The art department of GCSU invited Judy Baca to hold a day-long workshop for Advanced Painting Students on March 5, 2009 to learn the techniques, practice and theory that she has cultivated over her 30+ years as an artist and teaches her UCLA class, Beyond the Mexican Mural. Though it would be impossible for a one-day workshop to cover as much material as a full ten- to twenty-week course, Baca’s workshops are in depth and rigorous. In only 5 hours, she was able to turn twenty individual art students into one mural team moving from “Affinity Groups” to sketches to full composition and finally blue-line on the wall. Their professors will see them through paint application.
1. Judy Baca introduces herself and her mural process which follows the theory of Paolo Freire in which content is derived from the overlapping stories of participants.
2. Students are given ten index cards each. They are asked to write on each card a life-defining epiphany and what they learned from the experience, then place the cards on the wall.
3. Students organize cards based on subject matter and create categories (i.e. substance abuse, advice from elders, love, communication, creativity.)
4. Once all the cards are categorized, students are instructed to stand in front of the category with which they most identify, creating “Affinity Groups.”
5. Affinity Groups break off the conceptualize their subjects. Each group will have 2-4 students who will begin by discussing the topic. Often times, each member will produce their own individual sketch but each group will ultimately complete one collaborative drawing.
6. As groups complete their drawings, Judy begins to determine composition and assigns each group to a portion of the gridded wall.
7. Students transfer their drawings onto the wall with charcoal following both their grids and the musical ratio of space division that Judy determines using the Punto system of David A. Siqueiros
8. Once charcoal drawings are complete, outlines are painted on with diluted aquamarine paint.
To complete a mural from start to finish requires a minimum of a two- to three-day workshop. In only one 5-hour day, Judy was able to orchestrate the conceptualization and drawing of a mural that will be colorized by the painting students over the rest of their semester with instruction from Professor Valerie Aranda (far right).
Stay tuned for updates as the students finish their work in Georgia . . .
Students of the GCSU Mural Workshop (at the end of a very long and productive day with Judy Baca). March 5, 2009.
Progress is made: The students continue to lay in blue-line for outlines and underpainting (images sent in by GCSU professors).
Students paint over the blue-line with acrylic paint
About Imagining America
Imagining America is a national consortium of colleges and universities
committed to public scholarship in the arts, humanities, and design.
Public scholarship joins serious intellectual endeavor with a
commitment to public practice and public consequence. It includes:
•Scholarly and creative work jointly planned and carried out by university and community partners;
•Intellectual work that produces a public good;
•Artistic, critical, and historical work that contributes to public debates;
Efforts to expand the place of public scholarship in higher education itself,
including the development of new programs and research on the successes
of such efforts.
Imagining America (IA) recognizes the reciprocal
benefits of community-based scholarship and practice. Communities
benefit from the engagement of faculty and students whose research and
participation support their efforts.
Annual conferences are crucial to the work that Imagining
America does. These events allow public scholars in the cultural
disciplines to form a network, to share best practices, to visit
project sites, and to gain inspiration and motivation for their work.
The conferences take place in a workshop format.
These conferences are also the site where the network outside IA’s consortium comes to gather and work.
Judy Baca’s Keynote Address
On Friday, October 3rd 2008 Judy Baca delivered the Imagining America Keynote Address, entitled “La Memoria de Nuestra Tierra: Creating Sites of Public Memory.” In it she discussed her legacy; the half-mile Great Wall of Los Angeles, “the tattoo on the scar where the river once ran,” as well as SPARC’s additional plethora of projects both past and future. The video of her address is available below.
Questions and Answers from the Conference:
Finding musical common ground
BY ADAM POCKROSS
What’s in a name?
In the case of Planet Siqueiros Pe“a — an evening of socially conscious traditional world music, contemporary musical styles and spoken word at the Social and Public Art Resource Center (SPARC) in Venice — a name tells a whole lot.
Planet Siqueiros Pe“a is itself the derivative of two other names: the revolutionary Mexican muralist David Alfaro Siqueiros combined with traditional South American musical venues called “Pe“as.”
“The Pe“a phenomena emerged during the 1950s in South America, especially Chile and Argentina,” says Marta Ramirez, one of the founders of the evening and a former student of Siqueiros. “These popular gatherings of rural folk musicians would come together in mountain villages playing their traditional rhythms and singing about their everyday life.
“Later, in times of repressive governments, poets and artists were not allowed to assemble. The Pe“as moved into private homes where musicians discreetly shared with family and friends, their food and wine, interweaving their songs of despair and hope for change.”
It is in that spirit, and the spirit of Siqueiros himself, that Planet Siqueiros Pe“a began.
“David Alfaro Siqueiros’s commitment to change through monumental art inspired many young Chicanas and Chicanos of the 1970s,” continues Ramirez. “In the traditional downtown Placita Olvera, one of Siqueiros’s murals, America Tropical re-appeared under the whitewash that censored the mural, painted in 1930. It was like an apparition that symbolized for many muralists, the renaissance of art for social change.”
One of these young muralists was Judith F. Baca, who co-founded SPARC in 1976 and is now its artistic director. In the center’s “Backspace,” Baca directs a creative digital mural lab where she oversees the UCLA/ SPARC Cesar Chavez Digital Mural Lab community partnership, which she also founded.
The lab serves as an inspirational backdrop to the Planet Siqueiros Pe“a, which kicks off its second season from 7:30 to 10 p.m. Saturday, January 24th, at SPARC, 685 Venice Blvd.
The opening act calls itself, appropriately, the Santa Monica College Guitar Ensemble. Louise Quevedo, who has been going to Pe“as since she was a teenager, helped organize the trio of students from the Music Department.
“It’s interesting because Edgar [Zaragoza] has a classical background, and then on the other hand we have Javier [Kistte], whose background is flamenco,” says Quevedo. “And then myself, I have a background with Latin American folk styles. Together, we’re learning to speak to each other in our different genres, through our instruments. We’re learning the strengths of all the different styles. They’re all beautiful but have different flavors. We’re trying to find common ground musically.”
Sounds like an emerging theme, no?
The headliners of the evening are The Lefteous Sisters, featuring Angi Neff, Ann Polhemus, Ericka Verba and Lisa Hornung, four friends who sing songs with meaning.
“The style of music that we enjoy singing and playing comes out of the folk tradition of purposeful songs that tell great stories, take us out of ourselves for a moment, ask questions of conscience and, hopefully, sound beautiful,” says Angi Neff.
For the Planet Siqueiros Pe“a, the Sisters have come up with a special set list.
“We’ve come up with a set list of original and traditional songs (sung mostly in English) that not only reflect our current challenges as a people, but also revisit challenges and struggles of the past,” says Neff. “We hope that the word ‘folk’ doesn’t scare anyone away as it is a time-honored style that continues to tug at music lovers’ hearts, generation after generation.”
But when pressed as to why their music is inspirational, Neff deflects.
“I think the question is ‘How has SPARC been inspirational to our music?'” she says. “This is a wonderful venue, created by lovers of rich, diverse cultures, and we have been inspired to come up with songs that beg to be sung in an art space and environment committed to social justice and human rights.”
It sounds like an evening that is true to its name.
Information, (310) 822-9560, www.sparcmurals.org/.
Taken from ABC 7 website:
THE GREAT WALL OF L.A.
The Great Wall of Los Angeles is a cultural landmark and the longest mural in the world at 2,754 feet long. It is located in the San Fernando Valley, north of the Ventura Freeway, between the 405 and 170. It was produced under the direction of Professor Judith F Baca and is currently being restored by the Social Public Art and Resource Center. Plans include the expansion of the Great Wall of Los Angeles to add new decades of history to the giant narrative work. UCLA students of the Beyond the Mexican Mural course taught by Professor Baca and the Digital Mural Lab have been researching and designing new segments for the mural which will extend into the 6o’s 70’s, 80’s and 90’s of California History.
The mural, located in the Tujunga Wash Flood Control Channel, was begun in 1974 and was continued, decade-by-decade, over five summers. It brought together 400 youth and their families as well as artists, oral historians, ethnologists, scholars, and hundreds of community members from the many, diverse enclaves of Los Angeles. At half a mile long, it is one of the country’s largest monuments to inter-racial harmony and a landmark pictorial representation of the history of ethnic peoples of California from prehistoric times to the 1950’s.
This summer, alumni of the Great Wall youth teams (now parents with children the age they were when they first participated) will come together once again to lead the next generation in its restoration and continuation of the historical narrative, which highlights the contributions made by immigrants to the building of our country and state. The California Cultural and Historical Endowment has designated 1.2 million dollars for the Great Wall of Los Angeles’ restoration efforts. SPARC and Professor Baca are also collaborating with wHY Architecture to build a new, green, interpretive bridge over the Wall designed as an artist and architect collaboration. This green bridge is built, in part, from the debris and detritus of the LA River and will reconnect east to west, school to neighborhood. It both memorializes and reestablishes the relationship between the history of the Los Angeles River and the history of the people of Los Angeles.
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CESAR E. CHAVEZ MONUMENT
The Arch of Dignity, Equality, and Justice
By Judith F. Baca
“It is not Cesar’s personality that is to be remembered,
but his ideals and beliefs”
A Pathway Towards Change
Cesar Chavez’s greatest achievement was his life itself, in which his
deepest beliefs were carried out daily through his actions to improve
the conditions of the campesino. This inspired hundreds and thousands
of people to join his efforts to achieve social justice, and created
actual change where many believed it impossible. This monument serves
as a sacred reminder to subsequent generations of the importance of
living a life at the center of one’s values and beliefs, as did Cesar
Chavez.
The Arch and Eagle
Modeled on a Mayan corbelled arch combined with mission colonial
arches, this site pays tribute to Chavez’s respective Spanish and
indigenous roots while referencing the conquest. The plaza is treated
with colors derived from the Pre-Hispanic Codices, while the arch is
finished with a pearlescent white to create a sensibility of reflective
light within the architecture. Reflective light is also an important
aspect of the United Farm Workers (UFW) eagle on the face of the
monument. Originally designed by Richard Chavez for the UFW’s flag as a
symbol to unite the people, the stacked glass eagle is composed of a
reversed pyramid and provides the central element of the “triumphant
arch.” The arch faces east to west receiving the daily movement of the
sun through the passageway representing a rite of passage from worker
to activist.
The Mosaic Pathway
Around the arch is a circular mosaic path representing the many
pilgrimages taken by thousands of people during the marches. Four
granite stones replicate this circle with important quotes from Chavez
beginning with hope –“Soon the grapes will be sweet once again,” to
education and then action –“There is no such thing as defeat in
non-violence.”
The Images
In the interior of the arch, the central mural depicts a contemplative
Chavez as a farm worker leader and organizer looking over the
California fields where the historic grape strike took place, with the
farm workers represented metaphorically as twisted vines. Above in a
cloud, Chavez is joined by Robert F. Kennedy as he breaks a 25-day fast
accompanied by his wife Helen and his mother Juana. The image
highlights fasting as a cornerstone to his philosophy of non-violence.
La Virgen de Guadalupe, the indigenous patron saint of Mexico and the
revered symbol of the farm workers, blesses the struggle with roses.
Lurking in the sky, a calaca (skeleton) represents the ever present
need for vigilance, to ensure decent conditions for the workers and
reminds us that the struggle is not over in the fields.
In keeping with his humility, the exterior of the arch depicts not
Chavez, but two campesinos bent over in the fields of California. One
of Chavez’s most important achievements was the abolishment of the
short hoe, which was responsible for many injuries to workers. The hoe
is featured in gold to commemorate this fact.
The opposite side of the arch includes two important personages to the
movement: Dolores Huerta, co-founder of the United Farm Workers and
Chavez’s partner in the movement’s endeavors, with one hand evoking her
powers to persuade growers to amend the unjust treatment of the farm
workers, and with the other hand representing the power of non-violent
actions through marches and boycotts. Mahatma Gandhi is also depicted
in the fields to honor him as Chavez’s inspiration for the real
possibility of social change through non-violence and spiritual
practice.
Around the monument, Venetian tile patterns represent the pilgrimage as
a major movement strategy for the field workers, as well as the many
marches taken by the UFW interwoven with grape vines.
It is my hope that this arch will offer an introspective and meditative
space for viewers to receive its message. May all those passing through
it experience the passage from hope and inspiration, to education, and
finally, to action for social and environmental justice.
Judith F. Baca
Artist and Designer
Cesar E Chavez Monument
© 2008
Thursday, June 24, 9:15 am – 10:15 am
The Public Art Network is pleased to recognize Judy Baca, founder and artistic director of SPARC: Social & Public Art Resource Center, as the recipient of the 2010 Public Art Network Award. After accepting her award, Ms. Baca will also make a keynote presentation.
Building a Vibrant Future for the Arts!
Judy Baca is a native Angeleno, a visual artist, arts activist, community leader, and educator. Baca is best known for her large-scale public organizing murals. Her art involves extensive community dialogues and participation. Baca founded the first City of Los Angeles mural program in 1974. In 1976, she founded the Social and Public Art Resource Center (SPARC) in Venice, CA. SPARC is a socially relevant, activist minded and spirited organization, and at the heart of what it believes is that art is a tool for social change and self-transformation. Baca’s true signature piece is The Great Wall of Los Angeles.
As a site of public memory, the Great Wall is one of Los Angeles’ true cultural landmarks and one of the country’s most respected and largest monuments to interracial harmony produced with the participation with more than 400 inner-city youth, 40 ethnic historians, and hundred of community residents.
Baca and SPARC continue to work on The World Wall: A Vision of The Future Without Fear, which consists of 8 10 ft. x 30 ft. portable mural panels on canvas. This 240 ft. mural addresses contemporary issues of global importance: war, peace, cooperation, interdependence, and spiritual growth. As The World Wall tours the world, eight additional panels by artists from eight countries are added to complete this visual tribute to the “Global Village-An Arena for Dialogue.” To date, Finland, Russia, Palestine/Israel, and Mexico panels have been added; Canada is currently being worked on.
To advance the field of muralism, in 1996 Baca created the UCLA/SPARC Cesar Chavez Digital/Mural Lab, a research, teaching, and production facility based at SPARC. She serves
as a full professor in the UCLA Chicano/a Studies Department and World Arts and Cultures Department. She is currently working on the Cesar Chavez Memorial at San Jose State University; the Robert F. Kennedy monument at the Old Ambassador Hotel site, which will become the RFK Learning Center for K-12; the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial in San Diego; and a digital painted mural for the Richmond Arts Center.