Ritz
Hotel Mural Artist: Darryl Man MOCD funding 1997
services
Referral
of Community and Public Agencies to Muralist; Assistance on Costs, Design,
Materials; City Approvals; Consultation on Location and Funding for
Murals.
Development
of Standards for Murals; Access to Regulations; Slide Presentations;
Educational Services; Slide Registry of Muralists
Publication
of Mural Maps and Materials; Low-cost Workshop Space for Muralists;
Fiscal and Administrative Assistance for Agencies
San Francisco's Mural Resource Center is the catalyst for public mural
painting in city celebrated for over 500 murals. From the traditions of
Diego Rivera and the WPA, through the community activism of the 1970's,
San Francisco has developed as a world center for the creation of murals.
Visitors are drawn to the variety and exuberance of these walls, reflecting
the cultures of Asia, Africa, the Americas, Europe, and the Pacific.
The Mural Artists of San Francisco are unique. They have painted in the
midst of war in the Middle East, traveled to the USSR for mural exchanges,
witnessed at the Earth Summit in Brazil, painted in the barricades of
Nicaragua, and, of course replenished their inspiration with workshops
in Mexico, where the modern mural movement was born.
In
San Francisco, they can be found on scaffolds four stories above the street,
or painting as traffic surrounds them. They work in hospitals and high-rises,
in schools, parks, alleys, and they often provide the only link to the
dispossesses, the disabled, at-risk youth, or the poor. They reach out
to the public in their communities, including them in the design, approvals
process, and painting of the murals. Sometimes in a city this diverse,
a mural is the only lasting record of such cooperation. The muralists
go on to other projects, but the mural wall remains, visible and alive
for the community.
In 1995, the Mural Resource Center will celebrate 20 years of sponsoring
such projects, guiding them through city agencies, coordinating all the
necessary permits, consulting and advocating for murals and muralists.
The Mural Resource Center is a program of somArts, the South of Market
Cultural Center, and a part of the Community Arts and Education Program
of the San Francisco Art Commission. It is funded by the Mayor's Office
of Community Development. The Hotel Tax Fund (Grants for the Arts), and
receives support from the Neighborhood Beatification Fund and the California
Arts Council.
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