit and their physical therapy program. They also wanted to represent every unit in the hospital and the community that they serve.

Working with nurses, doctors, janitors and community we came up with the design that integrated all those elements. In the center of the mural is a phoenix holding the hospital in its wings that also are in the shape of a heart. This represents the burn unit and the Saint Francis Hospital rising from the ashes of the original hospital that burnt down in the 1906 earthquake. In each window is a different department of the hospital. (Physical therapy unit, Burn unit, OR, ER, research and the children's unit.

Surrounding the phoenix is a map of the area that the hospital is surrounded by. The St Francis is an important part of the city because is serves so many neighborhoods, Nob Hill, Chinatown, Tenderloin, and Downtown. They also have satellite clinics in Marin, Glide and the Giants Stadium.

In the far right is a scene of the past with nurses in older gowns and doctors. In the back of the figures is the original hospital that is shown burning down.

The left if the mural depicts their future and the people of the present and the future. The butterfly is flying forward and on its wings are the Hospital's five values, dignity, excellence, stewardship, collaboration and justice.

The man reading from an Ipad shows the technology and future.

  Location:  Canal Alliance Office. 91 Larkspur Street, San Rafael, CA 94901

  Description:  There is a lot of culture in our community, but have you ever stopped and taken a look at it? Students from Canal Alliance did and they wanted to show it in a mural. They all came up with this great idea that not only shows their culture, but their lives. This little place, the Canal, is full of Hispanics. This place also has small proportions of every four corners of the world. This is not just some random drawing. It has a story.

People from other home countries migrated to the United States. They started as thirteen colonies. They fought for their independence from Great Britain and became the United States. The West Coast was a part of Mexico. Mexicans were already here in the United States, even in the Canal neighborhood area. The United States wanted to get bigger and conquered the West Coast. During the years the United States became stronger and everyone in the world wanted to have a little piece of the American Dream.

This is where our mural comes from, a little place called the Canal. People from the North, South, and Central America have migrated to the United States. Coming to the U.S. is not easy because people suffer by not eating, walking for days, and jumping the border to have a better future with their families. In the mural the kids playing soccer have mascots representing the different schools they go to in San Rafael, California. The cactus represents people who have traveled through the desert coming to the Canal. There is a road that turns into fabric that symbolizes the four corners of the world.

Down at the bottom of the flower, there is a book that says, "I like to go to the Canal Alliance" and "Learning is an achievement in life." This is what the students respect and look up to. The flower has two sides, a positive side, which is shown by the live leaves and a negative side, which is shown by the dead leaves. The leaves on the tree of the positive side have faces of our leaders. These leaders have changed our way of life. They have all given their lives for our better future. The leaders are Cesar Chavez, Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, Che Guevara, Pancho Villa and Rigoberta Menchu.

On the other side of the border there is an anti-gun meaning that we don't want any violence, only peace in the Canal. The heart symbolizes the lives that have passed away in the Canal and that won't be forgotten. We put our native plant, the Pickleweed in the mural because we are surrounded by weeds. We are surrounded by the most famous bridge in the world, the Golden Gate Bridge and we are also connected to the Richmond/San Rafael Bridge.

If you look up in the right hand corner of the mural you will see the earth that has a yin yang line in the middle that represents our earth's balance. Recycling is part of what we do at the Canal Alliance and what we are telling others to do to help our environment. We are still not there yet, but we are definitely going to get there in the future. The earth gives us the power and strength we need everyday.

The pyramid gives power to the earth which symbolizes the strength of our people and our ancient culture. You can see the roots of the pyramid in the lightning which are causing it to rise up.

In the central part of the mural there is the face of a beautiful woman. If you look into her right eye, you can see what the students want in their future- a diploma! In her left eye she cried because of stress and fear. Her face is made of many puzzle pieces of various colors of skin tones and races. She rises out of a sunflower that symbolizes hope for the future.

  Location:  Glide Community House, 434 Ellis Street, San Francisco, CA 94102

  Description:  Cecil Williams Glide Community House is located in the Tenderloin District of San Francisco and is a housing community for formerly homeless San Francisco Residents. The mural is located on a wall on the roof, which occupies a beautiful organic roof garden with fruit, herbs, flowers and vegetables for the CW House residents to enjoy. The mural measures approximately 5’ x 33’ and is situated on the wall starting at 8’ off the ground. The garden was a huge influence in the input that the residents gave for the mural. They submitted drawings and all of them were around the themes of garden, growth, healing and community. They has specific plants that they wanted illustrated and they wanted health and happiness to be represented by images of children. Moving left to right, the mural begins with vintage seed packets and on each says Hope, Strength, and Love. The seeds falling from the Love packet are hearts and are being planted in “Faith” in the dirt. Small sprouts begin to grow, strawberry plants move from flowering youth to abundant with fruit. Corn, representing community strength, shows from sprout to harvest. In the background is an urban cityscape of buildings and some of these buildings are turning into bean stocks growing up into the sky. This illustrates their desire to see gardens on every roof to manifest a healthy city. The vibrant blue sky and sunrise is only shadowed by one rain cloud, needed for the health of the planet. In the center of the sun is The Glide Church and CW Community House and across the top is the word community. On either side of the sun is a monarch butterfly and a goose, both images of hope chosen by the residents. Sunflowers, roses, grapes, tomatoes, pumpkins, eggplant, poppies, basil, echinacia, and an apples tree are the other plants of abundance, happiness and health that were chosen. The grapes sit directly above a trellis where grapes are already growing. Also included in this landscape is a hummingbird and four children representing the various ethnicities of the residents. The children were illustrated to be vibrant and healthy and are situated to appear to be jumping off the mural and down into the garden. The mural communicates a vibrant healthy community life and hope and healing for all.

  Location:  Revere and Selby Streets at Bayview Neighborhood, San Francisco, CA

  Description:   "What's Going On" is the title and theme of the Bay View neighborhood community mural. Marvin Gaye's song is the inspiration. His song spoke about a different era but the message is still relevant today.

Bayview has rich history and has gone through several transformations over the years. The mural depicts these changes chronologically from the right to the left. The images reflect history and our future aspirations. Beginning on the right side we see images of a not too distant past. The stream depicted is the Islais Creek, as it would have looked like before it was buried under the city. The grazing horses are remembered by several of the senior residents in the neighborhood. In the center of the mural we see a movement towards our present day landscape. The automobile replaces the horse and the natural landscape is being carves up to build roads and urban dwellings. As the scene progresses we see Bayview as it is today. Multicultural symbols have been places on buildings to display the diversity that is found in the neighborhood. Ultimately the urban setting blends back into the natural environment. The mural ends in a cluster of Redwood trees showing the cyclical nature of life.

Two key components of our mural are the Sun and the contemplative young man. The sun is the Hunab Ku or Galactic Butterfly, a Mayan yin/ yang symbol. This is the sun that shines on the mural symbolizing balance between nature and our urban city. One way that we can help manifest this balance is through community gardening as illustrated. The young man is a Revere Street resident who assisted in the mural process. He represents the youth, questioning and reflecting on "what's going on" in their community.

Our hope is that people receive this beautiful imagery and consciousness. Furthermore that we all become motivated to build a balanced community in the Bay View/ Hunters Point neighborhood.

  Location: Potrero Ave between 22nd and 23rd streets, San Francisco, CA 

  Description:   Description of Mural

  Location:  Cesar Chavez & Mission Streets. San Francisco, CA 94110

  Description:  

"Mission Celebration | Celebraciones de la mission" is a mural that honors Cesar Chavez, founder of the United Farm Workers Union, and celebrates all the things we love the most about our beautiful Mission District. At the top, center, is a smiling milagro of the sun, on a bright, beautiful Mission day. The sky is full of light refracting into all the colors of the rainbow, shining over a huge Mission celebration.

We also honor our neighborhood's history in this mural: at the far left is the old Mission Dolores, as it looked 200 years ago, and at the lower left we see the "precita" or little dam, from which Precita Park, Precita Avenue, Precita Valley, and the Precita Eyes Muralists all get their names. From the door of the old Mission, we see Ohlone people, the original inhabitants of the neighborhood, walking through the palm trees toward the central celebration. They join bicyclists, a low rider, and costumed figures celebrating Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) and Carnaval (Mardi Gras), as well as everyday people and workers from the community. One celebrant, with a painted face, holds a poster of Cesar Chavez.

From the right side of the mural, we see a monumental portrait of Cesar Chavez, community leader and organizer, and behind him the fertile farms of California with farm workers laboring in the fields. "El Volado" (the Mexican Bus) makes its way toward the central celebration, right behind a diverse group of marchers playing drums and demonstrating their solidarity with farm workers, in support of Cesar Chavez. A "paletero" is there too, with a cart full of popsicles (paletas), and musicians [one of the musicians is Berta's father, including some Mission District mariachis. Above the mariachis, hanging on a ladder, wall dancers perform acrobatics.

The Victorian building at the center of the mural is a depiction of the building that once stood at this intersection, where the mural is painted. In front of the building Aztec dancers greet the four directions and perform a dance of blessing for the community.

The decorated frame that surrounds the mural features milagros, both traditional and innovative. Milagros are small devotional offerings that are used in prayer, and they represent the substance of our prayers. Some of the traditional milagros that we've included show hearts, hands, feet, the sun, the moon; we also include milagros of non-traditional shapes: our artists' palettes, a paintbrush, a shooting star, a spray can, and even a taco.

  Location:  Interior wall, 1814 Gaynor Ave, Richmond, CA

  Description:  The mural from left to right is composed of a “Community in Harmony”, gardens, playground, and green living spaces with solar panels. In the center is the “Tree of Knowledge” (a symbol of the Alice Griffith Opportunity Center) above the earth with a peace symbol going through and around it with children playing. Below are the roots of the tree and water creating a pair of hands caring for the earth and preserving nature. From the bottom is a parent helping a youth go up the ladder to becoming a peacemaker. In the background is a time machine representing our time here on the planet. Bridges are formed over the waters of the arms so children can be encouraged to become peacekeepers with phrases of hope such as “Don’t Take Life for Granted” and “Keep It Respectful”. On the right hand side is a maze of life to find your own path. A young girl is carrying a balloon that reads, “Stay in School”. A young girl’s face appears in the sky who is remembered and whose spirit is like the butterfly in front of her. The bench of Double Rock (Alice Griffith Housing Development) and the vast SF Bay in the background receives the light and hope for this community.

  Location:  Exterior wall, 191 Golden Gate Avenue (at Leavenworth Street) San Francisco, CA 94102

  Description:  Funded by the City And County of San Francisco Community Challenge Grant Program & San Francisco Clean City Coalition. “The Gift You Take is Equal to the Gift You Make” celebrates the gifts that the community brings and receives in the Tenderloin (TL) neighborhood including diversity, varied backgrounds, and rich cultural heritages and experiences. The “SS” New Tenderloin breaches the turbulent ocean and arrives from distant lands, bringing the various people who make the neighborhood their home. As the children leave the ship, they join others, and grab the rope (a common TL practice) to traverse the streets. They head for “ National Family Night Out” a scene of fun, art and entertainment for all. As they cross the space, they approach neighborhood landmarks such as the Hibernia Bank, and the Cadillac Hotel with its portrait of community leaders, Kathy and Leroy Looper. At National Family Night Out in the TL, children’s art is everywhere, and its spirit carries over to the classroom. In the school room our heroes, the teachers encourage and guide children of all ethnicities. In the background, the roses signify the color and added life that will come by adding more gardens and greenery to the neighborhood. The Black Hawk Jazz Club is a tribute to the past and the musicians are a nod to the current efforts to revitalize the music and art in the neighborhood. The mural also honors the gifts that the community receives, and shows the residents, workers and activists breaking the chains of containment to demonstate for the needs of the neighborhood. In this Tenderloin, there are health services, affordable housing (such as Essex Hotel), work opportunities, a clean and safe environment, interactions among neighbors, services offered to all, and “Community not Containment”. All of these gifts become available as the sun shines in the TL.

  Location:  Interior wall, 345 Spear St, San Francisco, CA

  Description:  The mural consists of three major aspects based on the ideas of several members of the Google staff. The first being education, we’ve places a child on the far right, educating herself on different places to visit in San Francisco. The child gets information by typing “San Francisco” in the search box of Google’s homepage. She first sees the city and all the hills. Her search leads her to five different locations, The Castro, Vermont Street, The mission, Glen Park Canyon, and the Alemany Farmer’s Market. These destinations were chosen to enlighten the child and viewers on slightly less popular “treasures” found in San Francisco. The second aspect is the Community in and around these areas. Many of the Google staff ride their bicycles to and from work so we included a variety of riders and on their bicycles. On the far left, two businessmen walk past a homeless man who stands on a crumbling wall. Behind the brick wall is the traffic congestion that is common to city dwellers and commuters. Above the businessmen, many gather at the Alemany Farmers Market and to the right of them a woman walks her dog along the beach. The Person closest to the center if the mural is a farmer. This brings us to our third aspect, which is the environment. Many of the staff believes that Google is like a cloud. The Cloud we’ve included is filled with 1s and 0s to represent the Google Staff. Emitting from the cloud are tubes, which weave in and out of locations and morph into vines that connect to tuber plants. The farmer is harvesting them to sell at the farmers market. The tube vines traveling throughout the city are a representation of Google’s connection to the city itself. It creates its own growth through these three aspects.

  Location:  24th Street, San Francisco, CA 94110

  Description:   This mural is on the original building that housed China Books and Periodicals, Inc for over 30 years. The imagery for the mural came from an old poster that used to be in the original store. It depicts Carp that are being released from a fisherman’s net.

  Location:  Exterior north facing wall at PGE Substation R on 19th Street between Mission and Valencia Streets. San Francisco, CA

  Description:  The "Gigantes" mural project can be read in three concepts; History, Community, and the Future. It features Hispanic players, two of whom are Hall of Famers. Historically, the Giants have been a significant landmark for San Francisco, the Bay Area, and the community of fans who surround them. For this reason the mural includes all four stadiums to represent the four stages of Giants history in placement of the bases on a baseball diamond that stretches from one end of the mural to the other.

Beginning from the left in New York's Polo Grounds, the mural shows a line of pitchers as follows: Juan Marchal, Gaylord Perry, and a pitcher from the Women's League who's been converted to a Giants player.

At the far right, framing the mural on the opposite side of "the pitch" is Giant hitter Orlando Cepeda. Will Clark hits the home run blast to the left of Cepeda in an earthquake shaken Candlestick Park at the" Battle of the Bay" in 1989.

Other Hall of Famers included in the mural from left to right are: Willie Mays, "The Catch" (in New York), JT Snow (showing some fan appreciation), Barry Bonds (hitting the 756), Willie McCovey and the Alou brothers. The team mascot is Lucille the Seal representing the days when the Giants played in Seal Stadium. Lucille is dressed in a serape and sombrero, holding a maraca to celebrate the Hispanic flavor of the mural.

The Giants community is scattered throughout the mural from the fans to the different stadiums throughout history. Because the mural is being created in the Mission District and home to many Giants fans, the mural also features the Mission Reds, the minor league team from the Mission who played at the Seals Stadium in the 1920's and 30's. To the right, between Candlestick and Pac Bell Parks, the skyline of San Francisco embraces a few of the Mission District landmarks such as Mission Dolores, the New Mission Theater marquee and palm trees.

"Vamos Gigantes" (Go Giants) hovers above Seals Stadium and into the Mission, representing the saying, which Hispanic fans have come to use throughout the years.

The future of the Giants is celebrated by the fans, some of which are families and friends. A coach and Jr. Giants' teammates congratulate their team player with cheers as she hits a winning ball.

The "blast" home run ball hit by Clark is representative of baseball as the fabric of America which weaves into our culture. The ball begins at the hit and moves across the entire mural in a pattern unifying players, fans, the 756 ball, stadiums, and future Giants, morphing into the world and ending with Mays' famous catch.

"All of us are created equal, some of us grow up to be Giants" is also strewn across the unifying pattern above Willie Mays.