Muralist and mosaic artist Greta McLain has always liked big walls, so to her, it made sense that she would pursue an impactful medium of art, murals. In Minneapolis alone, she has created over 30 murals and also has murals in countries such Argentina, Mexico, and France.
”When I was a kid, I went to an International Fine Arts Magnet School so I was introduced to art through that. I did my first mural when I was in 4th grade and I just really remembered it and it influenced me a lot,” McLain said.
McLain’s work covers an array of themes that she feels captures the community that surrounds that wall. This includes themes of how to reconnect over an area of disconnect and neighborhood history.
“I convey in the majority of my work a celebration
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“When you hold a safe space for that vulnerability, people can make something that is so outside of their comfort zone where they allowed to go through all of their emotions and see what that can open up inside of them,” said McLain. “I think holding a space for people’s vulnerability allows me to continue to move in that space of my own vulnerability, exploring who I am. I can look at how big I’m allowed to be as a woman in the world who's doing art on the street.”
McLain works with both community organizers and schools to capture the essence of the place and people who live there.
“A mural is like a big billboard because anything on the street you're basically being sold. If we can make that into something that sells the idea that people here have value, then I have achieved what I wanted to convey,” said McLain. “I wanna buy that, I wanna buy the idea that people here have value, that we take care of this place, that we’re dreaming, and that we’re going someplace.” By the age of 18, McLain knew she either wanted to be a muralist or a
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Murals are an exposed medium of art that reaches everyone, whether they realize it or not, according to McLain.
“Ultimately the murals live in the community where the wall is and it's not just mine. The cool thing that we do is that we really are opening up the process for community making,” said McLain. “So we have all kinds of different indirect mural processes in which the actual communities who will be living, working, and playing around these murals can actually make the murals.”
According to McLain, the making of a mural is a long community process that involves communication with both community organizers and the community itself. In order for her to do her best work, McLain needs time to make connections and understand the people involved directly and indirectly.
An example of how her murals can connect and inspire others is seen in her mural “Sing a Song for Uptown” located among the stores of Uptown. The imagery of the piece primarily symbolizes the nature Uptown has to offer even as it is surrounded by
Art has often been employed as a tool to evoke emotions, inspire ideologies, and spread messages. Murals are one such form, possessing the propaganda-like ability of massive size and public placement to reach a wider audience with a more emphatic theme than other art mediums. In the early twentieth century, a muralism movement led by famous artists swept Mexico, acting as a window into revolutionary life and an instrument for social change. Through the juxtaposition of parallel murals, Diego Rivera highlights the stark lifestyle inequality gap between the capitalists and the campesinos still present during the era of Mexican Revolution in his 1928 pieces, “The Wall Street Banquet” and “Our Bread”.
The murals depicted what we have been talking in class since the beginning of the first week. They were just a graphic representation of the struggle of the Chicano Movement and the Chicana Feminism. The painting on the wall showed that the Chicano History was more that a simple fact it was alive and it is still alive. I think that all the painting there was an expression of what Moraga call re-membering. Even though, I am not part of the chicano community, throughout those painting, I feel like I was re-membering the struggle that they faced at this time. I understood where the story started from and where it is going.
Murals are the quintessential public art embodying the spirit of the community in which they are created. They say this is who we are, this is what we think, this is where we come from, and this is what we want, reflecting most clearly any changes in the sociopolitical environment. Murals lay out a powerful visual image of the ideology of their creators or sponsors, be it the Church during the Renaissance, government funded projects, or individuals expressing opposition. In Mexico, after the Mexican Revolution of 1917, the government commissioned a vast number of mural projects to transmit its revisionist history of the country, and celebrate the empowerment of the underclass in their recent victory. Predominate themes were cultural
The idea of the Chicano community muralism as a requirement for the “art of place” shows that the practice is specific to an area. Even though they are understood in the context of the history of a location, they rarely remain to be a still symbol of a certain moment or a place in the record of events from the past.
Public art conquers so much more than the simple task of making the street a little easier to look at. It involves those who created it, those who supplied the means to create it, and those whose lives it continues to impact. Wall paintings in particular take an important role in working for a greater good. Judith F. Baca, a Hispanic-American woman and artist- activist has contributed an unaccountable amount to the mural movement in Los Angeles. She has accomplished this by giving individuals the chance to create art and develop a sense of pride, she has taught younger generations a respect for their ethnic identity, and from the many walks of life that continue to view her
Mural art showed a great importance to Chicano communities by showcasing indigenous history or even romanticized beliefs.That gathered people together to focus on topics inside and outside their communities. Made young Chicanos and Chicanas focus on issues around them and let's their creativity, explore out for the best and not bad. To let people become more entwined in the cities and not create violence. For neighboring cities or visitors to see how strong and creative young and old muralists are in their art. One example is the “we are not a Minority” mural created by Mario Torero created due to the chicano right movements,located in east la, boyle heights area. Its importance was due to the fact cities were banning mural work and instead
Judith Francisca Baca was born on September 20, 1946 in Los Angeles, California to Valentino Marcel and Ortensia Baca. Her father, Valentino, was not in the picture, so she was raised by her mother, grandmother, and two aunts. Coming from a Spanish speaking family, Baca struggled in school, but maybe her struggling was a good thing. Due to her problems with speaking, Baca’s teacher made her sit at her desk and paint, which sparked her interest in art. She attended California State University at Northridge to obtain her bachelor’s degree. Then she went back to her high school, Bishop Alemany High School, to teach. That is where she got together “ethnically diverse” students and painted a mural. Her teaching job did not last long. Her next job was in Los Angeles in a traveling program for artists to teach at different schools. But one even that sparked her art life was exploring the Mexican muralist tradition. She was inspired by different books she read about them and traveled to Mexico to take classes in mural techniques and materials. When she returned to Los Angeles, she began her Citywide Project. She supervised and
At the Detroit Institute of Arts, Mexican artist Diego Rivera murals are displayed all over the walls. His brilliance and talent is captured on the east wall of the gallery, where five separate photos hang for all eyes to view. The wall is filled with bright and beautiful photos sharing a unique special story. In the top left and right corner of the east wall, heavier women with big round eyes, sit in the nude with their arms filled with grain and fruits. While in the middle of the wall is a long rectangle painting of a small white baby nestled and cradled in the centre of a plant, being surrounded by two plowshares. Diego Rivera paintings represent beginnings and new life. In addition the sunrise shines on the east wall to help show his
The use of murals as a tool of political resistance is a long Mexican tradition. “Imagine the park without murals,” said Tommie Camarillo, chairwoman of the Chicano Park Steering Committee, who has been volunteering at the park for 48
Scott Redford and Anne Zahalka use their artworks to comment, reflect and document cultural ideas and values of a place.
A mural is more than just a painting on the wall. Murals bring together a sense of community and make the city a more welcoming place. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the word mural means a painting or other work of art that is directly executed on to a wall. In many aspects, murals originated from graffiti, which comes from the Latin word graffio, meaning scratching or scribbling. Mural Arts programs are popping up in cities across the nation. However, I decided to focus on two cities that were closer to home for me. I focused my research on Newark and Asbury Park, New Jersey, in comparison to Philadelphia, PA. All of which, are cities that are not the nicest, but with the help of murals are becoming more welcoming places.
In Source #1, Philadelphia, known for its community murals, is a prime example of how government-funded public artwork can revolutionize places that are bare and motivate its citizens. The Mural Arts Program oversees all the murals in Philadelphia, with a budget that totals to around four and a half million dollars from government and private partnerships. Numerous buildings within Philadelphia have been embellished with beautiful murals, as the number of paintings done totals to a hundred and fifty annually. The murals in Philadelphia also serve as inspiration for many of its people, as the goal of the program is to “bring a sense of pride and the hope of better times” (Murals: Making a, 2011). People within the city look to the murals for
Instagram and Facebook is the most preferred platform for the local Street Art movement with multiple pages present including: Hobart Graffiti, IKOE Crew, Riot Crew, Tassie Graff, Launceston Graffiti, Northern Tasmania Graffiti and Tasmanian Rappers and Graffers. These pages are administrated by a combination of graffiti artists and members of the public with an interest in art accepting relevant photos from followers to increase the library of artworks. Across the globe in big cities and rural suburbs the graffiti movement has been influenced by social media to allow the sharing of artworks between artist and
Religion in public schools have always been a big debate as to whether or not to allow religion in schools. There are many factors that go into religion at schools. Although the practice of religion is not currently allowed in public schools, many schools have religious clubs and prayer gatherings to go against not being able to practice religion in schools.
Every day we interact with a variety of people in different situations. Understanding the dynamic of others can help us improve these interactions. We are all different in our own ways, yet at the same time were are all very similar. To be an effective leader, it is important to understand these similarities and differences. Chapter five of Exploring Leadership by Komives describes how differences need to be understood in order to create an inclusive and empowering leadership process.