THE HEALING GARDEN 2023 MURALISTS
Thanks to the generous support of the community, we commissioned new murals for The Healing Garden!
The art wall at the center of the Healing Garden is a symbol of the diversity and creativity of our community. In May 2023, WEAD announced the second round of artist commissions for the wall. Artists were invited to submit proposals based on the theme “difference is the essence of humanity” (John Hume).
The new murals are installed! We'll be celebrating the new exhibit and the muralists on July 26 (5:30-7pm) at The Healing Garden (1435 Webster St.) alongside WABA's mixer event.
WABA and WEAD would like to thank the selection panel for hours of hard work deliberating between the many competitive applications: Jennifer Crane-Doyle, Marie Ortega, Ryan Lalonde and Yolanda Cotton Turner. And, a huge thank you to Rick Driemeyer, owner of Both Sides of the Door, for donating the mural boards and leading the team to rebuild the mural wall.
We are hugely grateful to the following artists for their contributions:
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Dadadoodles
Sun in Motion
Mila’s work is often formally characterized by bold, brightly tinted, highly saturated color schemes achieved through acrylic and aerosol paints. He flows between hard angular edges and soft blends to formulate a balance between rigidity and fluidity. Using a flamboyant urban contemporary style, his fragmented compositions create landscapes that have a strong visual impact and a personalized notion of queer aesthetics.
Follow @dadadoodles
dadadoodles.com -
Ginny Parsons
Tree of Differences
An intuitive painter, I use leftovers and common household ingredients. I grew up in Chico, watching the orchards disappear. Living in Alameda for 30 years, I run Ginny's Art Camp from my home/studio near Lincoln Park and show art at Rhythmix and Grey Loft Gallery.
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Beast Oakland
Torn
This mural depicts me stuck between my father's ranch and town in Mexico which he loved and where we came from and the Eastbay and Oakland that saw me grow up. I lost my father 01/24/23. Having being born in Mexico but raised in Oakland California, I am torn between both places which I love dearly. The buggy is my father's, which he used to move around in and tend to his land, his lemons, corn , etc. On the opposite side is my truck which I use to load up my gear to sell shirts at festivals.
Follow: @beastoakland
beastoakland.com -
Craig Wesley
I wanted to show these two seemingly contradictory points about humanity. How in one view we’re all the same and yet it truly is our differences that makes humanity so rich and special versus other beings on this planet. Therefore, my mural is an abbreviated Periodic Table of Elements as though each cell was drawn by a diverse group of modern and contemporary artists.
Creation Video Part 1
Creation Video Part 2
Creation Video Part 3Follow @craigwesleysf
annewesley.com
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Yim (Ivy) Wu
We are the Community
Cultural differences include race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion, and language, gender, age, and disability. The three ladies in "We are the community" represent the different races of the people in community. They look towards the aerial view above Lake of Merritt in Oakland, California where represents our community. I hope this mural brings out a message of the rich diversity of clutures that make up our community. People with different backgrounds and cultures look forward to building and developing our meaningful and massive community together.
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Joanna Ruckman
Culture Keepers: Hālau Makana
The mural, "Culture Keepers: Hālau Makana", illuminates a matrilineage of dancers including: Lillian Cid, Lani Cid-Iulio & Jade Makana Iulio, who run the Hālau Makana Polynesian Cultural Arts Center in Alameda, CA. These three generations of Kumu teach traditions, rhythms and stories from times far before their ancestors used written language to record their histories. Hālau Makana’s mission is “preserving the Hawaiian, Tahitian, and Maori cultures through dance, art and music, and to share these cultural art forms with anyone who has a desire to learn”.
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Island High led by Alexa Navidad / Heidi Guibord art teacher
You
This piece is called "You" because I wanted to show how people are still finding who they are as individuals. We are still learning and growing and I wanted to showcase that. We are all skeletons at our core. Interspersed within this piece are puzzle pieces that represent different flags of the LGBTQ+ community. This mural was co-created with various Island High community members intentionally so that the process allowed many different voices.
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Todd Russell Hallenbeck
Shoreline Dreams
Shoreline Dreams is inspired by the fishermen and women that come to the rock walls and jetties of Alameda seeking communion with the Bay and connection to one another. It is a celebration of the shoreline—a liminal space where the tides dictate the flow of fish and people. As an island community, we are surrounded by water. The Bay defines our landscape and is inextricably linked to the diversity of cultures along its shoreline. For the people drawn to this place, the wonders below and above the surface call to them. By casting their lines into the unknown together, they seek a shared dream.
WATCH THE CREATION OF THE MURALS
Thank You, Donors!
Andrew & Chantal Currid
Rachel Spence
Nick Winkworth
Kristi Budzinski
Lindsay Kemp Bruckstein
Mitzi Richardson
Lauren Davis
Sarah Neubauer
Ashley Rogers
Lois Butler
Alameda Arts
Colleen Connery
Kevin Johnson
Janice Mason
Karen Beckles
Tina Blaine
Brian J Kenny
Elaine Louie
Sandra Russell
Ann Moore
Kathy Weber
Lyndsay Newman
Jennye Garibaldi
Robert Paine
Alison Taggart-Barone & Larry Barone
Adam Gillitt
Amy Gerard
Raul Castro
Gene Kahane
Rachel Campos de Ivanov
And, a number of generous anonymous donors!