Art About Town: Oakland "Oakland Super Heroes" (A Mural Project)

"Oakland Super Heroes"
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 :)

Not The Hotel California, The California Hotel

"Somebody once said we never know what is enough until we know whats more than enough."

~Billie Holiday

2013 has brought me some renewed interest in checking out places of historic interest around the Bay Area. I haven't been able to get out and about as much as I have wanted to the last couple weeks, but with the ant invasion fully solved, I now have some free time to put together at least a loose itinerary of places to visit. I enjoy old buildings and historic properties. I like imagining the ghosts that might still roam the grounds. Ghosts aren't always scary, sometimes they are quite charming and helpful. Sometimes they merely encourage one to venture out beyond one's own limits. That is a very good thing, when one is a shutterbug. When I hosted the Monday Photo Shoot, I always tried to encourage participants to go beyond the obvious. I tried to ask my friends to think of every possible angle and interpretation.

I did that to challenge my thinking as well, but I took almost a year off from regular photography and I find that now I need that extra bit of challenge that comes from giving myself structured assignments, rather than simply grabbing the camera, heading out, and hopefully finding something visually interesting. Not that there is anything wrong about that approach, in fact, sometimes when I assign a subject to myself, I find wonderful things along the way. I have to admit that the picture above was done last evening in one of those "on the fly" photo jaunts. The California Hotel always catches my eye when I past it, because of the song "Hotel California" by the Eagles. I love that song, and while this hotel isn't the real Hotel California, I always found the name somewhat amusing.

After doing a bit of research, however, I found out that the California Hotel actually has it's own unique musical past. At one time this was a hot spot for celebrities and Blues and Jazz enthusiasts. Built in the 1920's it was one of a few hotels in the Bay Area that allowed African Americans to stay, and featured many African American performers. Billie Holiday once sang in the lobby of the hotel, as well as headliners Fats Domino and in later decades, Ike and Tina Turner played there. I wish I had a better photo to show you, unfortunately I was losing the light fast, but no worries, I will be back soon. It is a grand place that has gone through many changes, especially in recent years. It went through major renovations in 2011, and was converted to lower income apartments. It lives on in the community that embraced it. I love the architecture, and I love the history. So, for now I show you a kind of sneak peek, but like I said, I will be back soon!

Stay Tuned! There's More To Come.