Every Mural Tells a Story

Over the last 20 years I have created over 40 exterior public art murals – painted, mosaic-tiled, and photographically reproduced on vinyl - in the San Francisco Bay Area cities of Oakland, Hayward, San Pablo, Milpitas, Palo Alto, Alameda, and San Ramon. These works are on public school sites, public buildings, community centers, park buildings and libraries, PG & E and CalTrans sites, as well as on the façades of various businesses and services, including two markets, one bar, one restaurant, one Martial Arts Studio, one Catholic Church, one Car Transmission Repair Shop, three affordable housing residences, one Buddhist Temple, and one Casino.

Common themes run through all of my work. I have been inspired by the folk art, music, and dance of many cultures of North and South America, Africa, and Asia; intentionally or not, these rhythms and spirits find their way into my imagery, whether the work is specifically representational or not, and in spite of the fact that oftentimes there are many other people involved in the process of creation.

Transformation of ordinary materials and environments is another theme crucial to my work, which might be constructed out of broken tile and salvaged mirrors, or pieced together collage-like drawings and paintings. The piecing together of disparate ideas, cultures, images, and physical materials provides a metaphor for rebuilding, reconfiguring, and reimagining previously unremarkable public spaces.

My work in the public sphere is also driven by the intention towards finding connections to culture, history, and particular inhabitants of specific spaces, so that disparate viewers may feel drawn in by the art presented in their communities. I am completely moved by the response of community members’ interest in the process of creating art, and by their willingness to engage with artists. I am energized by the realization that large numbers of people care deeply about art, when it impacts their neighborhoods, their spaces, their lives, and their own possibilities.