SFMOMA Teen Mural Project in DeFremery Park Chapter 1 Posted on January 31, 2009 by ashap
‘Morning to all of you Saturday readers. I’m Aimee, the Education Associate for School and Youth Programs. I will be a regular contributor for the next few months, documenting SFMOMA’s 2009 Teen Mural Project. Today’s our first day! As the program moves along, I won’t be the only one you’ll be hearing from. Our teen participants will be blogging, posting photos, and making sure you know how much fun they’re having.
Here’s the run-down: SFMOMA has commissioned renowned artist Kerry James Marshall to create two murals for the museum’s Haas Atrium. The murals will live on the two walls previously occupied by the very colorful Sol Lewitt paintings that once hung on either side of the grand staircase. The murals will be on view from February 26, 2009, through the spring of 2010. For over thirty years, Kerry James Marshall has explored issues of racial identity, urban experience, and the Civil Rights movement in his work. These themes will also show up in the works he will create for SFMOMA.
Over the next five months, SFMOMA will be working with fifteen teens from three Oakland high schools in a program inspired by Kerry James Marshall’s Atrium commission. The students will be working with Precita Eyes, a San Francisco-based community mural organization, to design and produce a collaborative ‘response’ mural. The students’ mural will be the backdrop for the center stage at Town Park, a skate park and art center located in DeFremery Park in West Oakland. Students will meet and interview Kerry James Marshall as well as local artist Brett Cook to discuss artistic process, themes of history, race, social change, and the importance of community. Then, in May, SFMOMA will host a party at Town Park (complete with DJs, MCs, local artists, and members of the Oakland community) to celebrate the unveiling of the students’ mural. Artwork produced during the planning and design process will be exhibited in the Koret Visitor Education Center at SFMOMA.
Now that you have a general idea of what we’re about to embark on…I leave you with this BEFORE shot of Town Park. We’re building a wall above the skate ramps, which is where the mural will be. Check back here on Saturdays for pictures and updates on what we’re doing. And, come May…a picture of Town Park AFTER.
