Community Rejuvenation Project

CRP Teams with People’s Grocery for MLK Day of Service

2012-01-27T08:50:00.000-08:00

CRP Teams with People’s Grocery for MLK Day of Service

As part of an ongoing partnership between People's Grocery and the Community Rejuvenation Project, CRP artists Mike Threesixty and Desi W.O.M.E were commissioned to create four new portraits at the People's Garden at California Hotel, as part of their MLK Day of Service. Before starting the project, CRP asked the People’s Grocery who they would like to see painted; the answers were civil rights and social justice heroes Dr. King, Mother Wright, Harriet Tubman, and Huey Newton. So we painted these icons in one afternoon, on MLK Day. Each portrait was accompanied by a quote from the honored leader painted on the street side of a planter's box placed in front of each piece. The planters’ boxes were color-coordinated with the portraits, each with a different combination of hues.

As CRP founder Desi W.O.M.E. said, “It was a real honor to be asked to do this project. Paying tribute to the ideals of Dr. King and the other inspirational legends and also building community in a very real way. People from the neighborhood instantly recognized Mother Wright, and engaged us in dialogue about the history of the Black Panthers and things like that. It was a good feeling, to know that we could engage the local residents like that.”

The portrait project was part of the garden's expansion onto the sidewalk, which also included the installation of four planter boxes, seating, and permanent chess boards for the community to gather around. The goal of the project is to increase local participation in the area and reduce the blight at 35th St. and Chestnut, which has been a frequent target for dumping and littering. As CRP were painting, People’s Grocery staff and volunteers unloaded truckloads of soil into the planter boxes. With both groups endeavoring in their labors at the same time, the sense of solidarity became evident.

CRP's paintings were so well-received that they have already been commissioned by People's Grocery for another two portraits. The project will proceed down Chestnut until the end of the block and continue down the street in the future. We are super excited to be a part of the ongoing transformation of West Oakland and to work with community organizations like People’s Grocery.

Pic of the Day

2011-12-12T18:30:00.000-08:00

"Pic of the Day"

Pic of the Day

2011-12-08T18:36:00.000-08:00

"Pic of the Day"

Pic of the Day

2011-12-07T18:34:00.000-08:00

"Ancient Meditations"

Pic of the Day

2011-12-06T18:31:00.000-08:00

"Pic of the Day"

Pic of the Day

2011-11-03T18:30:00.000-07:00

"Pic of the Day"

Featured Artist: Lavie Raven

2011-11-03T12:24:00.000-07:00

Over the past weekend, Community Rejuvenation Project was blessed to collaborate again with Lavie Raven, a master aerosol writer from Chicago. One of the fastest and most efficient writers that we've encountered. Raven is also an innovator in the world of Hip-Hop Education. A Co-Founder and Director of the University of Hip-Hop, Raven has been teaching youth the techniques of aerosol painting for 20 years. CRP founder, Desi W.O.M.E, was one of his students beginning in 1993. The University of Hip-Hop incorporates the other three elements of hip-hop including emceeing, deejaying and breaking as well. UHH is a program in numerous schools and community centers, including partnerships with Connect Force, the massive hip-hop program on the north side of Chicago. Raven is on the board of directors at the Southwest Youth Collaborative, which is home to the original University of Hip-Hop classes. Raven's art have taken him all over the country and to several countries. He regularly visits the Community Rejuvenation Project, at least once a year for the past four years. Raven's presence brings new energy and guarantees the creation of at least one mural over the course of days. Kilumbo Warriors, Respeta Tonantzin, and the 2009 Summer Youth Employment Program are just a few of the projects that Raven has participated in. He has also facilitated several cultural exchanges for youth between Chicago and Oakland. In 2012, CRP is looking to expand their collaboration with Raven and the University of Hip-Hop to four visits throughout the year.

Pic of the Day

2011-11-02T18:30:00.000-07:00

"Pic of the Day"

Striking with Art: Underground Resistance surfaces in Ghost Town

2011-11-02T09:44:00.000-07:00

Photos by Eric Arnold, Daniel Zarazua and Desi W.O.M.E

In solidarity with the Oakland General Strike and the Liberate Oakland Movement, the Community Rejuvenation Project is proud to present our latest mural, “Sprouted Prayers: Underground Resistance.” The project reflects the prayers of our ancestors manifesting in our placement in the struggle today. At the core of the mural is Underground Resistance, encouraging 99% struggling for economic and social justice to remain firm in their commitment. African and Indigenous elders and Taiwanese freedom fighters stand with the Black Panthers and Harriet Tubman endorsing and supporting the emerging generation of youth carrying the movement forward. Calendar images from the Mexica Sun Stone that mark relevant dates are interspersed with the butterflies also representing the ancestors. The youngest warrior on the wall is Selah, the latest addition to the W.O.M.E massive, who was born while the mural was being painted. Beats 737 added his name to the wall.

The vision for the new piece grew out of a dialogue initiated by Daniel Zarazua, a CRP photographer and regular collaborator, who wanted to see connections made to his hometown of Detroit and his motherland, Taiwan. Underground Resistance also has direct connection to the techno innovators with the same name. The collective of DJs and musicians carry a parallel revolutionary message and avant-guard approach to music. His research also led to the inclusion of the indigenous Taiwanese freedom fighters who resisted Japanese imperialism in the 1930s.

The mural features the work of guest artist and master aerosol writer, Lavie Raven (feature post on Raven coming soon). Raven has visited the collective regularly and flew in over the weekend to participate in a series of murals as CRP restores and redoes its works on the Martin Luther King Cultural Corridor. The project was the historic first meeting and collaboration between Raven and fellow master practitioner Mike 360. Rounding out the artists were Beats 737, Muse, Abakus, Pancho Pescador and Desi W.O.M.E. Photographer and Communications Director, Eric Arnold even contributed, painting kemetic symbols for the primarily African American community where the mural resides.

Located at 28th and Martin Luther King Way, the latest mural was created as part of the CRP’s mural restoration and maintenance program. When murals fade or are significantly vandalized, the collective returns to restore or repaint the works. The previous mural, “Four Elements,” had received some minor mosquito bites from the local fan club and faded significantly prior to its replacement with the latest works.

Visit Daniel Zarazua's website at www.domingoyu.com

Pic of the Day

2011-11-01T18:30:00.000-07:00

"Pic of the Day"

Pic of the Day

2011-10-31T18:30:00.000-07:00

"Pic of the Day"

Pic of the Day

2011-10-30T18:30:00.000-07:00

"Pic of the Day"

Pic of the Day

2011-10-29T18:30:00.000-07:00

"Pic of the Day"

Pic of the Day

2011-10-28T18:30:00.000-07:00

"Pic of the Day"

Pic of the Day

2011-10-27T18:30:00.000-07:00

"Pic of the Day"

Pic of the Day

2011-10-26T18:30:00.000-07:00

"Pic of the Day"

Pic of the Day

2011-10-25T18:35:00.000-07:00

"Buddy Lamont - Wounded Knee"

Pic of the Day

2011-10-24T18:31:00.000-07:00

"Pic of the Day"

Why Abatement Sucks: New Mural Buffed in Ghost Town

2011-10-24T13:05:00.000-07:00

Photos by Eric Arnold

The stretch of Martin Luther King Way running from West Grand Avenue to 580 Freeway lies within one of Oakland's deadliest neighborhoods, appropriately nicknamed Ghosttown by the local residents. Homeless encampments populate the long dark stretches under the freeway overpasses. Drugs and alcohol are rampant. Dotted with liquors store and abandoned buildings, the neighborhood accumulates the more litter than the majority of the city. Nearby San Pablo Ave is haven for prostitution.

A year ago, CRP made an effort to improve the quality of life in the neighborhood for local residents. The collective painted 5 murals along a four block stretch between 22nd and Sycamore and named the area the Martin Luther King Cultural Corridor in an effort to protect their work from city abatement. The project centered on 25th and MLK. In January 2010, CRP had picked up 7 bags of trash from that corner while birthing the original mural, Oakland Celebrations, depicting Carijama, indigenous and Chinese dancers connected through the wheels of colorful scraper bikes.

The collective had observed that the mural had accumulated a large collection of signatures from a confused fan club, who seemed to think that signing their name to mural would give them credit for painting it. Mike 360 and Desi W.O.M.E went to work transforming sections of the abandoned Foster's Freeze with new pieces and covering up the "mosquito bite" signatures. Across the street, the "Love, Art and Music are the Universal Language" mural on the chain link fence had been haphazardly flipped over by construction workers who were rebuilding the park. The park had been shut down years before when it devolved into a shooting gallery for local heroin addicts. The artists had only planned on doing some maintenance on the mural and left behind their clean-up tools. Regardless, the project was too massive for two people in one afternoon. The artists repaired the front of the building and left.

A plan was made to return the following week and do a more comprehensive project. Elijah would drive up from Santa Cruz and new works would be painted on the wood fence in the lot. The art would begin on Friday and a volunteer clean-up would be organized for Saturday morning. The trash piled behind the building dwarfed the litter in the front. Vandals had struck a newly painted, yet still boarded up house, with bubble letters that reached over the windows. The entire lot was strewn with garbage ranging from moldy couches to fast food packaging. Local dopefiends gathered in the clutter to smoke their rocks out of site. Amidst the rubble, a soggy abatement notice from the city of Oakland partially protruded limply from a pile near the fence.

As Elijah and Desi began on the most prominent area of the fence, local residents began passing by and complimenting them on their work. The two artists painted throughout the afternoon, utilizing the garbage to stand on and reach the top of the fence. Elijah was interested in making a statement for the local community and Desi drew the connection between the national foreclosure crisis and the neighborhood gentrification. Desi painted the word "Divest" in an elaborate style and Elijah complimented it with a character wearing the facade of a house as his attire, representative of the basic need in the community for adequate housing. They planned to write "Bankers' Greed vs. People's Need" on the side. As the sun was going down, the artists were joined by Beats who prepared a section to the left to say "Resistance." Right before dark, the artists were visited by two police officers. Expecting their support, Desi greeted them. They were shocked when they were told to stop immediately or face arrest. The owner of the fence had complained, even though the mural faced the abandoned lot and not the man's property. Desi and Elijah had gotten verbal permission from a man sitting on the porch of the house earlier that day, so the occurrence was strange. The artists' requests to speak to the owner were repeatedly denied. The group explained the plans for the clean-up project and were ignored. The property owner's word was final. The group was ordered to paint over the mural in the morning or face arrest. Meanwhile nothing would be done about the lot, because that was a different owner's responsibility. The next morning, the artists complied with the request and painted over the mural, leaving a message questioning the city's abatement strategy in its wake.

This experience exemplifies the city's disjointed approach to community clean-up. Artist painting a mural in an abandoned lot to improve the neighborhood are ordered to stop while nothing is done to clean the enormous piles of trash at the same location. Private property owners are the only people with rights under these circumstances. When they do not comply with abatement standards, they are given meaningless notices and the trash remains. When the community attempts to transform an abandoned and blighted lot, they are pushed out because they are not the property owners, yet the entire neighborhood is affected by the neglect of a few absentee landlords. Blight reinforces the degradation of the neighborhood in the consciousness of the community. Its demoralizes and disempowers the residents. Murals on the other hand, help define the identity of the neighborhood and become a source of pride. They give people something that they want to maintain. Given the proper support, murals can transform a community without pushing out its long-term residents and raise the property values for a neighborhood without gentrification. CRP believes in a holistic strategy to abatement that included surveys, murals, community clean-up, and block parties. Its time for a new approach to the maintenance of our neighborhoods.

Pic of the Day

2011-10-23T18:30:00.000-07:00

"Lilac Alley - San Francisco"

Pic of the Day

2011-10-21T18:30:00.000-07:00

"Photosynthesis - Santa Fe, NM"

Pic of the Day

2011-10-20T18:30:00.000-07:00

"Pic of the Day"

Pic of the Day

2011-10-19T18:30:00.000-07:00

"Hanuman vs. the 5 Headed Serpent"

Pic of the Day

2011-10-18T18:30:00.000-07:00

"Pic of the Day"

Pic of the Day

2011-10-17T18:30:00.000-07:00

"Raccoon Mask - 41st and Foothill"

Decolonize Wall Street

2011-10-07T16:30:00.000-07:00

The fervor sweeping the nation to take back the power from the oligarchy of rich corporations and private individuals grips us tighter every day. On the way to the Bronx to visit Rebel Diaz, CRP founder, Desi W.O.M.E dropped by Wall Street to offer support to the 99% of Americans, continually suffering from the greed from a minuscule hyper-affluent super minority. W.O.M.E dedicated most his time to writing out signs connecting the protest to other movements happening throughout the world, including the California Prisoner Hunger Strike, which restarted last week, as well as the anti-death penalty advocacy that has been happening for the past 100+ years. We connect the turn of the 20th century case of Sacco and Vanzetti to the similar recent execution of Troy Davis, both of whom has massive international public support but were still murdered at the hands of the state. We recognize that protesting and marches were not enough, but they are a good start to inform and draw in the community for something much bigger. As transformative muralists, CRP understands the power of transforming dreams, visions and ideas into reality. We are the 99% and we will prevail! * We want to recognize and acknowledge the issue with the term "Occupy," we recognize that "America" has been unjustly occupied for the past 500 years and that this is, in fact, indigenous land. Wall Street does not need to be occupied, it needs to be decolonized.

Sunny Beach

Richmond Spokeshop Grand Opening

2011-10-03T09:59:00.000-07:00

Richmond turned out deep to the grand opening of its first and only Bike Lounge, the Spokes Shop, on Sunday. Everyone from Mayor Gail McLaughlin to local farmers from Urban Tilth was on hand to dedicate the space and represent with Brian Drayton, executive director and the Spokes people, many young adults from all over Richmond. One young man explained his pride by stating that it was the first time he had seen a project all the way to fruition. CRP was in the building representing the popular mural painted by Elijah Pfotenhauer, Beats 737, and Desi W.O.M.E just a few weeks ago. The Spoke Shop is an innovative approach to promoting cycling culture. It will be a lounge and neighborhood hub, with coffee, books on biking. Spokes will offer a mobile bike repair service and other was to support bikers in the community. Located near the newly renovated Greenway, it will serve bikers throughout out the Bay Area. CRP was honored to participate in making the dream a reality and looks forward to creating more murals dedicated to healthy lifestyles in Richmond.

Pollinate Your Community - CRP rocks Ashland Cherryland over the Weekend!

2011-09-28T19:00:00.000-07:00

Photos by Eric Arnold

Last Saturday, the Community Rejuvenation Project artists descended on an unincorporated district of Hayward like a swarm of bees. Ashland and Cherryland are two of the most unregulated districts in the Alameda county. Not recognized as sovereign cities or as a part of the city of Hayward, the area has become a dumping ground for both criminals and corporations. Their incorporated status has left Ashland and Cherryland without government spokespeople to stand up and advocate for the area. Now local residents have decided to take measures into their own hands. This past weekend, the Ashland Cherryland Garden and Arts Network (ACGAN) organized a day of action in concert with a series of national events put on by 350.org, including the painting of a mural on a fence located at one of Ashland's most notorious corners, Laurel and Princeton. CRP artists Beats 737, Pancho Pescador, Mike 360, and Desi W.O.M.E, along with photographer, Eric Arnold and new intern, Seongeun Bak created an elaborate piece dedicated to bees and their role as pollinators. Their message to "Pollinate Your Community" reflects the goal of spreading gardens, arts and new life through Ashland. Local resident, event organizer and fence owner, Susan Beck made pancakes for the crew, who had to return Sunday morning to finalize some minor touch-ups. She told the artists that drivers were always slowing down to check out the new work and that everyone who passed by had nothing but positive responses to the new work. Look forward to new artwork in the surround gardens throughout the area!
Listen to the story below:
Ashland Cherryland KPFA interview by CRP Bay Area
From the KPFA Weekend News

Ashland, Cherryland March Towards a Greener Community

2011-09-26T10:39:00.000-07:00

Story and Video by Analisa Harangozo for the San Lorenzo Patch

A crowd of over 30 people from Ashland, Cherryland and nearby communities marched down East 14^th Street on Saturday, rallying for a greener, safer neighborhood.

It was one of thousands of events put on around the world as part of 350.org’s Moving Planet Movement, a grassroots initiative aimed at solving the climate crisis.

The Ashland Cherryland Garden & Arts Network hosted the local day-long event. Members said their goal was to educate the community on finding alternatives to using fossil fuels.

The rally was also joined by Union City's Ollin Anahuac Aztec Dance Group and was funded by Supervisor Nate Miley and Mercy Housing.

The parade down East 14th Street began at Ashland’s Jack Holland Sr. Park and ended at an empty lot on the corner of Mission Boulevard and Mattox Road. The site is in the process of becoming a co-operative neighborhood marketplace and has gained support from Supervisor Miley.

There’s also discussion of possibly relocating the Cherryland Community Center from Hampton Road to the site of the future marketplace.

Mandela Marketplace, a non-profit promoting co-op food enterprises, will help supply some of the produce. However, many items will come from farms and gardens in Ashland and Cherryland.

For those living in these communities, the marketplace will be a resolution to their long-time struggle of being a food desert,organizers say.

Currently, over 1,500 people living in these areas have low access to fresh, affordable produce, according to The Food Desert Locator, a data provider supported by multiple government agencies.

Also among that population, 4.1 percent of housing units have low access and live without a car.

Not only would the martketplace provide these people with produce, it would be community-driven, placing Ashland and Cherryland residents in the forefront of revitalizing their local economy.

The event ended with a potluck dinner at one of Cherryland’s community gardens. ACGAN member Susan Beck offered her front yard fence as a canvas for a bee-inspired mural completed that same day.

The Oakland-based organization Community Rejuvenation Project painted the mural to serve as an artistic reminder how these gardens have been pollinating positive change among the community.

Check out the video above to see all the components of the event and how they unfolded throughout the day.

Pic of the Day

2011-09-24T18:30:00.000-07:00

"SunRay (dedicated to Mike Dream)"

Pic of the Day

2011-09-23T18:30:00.000-07:00

"Pic of the Day"

Pic of the Day

2011-09-19T18:30:00.000-07:00

"Elijah will burn you in his bathrobe..."

Pic of the Day

2011-09-18T18:30:00.000-07:00

"Pic of the Day"

Pic of the Day

2011-09-17T18:30:00.000-07:00

"Vulcan & P.H.A.S.E.2"

"Pic of the Day"

2011-09-16T18:30:00.000-07:00

"Daz - Pine Ridge, South Dakota"

Pic of the Day

2011-09-15T18:30:00.000-07:00

"Hipnotic, Rebel Diaz, Afrika Bambaataa, and fam at the Rebel Diaz Arts Collective.
Mural by the Community Rejuvenation Project"

Pic of the Day

2011-09-14T18:30:00.000-07:00

"Sacred Circle"

Pic of the Day

2011-09-12T00:06:00.000-07:00

"Time for Change - Increase the Peace"

Pic of the Day

2011-09-11T18:30:00.000-07:00

"War on Meth"

Pic of the Day

2011-09-10T23:18:00.000-07:00

"Warriors Of Mother Earth - Peace & Dignity"

Pic of the Day

2011-09-09T18:30:00.000-07:00

"Shiva Shakti"

Pic of the Day

2011-09-08T18:30:00.000-07:00

"The Beginning of Trails"

Pic of the Day

2011-09-07T18:30:00.000-07:00

"Ancient Meditations"

CRP Artists in Residency Take the Lead Renewing the Funktown Arts District

2011-09-07T08:45:00.000-07:00

For the past two weeks, CRP Albuquerque artists, Release, Bryan, and Tosh, have been participating in the CRP Bay Area Artist in Residency program. During this time, they led the completion of the updates to the mural on the Parkway Theater, painted two electrical boxes in the area and were commissioned to do two signs in the neighborhood as well. The new blood was inspiration for the collective. Mike 360, Dora, Desi, Beats and Pancho all came out to participate in the project which also consisted of redoing a defaced door on the union hall and restoring the Rejuvenation mural on the corner. Earlier in the week, Pancho Pescador returned to add his butterfly stencils to the Parkway theater which completed the project.

CRP says "Good-Bye" to our Korean Intern, Cheolwoo

2011-09-06T10:00:00.000-07:00

For the past two months, CRP has been blessed with a full time intern from Korea, Cheolwoo Kim. Cheolwoo flew back to Korea on Sunday, so last Friday, the collective decided to take him out for a night on the town. Cheolwoo did a lot of work for the collective, making relations with business owners in Koreatown and helping set-up projects that will be happening in the coming months. He also did tons of research for us in publishing and made some good contacts for future book projects. Cheolwoo immersed himself quickly and smoothly with us. He knows how to take a joke and to tell one. He also taught us a lot about Korean culture. For his last night with us, Desi attended his internship graduation before bringing him back for Indian food with the artists in residency, Steven and Bryan, as well as Beats and Dave. Afterwards, we took Cheolwoo to Art Murmur, where he got to see Jennifer Johns rock the mic on the G4G mobile solar sound system. We were sad to see Cheolwoo go, but we are hoping to visit him in Korea and paint some walls. In the meantime, we wish him the best!

Pic of the Day

2011-08-22T18:30:00.000-07:00

Desi, Morgan & Youth - "Salmon Struggle"

Pic of the Day

2011-08-21T18:30:00.000-07:00

Raven, Daz, & Bay - "Chaos Without Peace Within"

Pic of the Day

2011-08-20T18:30:00.000-07:00

"Raccoon Mask"

Pic of the Day

2011-08-19T18:30:00.000-07:00

Mike 360 & Desi - "Wounded Knee" (South Dakota)

Pancho Pescador & 67 Suenos

2011-08-19T08:57:00.001-07:00

A little over a week ago, Pancho Pescador meet Pablo Paredes, a Ecuadorian and Puerto rican war resister and organizer with 67 Suenos, a grassroots organization giving a voice to undocumented youth in San Francisco. This began a whirlwind relationship as they instantly began implementing a massive 30' x 150' mural on 9th St. between Mission St. and Market in downtown San Francisco. "Pablo sent me some files of stories that the youth had written about their lives on Sunday, on Monday I sent him a sketch and by 3 o'clock that afternoon, we were painting." The mural tells the stories of three of the students in 67 Suenos and their struggles as undocumented immigrants. At the top of the building, the mural will conclude with the message that No Human Being is Illegal. This week, Pancho and the students brought in aerosol writers, Beats 737 and Desi W.O.M.E, also from the Community Rejuvenation Project, to contribute the words "67 Suenos" and "Resistance" on sections of the border wall depicted running through the mural. Pancho will continue painting through next Friday, when 67 Suenos will host a mural dedication event. Everyone is encouraged to attend.

Time	Friday, August 26 · 6:00pm - 9:00pm

Location	SF Friends Meeting / SF AFSC Offices 65 Ninth Street San Francisco, California

For more information: visit www.67suenos.org or their Facebook event page.

Pic of the Day

2011-08-18T18:30:00.000-07:00

Mike 360 & Desi - "Wounded Knee" (South Dakota)

Releasing the Prayer

2011-08-18T09:55:00.000-07:00

One of the mural's destroyed in the Funktown Arts District was a memorial of my grandmother, Bama. I started this a few months before she passed away and was able to bring her a blown-up photograph on my last visit to see her. We used it to cover up her television. When she passed away, I made some additions to the mural and placed flowers, candles and food in front of it to remember her and make her transition easy. During the year after she left, I would return to the wall periodically to remember and appreciate her presence in my life.

I probably would have left the mural up forever. The sudden destruction of the piece gave me a quick shock but I quickly realized the temporary nature of our paintings. Mike 360 taught me that our murals are like Tibetan sand paintings and that the prayers are not complete until they are erased. The tibetan spend up to two weeks constructing elaborate mandalas with sand only to sweep them up a broom immediately upon completion. No photograph is taken. No record is kept. This teaches us about the transitory nature of the universe.

While I was restoring another space on the Parkway, a beautiful Eritrean woman came by and I asked her for permission to photograph her. She had a beautiful spirit and I knew that she should take my grandmother's place. Eventually she will be releasing butterflies from her uplifted hand to represent the release of the prayer back into the universe. I am glad that this stage of the prayer is complete and thankful to the person who destroyed my grandmother's portrait for reminding me of the transitory nature of the universe.

- Desi W.O.M.E

Pic of the Day

2011-08-17T18:30:00.000-07:00

Duke, Bash, Daz, Desi, Mike 360 - West Oakland

Pic of the Day

2011-08-16T18:30:00.000-07:00

Desi - "DragonFly"

Pic of the Day

2011-08-15T18:30:00.000-07:00

Desi, Daz & Jinx - "Foothill & Cole"

Rejuvenating the Community, One Mural at a Time

2011-08-15T07:54:00.000-07:00

Photos by Daniel Zarazua

By Nicole Jones. (Reprinted from Oakland North)

A DJ spins cool cumbia-inspired beats under the dim lighting of Oakland’s Layover, as the people sitting on the plush couches are joined by friends. Some get up to dance as they make their way to the bar. On the wall are a series of artworks, done in a variety of mediums, from oil and aerosol paint to stencils. But the smooth, clean walls of this bar aren’t a natural home for these pieces of art, and for the artists who have painted them, it’s a major change from their usual canvas—abandoned buildings and walls.

One of the paintings, of a woman engulfed by strands of her blue and black hair, looks like something straight out of a Sin City comic. Another painting using a brighter blend of colors is of a young girl standing in long grass as she stares off into the distance.

The artwork belongs to the Community Rejuvenation Project, a grassroots collective of Oakland street artists from all types of backgrounds who work in a wide range of mediums. All of the artists have some experience with public art, whether it’s through graffiti art, tagging or doing murals. The Rejuvenation Art Show at the Layover, which opened last week and will run for the next month, demonstrates the group’s diverse styles, but it’s more than just about art.

“The idea of rejuvenation,” said Desi W.O.M.E., one of the project’s founders, “is that we’re targeting the most blighted areas; the places that the owners aren’t taking care of. We’re going out transforming these places to give them new life.”
W.O.M.E’s self-given last name often changes in meaning. One day it stands for “Weapons of Mass Expression.” On another it’s “Worries of Mother Earth,” “Without My Ego,” or one of the many others meanings that he says defines who he is. W.O.M.E, who is sporting a goatee with rectangular-framed glasses and a driving hat, doesn’t give his age; he just says, “I’m pretty old, but I’m getting younger every day. “

W.O.M.E. started off his art career as an aerosol writer in Chicago in the early 1990s. He studied under several influential stylists in Chicago that taught him how to conceptualize his graffiti lettering and penmanship. As he matured, he moved away from only painting his name to painting scenes of that included people and symbols. He’s now been painting murals in Oakland for a decade.
W.O.M.E. started off as what most cities deem an illegal graffiti writer, but over time has become a quasi-legit street artist. He still doesn’t always receive permission to paint at a particular location, and a lot of the time the murals are done covertly on abandoned properties. But with more murals being completed each month and CRP’s name showing up on more walls, community organizations and even the city of Oakland have begun to give the group their blessings.

He and other Oakland-based aerosol artists were painting murals under different names before the idea of forming the crew known as CRP was born approximately three years ago. “We wanted it to be something more inclusive that people could get down with,” he said.

By 2008, he and other artists did a couple of murals and starting signing the wall with “Community Rejuvenation.” In 2009, the group hosted a summer youth employment project that was funded by the Lao Family Community Development, a non-profit that serves low-income neighborhoods. With the grant money, W.O.M.E. was able to hire 30 Oakland youth to clean up 150 blocks around the areas where CRP was painting murals.

After each mural was finished, CRP and the young people from the employment program threw a block party for the community. The group provided food, music, dancing and performers, “just ways to really give the community ownership of the murals that we were doing,” W.O.M.E. said.
Shortly after the youth employment project, CRP, with the help of other youth art organizations like Art in Action, Colored Ink and Grind for Green, opened the Oakland Green Youth Media Arts Center, which helps underserved young people gain artistic and professional development. CRP members painted a large mural on the outside of the center, located at Telegraph and 28^th Street, and after that, W.O.M.E. said, more and more people from all art mediums started approaching the group, asking if they could paint with them.

“We decided that we were going to open it up beyond the realm of where we come from which is the subway writing culture,” W.O.M.E. said. “We opened it up to brush painters, oil painters, stencil artists—just kind of got everyone involved.”

There are about 15 central people in the collective now, though not all are painters. Some are video artists and photographers, others are grant writers and interns who help with internal structure of the group so that they can sustain their mission of painting for the community.

In 2010, CRP completed 33 murals. So far this year, the group has finished 22 murals and W.O.M.E said they are headed towards 40 by the time the year is out.

Many of the murals the group paints deal with social issues like overconsumption of fossil fuels, police brutality, and the death Oscar Grant. Other themes celebrate family, health and cultural ancestry.

Last year, CRP created the MLK Cultural Corridor by painting a series of murals along the Martin Luther King Way strip in West Oakland. The murals include brightly colored images of historical figures like Marcus Garvey and Dorothy Height.

At 25^th Street and Martin Luther King Way, an entire abandoned building was transformed with a variety of images, from indigenous people beating on drums to a child riding a tricycle to a snake holding a sign that says “Stop driving.” On the other side, the sign “Welcome to West Oakland, Mob Headquarters” greets traffic coming south down MLK Way.

For W.O.M.E, there are spiritual and moral impulses behind his paintings. “One of the first steps in all of this work is to understand who you are, what your role is, and our role is to craft these visual prayers to help the community regain its sense of identity,” W.O.M.E said. “As much as you see the billboards out there, Coca Cola and Chevron going out and advertising, acting like they are doing something positive, we have to counter that with community control of our visual space.”
His group believes that the city could do more to protect murals from being taken down by anti-blight city crews. W.O.M.E said he is working with the city of Oakland to craft a policy that would allow artists who have permission from the city to legally take over the exterior of abandoned spaces and transform them into pieces of art. W.O.M.E. said this would also involve responsibility for things like clean up and maintenance of the area near the mural, and in some instances, even creating small nearby gardens.

He feels that letting people paint on abandoned properties is one way a community can take ownership over blight in their area, even without the property owner’s consent. In most situations, he said, the owner is impossible to reach and is not keeping up with city standards of blight abatement. “We feel that the community, in the same way that you can adopt a median, should be to adopt the wall,” he said. “Instead of continuously making the city responsible, which costs taxpayer money, the community should have the option of saying, ‘We’re going to maintain this wall.’”

The group also hopes that the city will create a mural registry that will direct the city’s blight abatement organizations, Community Economic Development Agency and Public Works Department to not paint over CRP murals or others done by registered artists with the city’s permission. W.O.M.E. said that if a city worker can’t tell if the art they are looking at is a legitimate piece of community art or graffiti that adds to blight, then they can check a mural registry and see if it’s been labeled as protected.

“We’re on the ground painting murals that are actually going to affect the peoples lives,” he said, “but we’d like to be protected while we do that.”

Although the group believes it will be a while before the city initiates a mural registry, W.O.M.E said Oakland is still his favorite place to paint. “It’s the home of a lot of struggles, really powerful history from Black Panthers to a lot of the labor movements that came out of this,” he said. “I feel that the work that we’re doing here is directly inspired by all of the people that came here before us that paved the way. We’re really honored to be out here painting for the people.”

Check out the map to see where you can find some of CRP’s murals in Oakland. The Rejuvenation Art Show will continue at the Layover (1517 Franklin Street) until the end of August. And for more information about CRP, check out their website and read another Oakland North story about a CRP mural project at the St. Vincent de Paul Community Center.

Pic of the Day

2011-08-14T18:30:00.000-07:00

Desi, Cezr, Mike 360 - Rapid City, South Dakota

Pic of the Day

2011-08-13T18:30:00.000-07:00

Desi & Das - "Silence the Violence"

Pic of the Day

2011-08-12T18:30:00.000-07:00

Desi - "Truck"

Renewing the Funktown Arts District Pt. 1 - The Parkway

2011-08-12T14:05:00.000-07:00

Murals are a proven deterrent to vandalism. Still, there are rare occasions when our murals get damaged. In the case of the Funktown Arts District, there was a recent rash of destruction to several of the murals in the area by a delusional, disgruntled neighbor with a used up roller of grey paint. CRP makes a point to maintain its murals, either through restoration, or in this case, a complete repainting.

This morning, two CRP artists arrived to begin rejuvenating the damaged areas. It was a great opportunity to create a new piece, especially because the collective was never really satisfied with the original work. It also gave Cheolwoo, our Korean intern, an opportunity to participate and paint for the first time. Despite having never used a spray can, he immediately picked up and helped to the color the piece. Numerous neighbors and residents dropped by to express their disappointment in the damage to their colorful neighborhood, but they were all excited and supportive of the new artwork. We will be posting new photos of the next walls as they are created, so stay tuned!

Pic of the Day

2011-08-11T18:30:00.000-07:00

Desi - "Photosynthesis"

Pic of the Day

2011-08-10T20:09:00.000-07:00

Daz, Duke, & Bash - West Oakland

Rejuvenation - The Opening Night!

2011-08-08T12:38:00.001-07:00

August 5th was a big night for the CRP crew. Our first group exhibition in a while, as well as our first First Friday showing… at Oakland’s Layover, no less. This was the acid test for our motley collective of bohemians, jokers, and aerosol aficionados: with two rooms to fill, it was either go big or go home.
Well, we went big. Big canvases—lots of ‘em—big photos (20x30, in case you’re wondering), even a merch table stocked with mural anthologies, brochures, our new “Oakland Landmarks” poster series, even t-shirts. There was a nice yet esoteric range of visual goodies on display, and we couldn’t have picked a better night for it. By 11pm, the Layover was an elbow-room-only sweat pit (thanks to DJ Ren’s killer tunes), with wave after wave of folks constantly arriving. Highlights from the night included Mike 360’s flute/beatbox solo, Uncle Dougie’s tasty sandwiches, Pancho successfully resisting his nicotine cravings, trading a “Legendary 23rd Yard” poster for homemade truffles, and our Korean intern, Cheol-woo, downing some tequila, then immediately asking for more.

People seemed to really dig the art, which meshed well with the Layover’s funky thrift-store aesthetic, and though it was a lot of work getting the show together, it was all worth it. CRP definitely raised its profile, and if you can call hanging out outside one of Oakland’s hottest nightspot slanging posters community outreach, then it was a successful community outreach mission. “Rejuvenation” definitely lived up to its name, and if you missed it, the show will be up at the Layover until the end of August, so come through! Oh yeah, stay tuned for more collective shows down the road.

Pic of the Day

2011-08-05T18:30:00.000-07:00

Daz & Desi - "Havenscourt"

CRP Invades the Layover & depARTure Gallery

2011-08-05T10:53:00.000-07:00

CRP artists and photographers took over the Layover and the depARTure gallery last night to hang their latest artshow, Rejuvenation. New works on canvas, found objects, even a piece of curb were meticulous displayed through the two adjacent spaces in an awesome display of the diversity of styles and media utilized by the collective. Here is a sneak peak of the exhibit that will open this evening.

Pic of the Day

2011-08-04T18:30:00.000-07:00

Daz - "Buddha"

Pic of the Day

2011-08-03T18:30:00.000-07:00

Desi - "Brown Beret"

Students at Youth Radio finish Altar Mural

2011-08-03T10:32:00.000-07:00

After last weeks' session, we had the majority of the mural colored in. Today was all about business. When everybody showed up, the painted were laid out and everything was ready to go. We had a lot of details to put in. Desi stood back and directed things. He didn't really paint much and just made the youth do everything. Jose was the person who stepped up and handled the majority of the final touches. In the beginning, we were all trying to work on the mural at the same time, but it was crowded and ineffective. We were trying to paint reaching around each other and using the same colors. Then we stepped back and took turns. That worked a lot better. We drew in flowers, oranges and bananas. Jose wrote "Remember" on the banner at the top. At bottom, we pulled everything together by adding smoke running throughout the piece from a cup on the left side. In the end, the mural came out beautiful. We are really proud of it.

Pic of the Day

2011-08-02T12:00:00.000-07:00

Mike 360 - "Azul"

Pic of the Day

2011-08-01T23:18:00.000-07:00

Beats - "23rd Yard"

Youth Radio Altar Mural Begins

2011-07-27T09:54:00.000-07:00

Today we worked as a group and came up with our sketch. We also got to color in our actual sketch. some of the objects we painted were grapes, mountains, time clock, buffalo skull and much more. We learned how to spray paint at an even angle so that the paint looks fresh and realistic. Even though we only have a limited time, and we are on our second to last session. Lots of people stopped by or yelled from the windows of their cars that they liked our work. We have accomplished so much and are closed to being finished. We just need one more really good session of detailing and clean up but today was a very productive day. today was a productive day and learned a lot, we look foward to finishing the project.

- Youth Radio Mural Artists

Community Rejuvenation Project Presents “Rejuvenation”: New Works by CRP Artists

2011-07-22T09:00:00.002-07:00

For Immediate Release -- (Oakland, CA) The Oakland-based chapter of the Community Rejuvenation Project, also known as CRPBayArea, is proud to announce “Rejuvenation,” a new exhibition of paintings and photographs by CRP artists. As CRP founder Desi W.O.M.E. explains, “Rejuvenation is one of CRP’s core themes.” In naming this exhibit, he says, “we wanted to emphasize that aspect of what we do, which is more than just write our names on walls. The creation of art is both a sacred and spiritual practice in indigenous, native traditions, and our work is really about acknowledging that part of it and bringing it to inner-city environments which are in need of positive affirmations. We want to promote health, environmental awareness, and life, as well as a connection with our ancestors. Essentially, we are talking about rejuvenation of our communities and of ourselves through art. This is urban renewal at a grassroots level.”

The works represented in “Rejuvenation” show the tremendous range, diversity, and artistic ability of the CRP collective, consisting of talented muralists, calligraphers, painters, character artists, stencil artists, and photographers. Featured artists include Mike 360, Desi W.O.M.E., Dora Chavarria, Pescador, Daniel D. Zarazua, Daz, Elijah Pfotenhauer, Eric K. Arnold, Miss Ammo, Beats 737, Dave Young Kim, and collaborative works with aerosol legends P.H.A.S.E. 2 and Vulcan.

Many of the photographs document the creation process of CRP’s community murals, including the recent “Peace and Dignity” wall at 41^st and International, in the heart of the Fruitvale District – a historically-Hispanic and Latino community plagued by gang violence and economic woes which is undergoing an identity crisis spurred by the onset of gentrification. Other works include “Oblivion,” a stunning portrait by Dave Young Kim in oil, acrylic and aerosol; “FlyGirlFest III,” an inked illustration of b-girls by Miss Ammo; and “Self City,” a study in perspective and cubism rendered by Elijah Photenhauer.

The exhibit will run through August 31st at Oakland’s freshest local hangout, the Layover, and its adjacent gallery, DepARTure. The First Friday opening reception is August 5^th from 6-9pm and features live painting by CRP artists. Following the reception, be sure to stick around for an after-party featuring True Skool DJ Ren the Vinyl Archaeologist, spinning a set of classic hip-hop and breaks from 9pm-until the wee hours. Media sponsors include OaklandLocal, Fusicology, and True Skool.

Let us know you are coming by clicking Attending on the Facebook Page here

Quan, Yin, James Brown, and Lao Tzu

2011-07-18T13:49:00.000-07:00

Photos by Sara La Fluer

A few days before the 4th of July, the mural on the Parkway theatre was erased by an unknown vandal. CRP took the opportunity to dedicate a new mural to James Brown and Lao Tzu. Lao Tzu was a great philosopher who wrote the Tao Te Ching. He once said that "an overly sharpened blade dulls quickly." James Brown the legendary musician and singer had a complementary saying that "a dull knife just ain't cutting' it." We wanted to show a connection in ideas that reflected the balance that is required for a good life. To the right of James Brown, we painted the buddhist saint of compassion Quan Yin in the doorway. Quan Yin is holding a vase in her left hand that holds the world natural disasters. Her compassion for us gives her the strength to hold it upright and keep it from spilling. We thought that was an appropriate prayer for these times.

Rejuvenation: New Works by the Artists and Photographers of the Community Rejuvenation Project

2011-07-15T12:43:00.000-07:00

On Friday, August 5, please join us for an evening with the Artists and Photographers of the Community Rejuvenation Project.

The Layover - Music Bar & Lounge
1517 Franklin
Oakland, CA

featured artists include:

MIKE 360, DORA CHAVARRIA, PESCADOR
DANIEL D. ZARAZUA, DESI W.O.M.E, DAZ,
ELIJAH PFOTENHAUER, ERIC ARNOLD
MISS AMMO, BEATS 737, DAVE YOUNG KIM
including collaborative works with
P.H.A.S.E II & VULCAN

RECEPTION 6 - 9 PM FEATURING LIVE ART
THEN TRUE-SKOOL PARTY ALL NIGHT
EXHIBITION RUNS THROUGH AUGUST 31

CRP Books and Limited Edition T-Shirts will be on sale.

For more info on True Skool and the afterset, please visit http://www.trueskool.com/

Youth Radio Mural - Sketch In Progress

2011-07-12T17:04:00.000-07:00

Alright so today we started brainstorming about the altar mural project that is going to be inside the Youth Radio building in Oakland. We were looking through a bunch of photos of past projects that our facilitator Desi has done. We talked about the different places and people that use art as a way to express themselves and how communities need murals to make them better places to live. We were wondering what you might be able to add to our mural. Any ideas or suggestions that you have for us would be most appreciated. Thank you!

Cuba Caravan Bus Mural II - Watsonville

2011-07-11T10:05:00.000-07:00

Before another contingent of the Caravan for Peace set off for Mexico, its first stop was in Watsonville. CRP artists meet the activists at the Watsonville Brown Beret Bike Shack early Sunday morning. The group had a list of phrases that they wanted painted. This contingent had a strong interest in the Cuban 5, five Cuban political prisoners held by the US government since 1998. One side of the bus was painted to say "Free the Cuban 5 from USA Jails." The other side was painted to say "End the Blockade on Cuba." Unlike the last bus, there were several of the activists and local community members on hand, taking pictures and joining in with the painting. Kids of all ages from Kindergarden to High School added their touch to the mural. Around midday, the Brown Berets brought huge bags of burritos and everyone ate good! By the afternoon, the mural was finished and the entire back of the bus was load with huge piles of aid bound for Cuba. The buses will cross the border into Mexico and then be driven to a port where they will be ferried to Cuba. This is the 22nd Annual Friendshipment bound for Cuba overtly breaking the blockade imposed by the United States.

For more info on the caravan, please visit www.ifconews.org
For more info on the Cuban 5, please visit http://www.freethefive.org/

Caravan to Cuba Bus Mural

2011-07-08T09:00:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday, July 6, CRP Bay Area and CRP Desertland artists collaborated on painting an entire bus headed to Mexico and eventually Cuba in a Caravan to draw attention and break the US embargo against Cuba. The US has prohibited direct trade with or travel to Cuba since Cuban Revolution put Fidel Castro in power. This policy has been more harmful to the citizens of Cuba than their government. "The US embargo of Cuba causes shortages of food, medicine and other important supplies for eleven million people. The embargo is an immoral policy that uses hunger and disease as political weapons," states the Pastors for Peace website. CRP artists painted both sides of the bus with the words End the Blockade of Cuba in English and Spanish. They also painted a dove of peace on the back and the island of Cuba with a heart in the middle on the front.

CRP artists are proud to contribute their works to organizations and movements that they support. We utilize the leftover supplies from our commissioned murals to create works relating to the issues that our important to us.

For more information, please visit http://www.ifconews.org

Health and Wellness Mural Final Photos

2011-07-07T09:00:00.000-07:00

The Health and Wellness Mural was completed over the course of 9 days. It was a huge project on many walls throughout the cafeteria on the Fremont Federation of High Schools' campus. We were especially thankful to the students who stopped by and assisted in the mural, the custodian, Dan Cunningham, who provided lots of extra supplies and support, and the staff of the school who brought us into the project. Indoor murals with aerosol are always difficult, despite the safety precautions that we take. A project of this size usually requires several more days to complete, but the artists were on a deadline to finish before summer school commenced on Tuesday, July 5. As a result, we put in 10 hr+ days for a week to complete the project on time.

Pancho Pescador's Stencils at the Health and Wellness Mural

2011-07-06T09:00:00.001-07:00

Pancho Pescador is a veteran visual artist. Originally from Chile, Pancho moved to Oakland many years ago. He is a printmaker, stencil artists, muralist, activist, teacher and a father of two beautiful girls. Pancho began painting with the Community Rejuvenation Project in 2010, placing intricate stencils on several walls. Pancho is also a serious photographer. He has documented numerous CRP mural's and his photos are all over our 2010 mural anthology, Rejuvenation, including the cover.

Pancho brought several new stencils to the mural, including one of his daughter jump roping. Pancho even designed and cut a bee stencil onsite. The bee's were essential to the mural, relating the hexagon patterns to honeycombs and the pollination of necessary for the plant growth and healthy living. CRP wanted to address the decline of the bee population due to cell phone and wireless internet usage.

Be sure to check out Pancho's blog at http://pescador72.blogspot.com

Fremont Health and Wellness Mural in Progress

2011-07-04T10:00:00.000-07:00

The Health and Wellness Mural Project at Fremont High School was designed to create positive and affirming messages for students to intake with their meals. Initiated by the Health and Wellness Center on Campus, the multi-wall mural will enhance the youth's eating experience. Despite a minimal cafeteria budget, the Health and Wellness Center wants to bring more health options to the cafeteria. The Fremont Federation also has an abundant garden maintained by students.

Several youth in the summer school program dropped by after-class to visit and participate in the mural. Both the staff and students are excited to bring new energy to the cafeteria. The images in the mural reflect the diverse cultures of the students actively practicing their traditions and living healthy lifestyles. "We want the students to identify with people we depicts and feel a sense of pride in themselves. Its important that the youth feel represented and empowered throughout the school," said the Dave Kim, who organized the project for CRP.

Mural Restoration at 46th and Foothill

2011-07-03T13:21:00.000-07:00

On the way to the Fremont cafeteria, CRP artists stopped by the their 2009 mural on the abandoned building at 46th and Foothill. The mural, which was painted as a part of the summer 2009 Summer Youth Employment Project with the Lao Community Development Inc., had accumulated a few minor mosquito bite tags as part of an ongoing gang war in the neighborhood. Several local residents had requested that the mural be touched up and CRP artists have always insisted on doing their own mural maintenance. In 15 mins, the minor alterations were retouched. CRP will be doing several other mural restoration projects this summer. Stay tuned.

Fremont High Healthy Cafeteria Mural In the Works

2011-06-30T18:20:00.000-07:00

The Health and Wellness Center at Fremont High recently reached out to The Community Rejuvenation Project about painting a mural in the cafeteria. Desi W.O.M.E. and The CRP have embarked on painting the cafeteria with a design that incorporates people and cultures indigenous to Oakland. The mural includes affirmative messages about health and wellness, as well as figures participating in a variety of activities. The verbal and visual messages are meant to be easily digestible, and the piece is meant to be finished by tomorrow in time for the opening of Summer School.

Artists involved are Desi W.O.M.E., Beats737, Pancho, Dave, Ente, and Mike360. Stay tuned for pictures of the final work!

Matilda Cleveland Mural with Redwood Day School

2011-06-06T11:00:00.000-07:00

Photos by Jen Ammenti and Redwood Day Students

Redwood Day School students have been volunteering in the Garden at the Matilda Cleveland Center throughout the year. The students decided that they wanted to contribute a mural to the site as well. So on Friday, June 3, the group meet up with CRP to create a mural in 2 hrs. The students had never spray painted before but they were quick to pick up the basics. We started by blending colors to create a sunset. Then we utilized a technique taught by Lavie Raven of the University of Hip-Hop of tracing the students on the wall and drawing in silhouettes. Finally we drew in the words "Matilda Cleveland" at the center and added some plant life at the bottom. Everyone was amazed by how quickly the mural was produced and happy with the results.

60th & MacArthur - Day 5

2011-06-02T21:44:00.000-07:00

Photos by Desi and Salma

Today was the last official day of the Arrow-Soul Council program. Everyone in the class seemed to feel a greater sense of purpose and urgency because the entire group stepped up and remained on task for the entire session. The group has begun feeling a sense of the entire project and their ownership of it. I (Desi) have maintained a mainly hands off approach throughout the project, allowing the youth to do their own styles, make their own mistakes and learn through experience. Its hard not to step in when the going gets tough or when the task appears too far beyond their experience level. Still, the Council stepped up in all cases, overcoming their fears despite the initial whining and crying. Looking back at the first days of the program, it was easy to see that we have come a long way.

Saturday is the final day for the project and we will be there as long as it takes. Come through if you can and check us out.

One.

Desi W.O.M.E.
Facilitator, Arrow-Soul Council

18th & Telegraph

2011-05-30T12:43:00.000-07:00

Downtown Oakland is starting to awaken. New clubs and restaurants are opening. Art Galleries are flourishing. You wouldn't know that on a Sunday morning though. 18th and Telegraph at 9 AM was desolate. The only sign of any life was the Rudy's Can't Fail Diner, still under construction, which will be Oakland's only 24 hr. restaurant.

Even upon arrival, there was no clear plan for the mural. The wall had been designated as a "high blight" location by neighbors and downtown officials who requested that something be done. It was a classic absentee landlord situation. The owner had moved out of the country and had failed to respond to any communications. The wall had been repeatedly vandalized and covered in posters. Adopting the wall with a mural was the only long term solution that people could think of.

Still, as an aerosol writer, there is a slight cognitive dissonance in painting a mural to defeat the "blight" of our movement. We've always resisted the public's instinct to distinguish between "the good graffiti" and the "taggers." Everyone outside the movement feels entitled to be a critic and seemingly cannot respect that we evolved from those same signatures. Its a classic case of hating the root and loving the fruit.

Each of the 3 rollers we brought were dried and crusty in some places, creating and uneven effect when applying paint. Rather than attempt to force perfection, they were pressed and ground into the walls to give the impression of years of battle between the "blight" and the art. Layers were added with spray only to be partly primed over or sprayed out with new spots and "mess" took shape with arrows and designs growing off of partly cover letters and masks, into a new composition. Like Oakland, the growth was mess and sloppy, occasionally haphazard, with one hand not knowing what the other was doing. But finally, the colors, shapes and lines coalesced into a semi-coherent but clearly elaborate mural. Just like Oakland.

LPS Hayward Week Without Walls

2011-05-26T14:21:00.000-07:00

Week Without Walls Murals was a opportunity of a lifetime. We started the week off in Fruitvale, Oakland where we met Desi. He showed us different styles of murals, from pile styles to cultural. It was amazing to see all the different styles and artwork from legal to illegal. He showed us techniques on how to paint and gave us tips on how to begin. He also told us to create our own style that represents ourselves. Before we actually started the murals, the wall known as the purple wall was a mess. There were holes and trash everywhere. After the wall was finished we saw a big improvement. We added colors and a message to show what we learned this week. One side of the mural was a creative fun side called art of the bay while the other was a message to dream big. All the students participated, contributed ideas and each took turns spraying. This mural is important to us because it represents our school and makes our school look better. The purpose of the murals is to show how all the other schools that try to compete with us, have no competition. The wall is located in the front of the school, as a symbol that our school is a family and we are all proud to be part of it. -Priya Raman and Juan Yanez :)

"I was scared to paint at first because i didn't want to mess up but once i started i couldn't stop"- Adriana

"Finally, we got to put something people call street art as a mural for the school that represents a change."-Rocio

"We enjoyed making these murals and going around the Bay Area looking at different types of murals. The mural that we created on the school wall represents who we are". Karina and Luis R

"Desi is the coolest guy we know, it was dope to work with him "- Lil' Monkey

"Make a positive difference in life no matter what." -Noa (HUMAN)

"This year one wall, next year the whole school." -Ms. Johnson

"In conclusion, to what i used to know, now seems so minimal to whats really there" - Braulio

60th & MacArthur - Day 4

2011-05-24T17:46:00.000-07:00

We made a lot of progress today. The "Oakland" is almost done, minus some clean-up. Young Ish began putting the outline on "State" and the "Mind" is almost completely colored in. The majority of the priming has been done on the bumpy brick surface and the outline for the first character, an emcee based on local artist, Unity Lewis, has been drawn in. Many more neighbors came out and acknowledged the progress and stated that they liked what they were seeing. Overall, today was a good day.

Photos by Maria

Peace & Dignity Mural Dedication - This Sunday, May 22nd!

2011-05-20T11:58:00.000-07:00

Please come and join us as we dedicate the recently completed Peace and Dignity mural at Smart & Final. This piece was the product of 3 months of hard work by Vulcan, P.H.A.S.E.2., Mike 360, Desi W.O.M.E, Elijah Pfotenhauer, Pancho Pescador, Beats 737, Faustino Villa, Dora Chavarria, Luis Martinez and many other youth.

We will have traditional indigenous singers and dancers, DJs and music. Stay tuned as the line-up continues to develop.

Confirmed Artists
MIKE 360
Roots & Branches
Unity Lewis
All Nations Drum
J-milli-on and O-zone
Danza Azteca Cuauhtonal
& More!

DJ Domingo Yu
DJ Smokestack

Check out the Oakland Local Story on the Mural:
http://oaklandlocal.com/article/fruitvale-peace-and-dignity-mural-celebrates-unity-indigenous-peoples

Fruitvale Peace and Dignity mural celebrates unity of indigenous peoples

2011-05-18T12:27:00.000-07:00

By Jessica Watson (Reprinted from Oakland Local)

A tiny girl, her hair in neat pigtails, stops to gape open-mouthed at the bright orange nebulas swirling above her.

Another girl, an otherworldly blue aura outlining her frame, is frozen mid-stride in the mural above, holding a staff tipped with feathers. A few steps down the sidewalk, a man in a cowboy hat turns and calls to the pig-tailed girl with both impatience and tenderness in his voice, interrupting her reverie.

"!Mi hija!" He grasps her hand and hurries her along to their destination, further down International Blvd., as she turns for a last glimpse.

An ambitious two-block mural project has just been completed at the intersection of International Blvd and 41st Avenue by the aerosol mural collective the Community Rejuvenation Project - CRP.

The mural is one of their largest mural projects to date, spearheaded by artists Desi W.O.M.E. and Mike360, involving many of other contributors such as Elijah Pfotenhauer, Pancho Pescador, Beats737, Abakus, Dora Chavarria and several local youth.

"This is a landmark production for us in terms of the level of intricacy and detail that we put into it," CRP Director Desi W.O.M.E. said. "We spent a lot of time crafting it."

The mural, completed with the collaboration of the building's owner, Smart & Final, was sponsored by the city of Oakland's Community Economic Development Agency as part of its ongoing campaign to place murals in highly visible areas with histories of blight. Other CEDA-sponsored projects in the series include several murals on Highway 880, including projects by Estria and Refa. These murals represent an important shift in how the city approaches abatement.

"To the extent that there's community support for the art, and it's not just something imposed, we're thinking that that will help with people respecting what's there," explained Dan Seamans from CEDA's Redevelopment Agency. The city of Oakland plans to use murals as an alternative to painting and repainting frequently tagged locations.

"I think the mural is beautiful," Seamans continued. "I also think that the artists were extremely successful in engaging the local community in the creation of the mural, which is very important for a project like this. Every time that I stopped by the mural, I saw them discussing their work with parties ranging from casual bystanders to school field trips, and I know that many people were invited to help paint as well."

The inspiration for the mural's content sprung from the Peace & Dignity Journeys that happen every four years to celebrate solidarity between native peoples of the Americas. Runners begin in Alaska, and others at the tip of South America, carrying ceremonial wooden staffs, which are passed from runner to runner until they converge in Panama, to heal the rift between the continents. The mural depicts a wide range of participants, from elders to teenage runners to children, against a celestial backdrop. The intent is to take the prayer to heal the rift between Northern and Southern hemispheres back to Oakland to address the rifts between the Norteño, Sureño and Border Brothers gangs.

CRP collaborated with famed elders in the aerosol writing community P.H.A.S.E.2 and Vulcan, who contributed large, stylized centerpiece letters spelling "Peace" and "Dignity," each stretching the length of a block. P.H.A.S.E.2 , who lives in New York, sent a sketch, which was then projected against the wall to bring his creative vision to life.

"Working with these elders who've been doing this for longer than I've been alive, it's been nothing but an honor. You know, straight up, a joy," said Mike360, 35. "They're building a separate reality out of the linear structure of character forms we've been given."

The mural took three months to create and includes sections built up to resemble the spiny leaves of agave, embedded shells and feathers and metal particles, which add a sheen on sunny days.

Most passersby were happy to have the artwork in their community, flashing thumbs up, although others seemed perplexed.

"Obviously it's real nice," offered Dwayne Castillo, 62, a neighborhood resident. "It's just not my cup of tea." However, for neighborhood youth, it was a different story. Many participated eagerly over the course of the mural's creation.

Decide for yourself at the Peace & Dignity Mural Dedication and Block Party on May 22 from noon to 4 p.m., sponsored by the Community Rejuvenation Project. Music will be provided courtesy of Roots & Branches and food will be served.

60th & MacArthur - Day 3

2011-05-14T11:58:00.000-07:00

We continued to make progress with the mural today. Jose Juan and Ismael colored in the "State" piece while the rest of the workshop paired up to continue painting in the spaces around the bricks. This is a somewhat tedious but necessary task to make the sky look complete. It is complicated because many of the youth have to overcome their fear of heights working on the ladders. There is nothing to be done expect to climb up and face the challenge. One student spent 20 minutes climbing up and down the ladder before he could begin painting. By the end of today, however, he was painting in the top of the mural with no problem.

Arrow-Soul Council Starts End of the Year Mural

2011-05-10T09:42:00.000-07:00

The Arrow-Soul Council after-school workshop at Oakland Unity High School began closing out the school year with a community mural at 60th and MacArthur. The theme "Oakland State of Mind" is a tribute to youth culture and will feature the phrase in highly stylized letters painted by the students juxtaposed between images of youth on scraper bikes, turf dancing, emceeing, and spray-painting. It was inspired in part by a song by Youth Roots featured below. We hope to bring Youth Roots and the Scraper Bike team to the wall to remix the music video that was made last year.

Sogorea Te - Defend Sacred Sites - Protect Glen Cove

2011-05-02T09:22:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, CRP artists traveled out to Sogorea Te, which has been nicknamed "Glen Cove" by confused tourists near Vallejo. Sogorea Te is a sacred site to the Muwekma Ohlone people, who have buried their ancestors in shellmounds near the waters of the Bay Area for the past 3,500 years. Indigenous activists have occupied Sogorea Te for the past three weeks to protect the space from developers. It is a spiritual encampment with daily ceremonies acknowledging the ancestors and praying forward for the next several generation.

The Greater Vallejo Recreation District has ignored indigenous concerns and attempted to push forward with developing the site including paving part of the area for more parking, adding toilets and leveling a huge section of the space to improve the view of the water for the neighbors. Although GVRD was initially in talks with the original residents, they have cut off dialogue and are sending in surveyors to plan for the imminent desecration. The federal government spoke about mediation but the person that they sent is not dealing with the local indigenous people or the traditional leaders, instead discussing the matter with uninvolved Native American Heritage Commission delegates appointed by governor Jerry Brown, who have little to no validity in the negotiating the matter. Once again, the government is appointing spokesmen that they can control to create the illusion of negotiation and agreement, while ignoring and invalidating the actual tribal representation.

Please stay tuned. For more information, go to www.protectglencove.org.

Richmond - McBryde and Kern

2011-04-30T17:22:00.000-07:00

This project was commissioned by a very respectful client who requested each of the images as a representation of his family and close friends. During the process of painting, each of the friends dropped by, at different times and presented themselves. They each bear some resemblance to their animal. This was painted on two beautiful sunny mornings last week. Many neighbors stopped by and shared some nice words and appreciated the project. There was no other public artwork in the area but several people suggested that we paint the cornerstore across the street. So far no plans...

Lalo's first piece

2011-04-28T08:15:00.000-07:00

This was hard especialy because I didnt know how to control the can realy well and I was whining too much because the lines weren't coming out like I wanted them to. I also kept on messing up and starting all over. But for my first piece, I think it came out wack. Im planning on doing something better whenever I go painting again. All I know is that I will keep practicing so I can get better. Next time, I will try not too whine and actually finish doing everything in my piece.

Photos by Kristi

Rethinking the Role of Aerosol Writing in the Community

2011-04-25T09:03:00.000-07:00

by Desi W.O.M.E.
Founder & Director, Community Rejuvenation Project

Gompers High School students celebrated a victory last week when the Richmond City Council awarded them $1,000 to restore a mural that was painted out by the city’s graffiti abatement team. However, underneath the celebration, a threat to community’s artists’ ability to create public works is looming, one which maybe drowned out in the congratulatory cheers, now that the immediate wrong has been righted.

Gompers Mural in Progress

Reactionary politics are always dangerous. The policies that are created in those moments often have long-lasting unforeseen consequences that are equally difficult to undo until another catastrophe forces another emotional reaction and the cycle is repeated. Richmond muralists have recently come under such a threat that threatens to handcuff their ability to create public artwork. A change in policy is needed, but one that promotes the creation of artwork rather than bureaucratizes it. In this article, the Community Rejuvenation Project presents three simple policy changes that can protect murals from destruction rather than frontloading their process with a series of political obstacles.

The controversy began when the Richmond Graffiti Abatement team painted over an aerosol mural created by local youth in the community. Students at Gompers High School had been given the responsibility of caretaking a portion of the Richmond Greenway, a former railway that has been transformed by the community into a bike route, gardens, and a site for artwork. The students, with the support of their teacher, Gretchen Borg, received permission from a property owner near Eighth Street to create a mural. With approximately $1,000 of their own money, the youth purchased spray paint and spent two weeks creating the mural that was aerosol writing of their chosen names. Mrs. Borg went to the city repeatedly to make sure that everything was done properly, including attempting to get a permit, which she was told was not required. Nonetheless, the graffiti abatement team painted over the mural after associating some of the signatures with illegal graffiti that has occurred in other areas of the city.

Richmond’s abatement policy states that anything deemed “graffiti” must be removed, regardless of whether or not the work is approved or even commissioned by the owner. Several other legally commissioned murals have been destroyed by the city due to such labeling but this is the most high profile incident and the most challenging because of all the documented steps that Mrs Borg took to ensure that mural would be safe.

Richmond’s graffiti mandate amounts to a sanctioned prejudice against a specific aesthetic. Any works created with spray paint appear to be subject to removal. This would potentially include the Community Rejuvenation Project’s Robots and Butterflies mural that was commissioned by the RACC.

"Peace" and "Dignity" by Mike 360 and Desi W.O.M.E, detail from the Robots and Butterflies mural commissioned by the Richmond Arts and Culture Commission

Richmond’s response has been equally problematic. After apologizing to the students, the city police chief gave a 10 minute powerpoint presentation outlining how graffiti was a huge problem and the city’s response to the Gomper’s mural, however unfortunate, was in line with its abatement and policing policies. The city would continue to remove murals labeled as graffiti regardless of owner approval or not. The city council saw this incident as potentially embarrassing but indicated that the solution lay in creating a public mural approval process that would make murals legitimate. Councilmember Tom Butt repeatedly asked the youth if they would be satisfied if they were given a voice in the approval process, to which the youth seemed agreeable. Richmond Arts and Culture Commission (RACC) manager Michelle Seville was given the task of drawing up a mural approval process in 60 days.

There are several problems with this approach:

A mural approval process fails to address the real problem with what happened with the Gompers mural. The error was not in the youth’s artwork or their approach to the property owner or the city. The failure was directly at the hands of the abatement team and the police who destroyed the mural. However, in creating a mural approval process, the city is instituting additional bureaucracy for the artists rather than developing methods to protect murals once they are created. Each new work is subject to review that slows the process, requires the artist to potentially have to redraw their sketches multiple times, and tone down any challenging themes. The end result will be a slower and more painful process that will reduce the interest of artists to participate. For the youth already involved in the illegal aspects of writing, that bureaucracy will close the door to their interest in creating sanctioned works.
On the other hand, this moment is an opportunity to enact some simple yet powerful adjustments to the abatement mandate that will precipitate the creation of more new works and help to transform the image of Richmond from violent and bleak to creative and growing.

Unsanctioned murals can still remove blight. Which would you prefer? Carijama mural from the Martin Luther King Cultural Corridor.

First, the Community Rejuvenation Project recommends the creation of a mural registry to protect existing murals. Rather than focus on a mural approval process, develop a method to protect existing works once they’ve been created. This registry can be used by the abatement agency to avoid the destruction of legally created works. Further, the community should be capable of registering street art and unsanctioned works that it wants to keep in the community. Removing a mural in the registry would require a petition by a significant number of local residents as well as dialogue with the artist.

Second, we recommend that citizens and non-profits be given the ability to petition to adopt a wall from absentee commercial property owners. Both Richmond and Oakland’s policy has been to notify property owners of the presence of blight and give them a deadline to remove it. If the owners fail to meet that deadline, the city will abate the blight and bill it to the property owner in their annual property taxes. Citizens and non-profits should be given the ability to make similar notifications to the property owner. If the owner fails to respond to a community petition in a comparable amount of time, the petitioning group should be able to adopt the wall at their own expense and create artwork that can be entered into the city registry.

Third, the city should have similar program that adopts high-blight walls and employs artists and youth to paint murals on them. A similar notification process to the commercial property owner would be followed. This will allow for increased youth civic engagement, the creation of lots of high-quality artwork throughout the city, and less on-going blight problems. The focus for these mural initiatives should be the high-target, highly visible, and large-scale locations. Theoretically, an effective abatement strategy should lead to less abatement each year. If the city’s costs for abatement are not decreasing incrementally, then the city councils should redirect some of the abatement budget to long-term solutions such as murals.
Richmond current trajectory is poised to effectively prevent the creation of all but the largest and least controversial murals. Those projects will require experienced, professional artists who have learned to navigate the city bureaucracy, have the finances to wait months to get started while to wading through the commission meetings, paperwork and approval process. This policy will not give the youth a means to express themselves except in the approval process for other artists.

On the other hand, Richmond has the opportunity to take a bold step to protect the artwork in its city, lift the sanction on youth-based aesthetics, and open the doors to new works by arts of all backgrounds, styles, and experience. Let’s hope that Richmond makes the right choice.

Peace & Dignity - The Characters

2011-04-21T17:47:00.001-07:00

On Wednesday, April 20, CRP artists completed their monumental masterpiece at 41st and International in east Oakland. Here is a sneak preview of characters and images included on the wall painted by Elijah Pfotenhauer, Desi W.O.M.E, Mike 360 and Pancho Pescador. Stay tuned for complete photos of the whole wall.

Phat Beets and Self Determination: CRP Mural at Dover Park Cesar Chavez Community Event

2011-04-11T13:13:00.000-07:00

Murals and community gardens represent two important steps to community autonomy and self determination. CRP has always recognized the connection between planting and painting. We often attempt to add medicinal plants to the areas where we are working, both to protect our wall spaces and also to provide the community with local sources for health and well-being. So it was natural for CRP and Phat Beets to collaborate on community mural as part of their event for Cesar Chavez Day. During the afternoon event, community members and families were invited to pose by the wall for silhouettes which they were allowed to color in. Even Mayor Jean Quan joined in the fun. CRP made sure to include water in the mural both to represent the bay and to acknowledge the important role of water in our lives. The plants in the mural include Amaranth, Peyote and San Pedro, medicines for the mind, body and spirit. There is also a tribute to historic African-American farmers.

Teasers and Close-Ups

2011-03-29T14:32:00.000-07:00

CRP is blessed to work really excellent photographers. The following are photos from 41st and International taken by Mike 360 and Dora Chavarria, both of whom have been contributing to the walls in many ways. This project has been a true labor of love and has been created meticulously over the last two months. These are some of the details from the project as it moves closer to completion. Enjoy!

41st and International Part II

2011-03-28T10:07:00.000-07:00

The mural progresses...

The universe is meticulously painted with tons of details, vast clouds, and small nebulas and galaxies. Then North and South America are plotted as constellations. You will also see some preliminary photos of the outlines by aerosol master Vulcan and P.H.A.S.E.2 (painted by Mike 360 and Desi) appearing on top of the cosmos.

41st and International Part I

2011-03-16T08:59:00.000-07:00

In February, CRP started work on one of its largest endeavors, a two-block long mural on the Smart and Final building at 41st and International. The theme for the mural was Peace & Dignity. It is inspired by the Peace and Dignity runners who make the incredibly long journey from the northern and southern-most points of the continent and meet on the Bridge of the Americas in Panama to heal the damage caused by the cutting of the Panama Canal. This powerful prayer is intended to re-unite the indigenous peoples of North and South America.

In Oakland, North and South also have been divided into gangs, Nortenos, Surenos, and Border Brothers. Our prayer is for both the entire continent and for our community to heal those differences with Peace and Dignity.

We will be posting several slideshows of photos starting with the beginning of the mural until its completion.