The Joy of Art in Our Community

           The Mural Project at the Oakland Catholic Worker

February 10, 2005.

DEAR CALIFORNIA ARTS COUNCIL,

On January 30, 2005, the community of the Oakland Catholic Worker in East Oakland came together to celebrate the inauguration of a mural painted in the front of its building located at 4848 International Blvd.

The Oakland Catholic Worker (OCW), for the ones who may not be acquaintance with it, is a shelter and sanctuary house that for more than two decades has been welcoming political refugees from Latin America. Most of the people I have met over the years are from El Salvador and Guatemala, two countries brutalized by civil wars, economic despair and hundred of thousands of people in obligatory exodus.

Most of the people of the California Arts Council, however, do know of the OCW. Lucero Arellano, Juan Carrillo, Wayne Cook, Josie Talamantez, and many dear friends, have accompanied and have funded me as an Artist in Residence in the Artists in Communities program of the CAC, to create art projects with political refugees and survivors of torture from Latin America.   I was able to conduct the projects for 12 years, between 1990 and 2002, until funding was unexpectedly, aborted.

Last January 30 we celebrated a dear and postponed project: the creation of a mural that would occupy the full façade of the edifice. An ambitious undertaking that could only happen thanks to a grant from the CAC.

The project was developed in the same way that we have created all other projects: communally. We spent several weeks with children, youth and adults, making preliminary drawings and making decisions based on what the community wanted on this public wall.

The figure of Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero appeared prominently. He is known in El Salvador as "The Voice of the Voiceless". He spoke for all of us about human dignity and denounced violations of human rights perpetrated against the civilian population, mostly campesinos . For speaking the truth, Monseñor Romero was murdered in 1980, leaving us all in sorrow and in remembrance of his commitment to Truth and Justice.

We wanted Monseñor Romero in our mural.

Monseñor Gerardi, from Guatemala, suffered the same tragic destiny as Monseñor Romero. We pay daily homage to him and he was a second beloved figure in our mural.

César Chavez was selected for his devoted struggle for workers' rights and Dorothy Day, for being the visionary creator of the Catholic Worker agency in the 30's.

A tree of life, colorful textiles, a sun and a moon.   A Quetzal, magic carrier of hope in Guatemalan traditions, and a Torogoz singing every morning in El Salvador, are two birds that crown the central characters of the mural. Fruits and crops, volcanoes and mountains, flowers and snakes cohabit the surface of this world we were creating.

In the lowest part of the mural there is a group of children painted by having traced the silhouettes of our beloved young artists. The children painted their own portrait within the contour of their small bodies.

One Sunday afternoon, while we were painting between the months of October and December 2004, I counted 40 people working together in this project. There were, of course, the community of the OCW, there were six young artists from the California College of the Arts who contributed greatly to the success of this community art event, and there were many people who we did not know. They were passers by, enchanted with the development of the mural.

They also wanted to paint.

And they did. Everyone was welcome to partake in the creative process.

The youngest artist in the group is Rocío, an adorable one and a half year old girl. The oldest is Don Carmelo, 62 years old, from Cabañas in El Salvador.   The range of artists was extraordinary.

I measure the success of this project in the way the community welcomed it. On that glorious January 30, beautiful and warm Sunday after a month of bitter rain, more than 200 people congregated and welcomed the mural with Catholic rituals, Holy Water, a Jesuit priest, a Mayan healer, a Sacerdote Maya, and his Holy Smoke of Copal.

It was a true celebration decorated with flowers, with food and with families saluting one another and sharing personal stories of their many hardships to arrive to this country, to this "home" of today.

We live tragic times. Difficult times. Thus, it is rare that one can say with no hesitation that " something " is entirely good.   We live tormented by the shadow of damages both physical as well as spiritual.

I declare, with candor, that this mural project at the OCW, the development of it, each instance of its creation, its partnership with the many members of the community, the outcome of a beautiful art piece, the celebration of art and the inclusion of so many participants in the creative process of the mural, all this has been good. Very, very, very good.

It has been nourishing.

It has been inspirational.

It has made all of us, participants, happy.

And, it has been cheap!

It is important to mention that all this "goodness" has been created with a total budget of $4,800 which included paints and all art materials for such a large scale mural, the preparation of the wall, tamales and horchata for everyone who worked in the project over the many weekends that we spent in East Oakland, video and photographic material for documentation, scaffolding and even my modest three months of salary.

It is hard for me to believe and even harder to accept the argument that the California Arts Council has been reduced in its budget 94%, determining by this fact that the kind of art in community project described above will be from now on infrequent, if not impossible.

I do not accept graciously the argument that the reason for this monumental cut is of "budgetary concerns".

It is not the budget what determines the cut. It is ideology.

It is an ideology based in the undermining of art as a contributor of our communities.

It is an ideology that misses a critical aspect of the role of art and culture, the powerful tool that art is to build and rebuild who we are as members of our society.

We need to envision a future that will grant us the praxis of community liaisons, the exercise of community leadership and the success of a better understanding amongst all of us, citizens of this state, this country and this world.

I believe with no hesitation that art and art practice can and does contribute to build communities, to educate peacefully and, simply and most importantly, to make people happy and hopeful.

As an artist, as an educator, as a benefited artist in residence who had been assisted by the CAC for more than a decade, I am presenting two friendly questions to the politicians who decide on the expenses of our state:

1) Do you really believe that the minuscule funding given to the arts will unbalance the economy of the state?

2) Will you please, help us artists in California, to continue painting murals, crate music, poetry, dance, theatre, in our communities this year????

Do let us know! We are eager to continue giving the best of ourselves through our art.

Thank you! California Arts Council for your generous support to so many artists over the years.

Thank you for making the community of Salvadoran and Guatemalan people living in East Oakland and myself so very happy with our new, beloved mural.

Abrazos a todos! Claudia Bernardi