News
May 6, 2022 from "If Walls Could Talk", by Max Blue
Art for All to Make and Enjoy
Muralism is “very accessible to people,” says San Francisco mural artist Susan Cervantes. “It’s a real people’s art, in a sense, since they’re the ones designing and planning and painting it, usually.”
Cervantes, who had painted in Balmy Alley, founded Precita Eyes Muralists in 1977. The art program based in the Mission encourages community involvement in the production of murals. The group has created about 700 murals at the local, national and international levels, often pairing artists with teams of local youth to produce community artworks. In San Francisco, these include the 1998 AIDS mural at Market and 16th streets, representing the LGBTQIA+ community, and the 2019 mosaic mural inside Chase Center, which is meant to unify the two sides of the Bay.
“When we get into true community process, it gets even more meaningful and empowering for everyone who’s involved in it,” Cervantes says.
read more…
Art for All to Make and Enjoy
Muralism is “very accessible to people,” says San Francisco mural artist Susan Cervantes. “It’s a real people’s art, in a sense, since they’re the ones designing and planning and painting it, usually.”
Cervantes, who had painted in Balmy Alley, founded Precita Eyes Muralists in 1977. The art program based in the Mission encourages community involvement in the production of murals. The group has created about 700 murals at the local, national and international levels, often pairing artists with teams of local youth to produce community artworks. In San Francisco, these include the 1998 AIDS mural at Market and 16th streets, representing the LGBTQIA+ community, and the 2019 mosaic mural inside Chase Center, which is meant to unify the two sides of the Bay.
“When we get into true community process, it gets even more meaningful and empowering for everyone who’s involved in it,” Cervantes says.
read more…
Discover SF's Vanishing Natural History in the Newest Laguna Honda Hospital Mural
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Designed and directed by Precita Eyes artists Elaine Chu and Yukako Ezoe, in collaboration with Laguna Honda Hospital patients and staff, the new mural invites us to re-envision the area's vibrant natural world and the lives of its original Ohlone Indian residents.
Located in front of the Forest Hill Muni stop, the panoramic work extends by 160 feet the 200-foot mural completed in 2016 for the hospital's 150th anniversary. The extension was selected and funded through the SF District 7 participatory grant process. |
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Mural-making with Kiry Luc, Ezra Stanley and lead artists Elaine Chu and Yuka Ezoe
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Clockwise from top left:
Volunteer artists give form to a Golden Eagle soaring over sand dunes; a Monarch butterfly feeds on milkweed; Humpback whales leap from SF Bay waters. More photos and mural details, here.
Volunteer artists give form to a Golden Eagle soaring over sand dunes; a Monarch butterfly feeds on milkweed; Humpback whales leap from SF Bay waters. More photos and mural details, here.
Susan Cervantes:
Forty years of seeing murals through Precita Eyes
Forty years ago, Susan Cervantes and her husband Luis founded Precita Eyes Muralists in San Francisco's Mission District. Since then, Cervantes and Precita Eyes have helped create more than 400 murals throughout the city and beyond. Listen here to Cervantes' interview with KALW's Crosscurrents to learn how it all came about.
Forty years of seeing murals through Precita Eyes
Forty years ago, Susan Cervantes and her husband Luis founded Precita Eyes Muralists in San Francisco's Mission District. Since then, Cervantes and Precita Eyes have helped create more than 400 murals throughout the city and beyond. Listen here to Cervantes' interview with KALW's Crosscurrents to learn how it all came about.
Shotwell and 24th Street
Once Upon a Time in the Mission
Precita Eyes Urban Youth Arts Program unveils its latest mural.
Once Upon a Time in the Mission
Precita Eyes Urban Youth Arts Program unveils its latest mural.
The mural is a response to the pain of gang violence that has saddened this corner. Precita worked with artists who grew up here to create this tribute to those who have passed on. Directed by Max Marttila and Fred Alvarado, with Ramiro Guillermo, Guillermo, George Crampton and Paul de Costa. Funded by a California Creative Communities grant from the California Arts Council.
Read more…
Read more…
New exhibition at the JCCSF looks at neighborhood identity through public art.
On exhibit through January 2018
at the JCCSF
Mission Murals: Art, Politics and Community Preservation
read more…
On exhibit through January 2018
at the JCCSF
Mission Murals: Art, Politics and Community Preservation
read more…
Having a blast celebrating our 40th anniversary gala!
Thanks to all who accompanied us. More photos here.
Thanks to all who accompanied us. More photos here.
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Precita Eyes founder/director Susan Cervantes receives SF's 2017 Latino Heritage Legacy Award
at City Hall on Monday Sept 26.
"For almost 40 years," the citations states, "Precita Eyes has been committed to enriching communities through collaborative murals that celebrate culture, unity, history, and nature. From affordable youth arts education programs to preserving and restoring the city's treasured public art relics, Precita Eyes is dedicated to using self-expression as a tool for positive social change."
In the photos, Susan with the award; with lifetime achievement winner Arturo Carillo; with Jennie Rodriguez of the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts (also a legacy category winner) and Supervisor Hillary Ronen; and with other prize winners.
at City Hall on Monday Sept 26.
"For almost 40 years," the citations states, "Precita Eyes has been committed to enriching communities through collaborative murals that celebrate culture, unity, history, and nature. From affordable youth arts education programs to preserving and restoring the city's treasured public art relics, Precita Eyes is dedicated to using self-expression as a tool for positive social change."
In the photos, Susan with the award; with lifetime achievement winner Arturo Carillo; with Jennie Rodriguez of the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts (also a legacy category winner) and Supervisor Hillary Ronen; and with other prize winners.
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A Prize for Precita Eyes!
On Sept 15, Precita Eyes Muralists was honored with the San Francisco Symphony's annual Ellen Magnin Newman Award for outstanding community service in arts education.
Precita founder/director Susan Cervantes accepted the plaque, which highlights its "commitment to bringing art into the daily lives of people through a process which allows them to celebrate their beauty, discover their creativity, and reflect their concerns, joys and triumphs in a unifying way."
The ceremony took place at the "All San Francisco" community concert that inaugurates the SF symphony season, and highlighted Precita's 40th anniversary this year, and its "Collaborative Art: Celebrating Creativity in the Community" gala on Sept. 30.
On Sept 15, Precita Eyes Muralists was honored with the San Francisco Symphony's annual Ellen Magnin Newman Award for outstanding community service in arts education.
Precita founder/director Susan Cervantes accepted the plaque, which highlights its "commitment to bringing art into the daily lives of people through a process which allows them to celebrate their beauty, discover their creativity, and reflect their concerns, joys and triumphs in a unifying way."
The ceremony took place at the "All San Francisco" community concert that inaugurates the SF symphony season, and highlighted Precita's 40th anniversary this year, and its "Collaborative Art: Celebrating Creativity in the Community" gala on Sept. 30.
Susan Cervantes displays the plaque.
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Cervantes with SFS award committee co-chairs Sarah Cohan and Erik Auerbach.
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Susan Cervantes with Ellen Magnin Newman
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ABC7 VIDEO: San Francisco muralists celebrating 40 years of brightening Mission District
This year marks a special anniversary for an organization that's brightened part of San Francisco while inspiring people to be artistic." (KGO-TV, July, 14, 2017)
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40 years ago Susan Cervantes and her husband Luis founded Precita Eyes Muralists in San Francisco's Mission District.
These days, it’s impossible to walk around the Mission without running into a mural. But that wasn’t always the case. Originally inspired by the Mujeres Muralistas, a pioneering women’s muralist collective based in the neighborhood, Cervantes and Precita Eyes have helped create more than 400 murals throughout the city and beyond. CERVANTES: It wasn't hard for me to imagine, or even to think big because I always painted very big. And what I liked about it was it was for the people. Precita Eyes holds its first-ever Street Art in Cinema Film Festival at the Grand Theater in San Francisco on Saturday, June 17th. You can also join Cervantes on a special anniversary mural history tour around the Mission on Saturday, June 17th and every third Saturday through September. Listen |
A mural in San Francisco's Mission neighborhood
SUSAN CERVANTES |
ABC7 VIDEO: San Francisco muralists celebrating 40 years of brightening Mission District
This year marks a special anniversary for an organization that's brightened part of San Francisco while inspiring people to be artistic." (KGO-TV, July, 14, 2017)
New Mural Celebrates Latinx Community
By Patrick Burgard, Huntington News correspondent
October 13, 2016
Walking down Forsyth Street, it’s hard to miss the Latino/a Student Cultural Center’s (LSCC) bright new exterior, which got a vibrant makeover this week in the form of a mural covering the building’s whole facade.
The LSCC unveiled the mural, titled “We Are All Streams Leading to the Same River,” at a special ceremony on Tuesday. The artwork is rich with luminous depictions of Latinx cultural images and symbols of unity such as an Incan person, a tree with a multicolored fist growing out of it, a couple dancing in traditional clothing and many Latin American flags spawning from the LSCC logo.
“In a global society, your social identity and your background are very important, but it doesn’t matter where we come from,” Lydia Vega, coordinator of student services for the LSCC, said. “We’re all one familia, one community, and we support each other. This is our hub.”
Members of the LSCC collaborated with renowned muralist Susan Cervantes and her foundation Precita Eyes, a community-based mural arts organization from San Francisco, to design the mural.
read more…
By Patrick Burgard, Huntington News correspondent
October 13, 2016
Walking down Forsyth Street, it’s hard to miss the Latino/a Student Cultural Center’s (LSCC) bright new exterior, which got a vibrant makeover this week in the form of a mural covering the building’s whole facade.
The LSCC unveiled the mural, titled “We Are All Streams Leading to the Same River,” at a special ceremony on Tuesday. The artwork is rich with luminous depictions of Latinx cultural images and symbols of unity such as an Incan person, a tree with a multicolored fist growing out of it, a couple dancing in traditional clothing and many Latin American flags spawning from the LSCC logo.
“In a global society, your social identity and your background are very important, but it doesn’t matter where we come from,” Lydia Vega, coordinator of student services for the LSCC, said. “We’re all one familia, one community, and we support each other. This is our hub.”
Members of the LSCC collaborated with renowned muralist Susan Cervantes and her foundation Precita Eyes, a community-based mural arts organization from San Francisco, to design the mural.
read more…
Photo by Lola M. Chavez
Neighbors Help Non-Profit Buy Precita Eyes Building
By Laura Wenus, Mission Local
March 17, 2016
The Mission Economic Development Agency has purchased a building on Precita Avenue, which houses the first location of the Precita Eyes Muralists as well as four rent-controlled tenants.
The $1.35 million deal will keep both tenants and muralists in place at affordable rents. Moreover, MEDA staff say they have developed a new funding mechanism – raising money from neighbors – to act faster in future acquisition.
“What MEDA does and what the Community Land Trust does is that they secure this property to remain as affordable for ever,” said resident Dennis Mackenzie, a high school teacher and proposal writer. “When I die, and I plan on living here until the day I die, it’ll be passed on to someone else in my type of income situation.”
read more…
By Laura Wenus, Mission Local
March 17, 2016
The Mission Economic Development Agency has purchased a building on Precita Avenue, which houses the first location of the Precita Eyes Muralists as well as four rent-controlled tenants.
The $1.35 million deal will keep both tenants and muralists in place at affordable rents. Moreover, MEDA staff say they have developed a new funding mechanism – raising money from neighbors – to act faster in future acquisition.
“What MEDA does and what the Community Land Trust does is that they secure this property to remain as affordable for ever,” said resident Dennis Mackenzie, a high school teacher and proposal writer. “When I die, and I plan on living here until the day I die, it’ll be passed on to someone else in my type of income situation.”
read more…