San Pablo Avenue
West Oakland, California
November 19th, 2013
"What should young people do with their lives today? Many things, obviously. But the most daring thing is to create stable communities in which terrible disease of loneliness can be cured."
~Kurt Vonnegut
This amazing mural, part of the, Oakland Superheroes Mural Project, so colorful, and certainly profound, can be found on an underpass of the 580 freeway, on San Pablo avenue, on the Oakland/Emeryville border. It was commissioned by the Attitudinal Healing Connection, Inc., whose mission is to build healthy communities, by breaking the cycle of violence by encouraging healthy communication through artistic expression. This mural in the series, was painted by several artists, one being Colin David Harris. You can read about his participation in the project by clicking the link below. It makes for inspiring reading!
It does my heart so much good to see art in neighborhoods that need a little extra love. It has long been my feeling that art can save a person, like no other coping mechanism. I know it has been a big part of my personal healing over the years. Well, communities are made up of individuals, and we can all use a way to express ourselves sometimes, when mere words fail us. Communities on a whole are not much different than the individual in that respect! Lives are saved, by taking one small inspiring step at a time. I applaud this project, and look forward to seeing more murals as they are added along San Pablo avenue.
The mural on it's own is amazing, but the other day while I was admiring it, I happened to see this chair sitting to the far left of it. To me, it brought the whole scene to another level. There was just something touching about that beautiful, lonely, lost chair, seeming out of place at first glance, but upon deeper reflection, is really right where it should be. An art piece unto itself! Someone designed that chair, someone bought it, and alas, someone discarded it. But the inner beauty lives on. It has character, you can see it in it's imperfection, in it's weariness. I don't know... it just fits the scene somehow. Some will look at it as an old piece of unwanted furniture, but when I look at it, I see a story, a life, a spirit...
Thoughts?
Feel free to tell me what you think. You are more than welcome to leave me your comments, in the thread for this post. I would like to know what your thoughts are on art being used to find common ground, and healing in communities.
Artist Interview: Colin David Harris (Oaktown Art)
Attitudinal Healing Connection
Oakland Superheroes Mural Project
Mood: Inspired
~Me :)
No comments:
Post a Comment