Renewing a First Voice
Eduardo Pineda || [ CURATORIAL STATEMENT ] use compass to view walls
Curatorial statement
This exhibition coincides with the current effort to restore The Ohlone Journey mural in Berkeley California. The Berkeley Civic Arts Commission awarded prominent Native American artist and activist Jean LaMarr (b. 1945, Paiute-Pit River) a public mural project, completed in fall 1995. This culminated more than a decade of effort to honor the indigenous peoples of San Francisco Bay. In 1981, the city redesigned open space into Ohlone Park. The grounds included a concrete structure at the corner of Milvia and Hearst Streets. The structure that vents a transit tunnel underneath was identified for a mural project. Initial proposals lead to contentious community debate but no public art. The extended process clarified that the neighborhood wanted an indigenous voice to contribute to the urban space. The Ohlone Journey is one of the first permanent Bay Area murals about Native Americans painted by a Native American artist. Twenty years earlier, in1976 Native American artist Robert Mendoza painted a temporary mural for the bicentennial exhibition at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. This exhibition noted the national resurgence of mural painting and burgeoning of community murals in the Bay Area. Chicano/a identity growing out of this period, embraced Native American roots including an indigenous perspective within a passionate vision that produced significant murals with indigenous themes. Since LaMarra's initial painting, Karuk artists Brian Tripp and Julian Lang expanded the public dialog to include Northern California indigenous voices. Tripp contributed a mural to the Clarion Alley Mural Project environment in 1997. In 2001 Lang collaborated with landscape design firm Hargreaves Associates to produce a language-based installation on freeway supports in San Jose, California. Most recently in 2006, The Capture of the Solid, The escape of the Soul was completed in Piedmont and in 2007, Mak Roote/Tracks was added in Berkeley. These two skillful East Bay murals interpret Ohlone experience from an outsider perspective underscoring the importance of LaMarra's contribution.
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This exhibition coincides with the current effort to restore The Ohlone Journey mural in Berkeley California. The Berkeley Civic Arts Commission awarded prominent Native American artist and activist Jean LaMarr (b. 1945, Paiute-Pit River) a public mural project, completed in fall 1995. This culminated more than a decade of effort to honor the indigenous peoples of San Francisco Bay. In 1981, the city redesigned open space into Ohlone Park. The grounds included a concrete structure at the corner of Milvia and Hearst Streets. The structure that vents a transit tunnel underneath was identified for a mural project. Initial proposals lead to contentious community debate but no public art. The extended process clarified that the neighborhood wanted an indigenous voice to contribute to the urban space. The Ohlone Journey is one of the first permanent Bay Area murals about Native Americans painted by a Native American artist. Twenty years earlier, in1976 Native American artist Robert Mendoza painted a temporary mural for the bicentennial exhibition at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. This exhibition noted the national resurgence of mural painting and burgeoning of community murals in the Bay Area. Chicano/a identity growing out of this period, embraced Native American roots including an indigenous perspective within a passionate vision that produced significant murals with indigenous themes. Since LaMarra's initial painting, Karuk artists Brian Tripp and Julian Lang expanded the public dialog to include Northern California indigenous voices. Tripp contributed a mural to the Clarion Alley Mural Project environment in 1997. In 2001 Lang collaborated with landscape design firm Hargreaves Associates to produce a language-based installation on freeway supports in San Jose, California. Most recently in 2006, The Capture of the Solid, The escape of the Soul was completed in Piedmont and in 2007, Mak Roote/Tracks was added in Berkeley. These two skillful East Bay murals interpret Ohlone experience from an outsider perspective underscoring the importance of LaMarra's contribution.
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