Desi W.O.M.E
Elijah Pfotenhauer
Mike 360 is an internationally renowned, trans-medium artist, with a long history of public service and high profile artistic projects. His first commission was a steel sculptural mural, which he completed at age 18. He later received a commission from the NEA to create a commemorative mural in collaboration with Coco 144 and Phase 2, two of New York City’s most distinguished aerosol artists. He also participated in a painting for Chech Marin’s Chicano Now Show, to an audience of over 10,000 people.
In addition to being engaged in countless community art and service projects over the span of his career, Mike has lectured on art in a wide variety of venues, including The Robert Frost Breadloaf conference, Def Poetry Jam, UCLA, and community centers across the nation. Through the years, Mike has facilitated several workshops, coordinated the theatre company “We Don’t Act, We Don’t Play,” fine-tuned a method for using fresh air to compress natural earth pigments into an aerosol can, played flute as an opening act for such famous musical artists as Roots, Common, and the Black Eyed Peas, and coordinated the “We Don’t Act, We Don’t Play” theatre company. Mike still continues to seek opportunities to positively impact his community and expand the scope of his artistic portfolio.
ERIC ARNOLD
Before joining CRP as its Director of Communications, Eric Arnold fashioned a legendary career as a hip-hop journalist, beginning with pioneering Bay Area magazine 4080 and later as a columnist for the Source and East Bay Express and a contributor to the SF Chronicle, Vibe, Wax Poetics, SF Weekly, SF Bay Guardian, Bay Citizen, XLR8R, and many other outlets. Of late, he has added photography to his skill set, exhibiting at Pecha Kucha – Oakland and Power to the Peaceful, in addition to shooting events such as Rock the Bells, Outside Lands and the Treasure Island Music Festival. Over the years, Eric has often written about aerosol artists and the politics surrounding public art and urban expressionism; among the spraycan artists he’s interviewed are Doze TC5, Futura 2000, Tats Cru, Dream TDK, Mode2, Estria, and many others. In recent years, he has served as Media Relations Manager for the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights and Grind for the Green; covered gang injunctions for Oakland Local; written about the impact of media and telecommunications policy on artists and communities of color for AlterNet and New America Media; and shed light on green hip-hop, the urban bicycle movement and, most recently, economic development and the Oakland arts renaissance for Urban Habitat’s Race, Poverty, & the Environment journal.
Dave Young Kim
Daves first piece was scrawled in crayon through the pages of a pristine volume of encyclopedias; he hasn’t stopped creating since. His public artistic career began at the age of 5, when he won the first place trophy for understanding perspective. At 13, he was first introduced to and began painting with oil paints.
As a of rite of passage in his hometown of Los Angeles, Dave later became involved in gangs and the graffiti scene where he was initially exposed to spray paint. He went on to attend the University of California, Davis where he received his B.A. in Studio Art, and, upon graduating, moved to San Francisco, where he worked a number of years for a pharmaceutical company. Just three years ago Dave decided to make drastic changes in his life which lead him to East Oakland where he lives with chickens in his yard and paints in his West Oakland studio. He spends most of his days community organizing through Regeneration Church and is commited to seeing Oakland beautified.
All his figurative painted works are mixed, using all forms of media; from oils, acrylics and watercolors to inks, graphite, markers and aerosol paints. Much of his influence come from traveling, most notably, to Europe where he first discovered Art Nouveau.
PESKADOR
Peskador is a self-taught artist born and raised in Chile. He has participated in various group shows both nationally and internationally. He currently lives in Oakland, CA where he creates, as he calls it, “visual guerrillas” expressed in mediums such as paintings, drawings, prints, collages, murals and mixed media.
MISS AMMO
An audiophile, 1960's world music junky, blogger, radio show host, and Audio/Visual professional, Mike Melero finds inspiration in creative and positive movements in the community and beyond. Beside being the epic weird man in the crew, Mike provides the Community Rejuvenation Project with grassroots video clips, photography, and moral support at the walls/meetings. Recording Artist Mike has worked with range with diversity from Pep Love to Religious Girls, Solo Cissokho to Earl Zero.
Francis Aviani
Francis brings heart and soul to her community work. She is honored to contribute her programming, leadership, and communications skills in any way she can to support CRPs mission to "promote professional development, artistic and cultural expression, and community empowerment ".
Desi is an original member of the Weapons Of Mass Expression progressive hip-hop collective. Murals he has organized and painted can be found all over the Bay Area, as well as in Chicago, Santa Fe, Montana and South Dakota. He is the founder of the Community Rejuvenation Project. He facilitates an after-school mural taller called the Arrow-Soul Council. Desi is also a prolific community organizer and founder of the Weekend Wake-Up, free all-ages, community events (www.weekendwakeup.com), which won “Best All-Ages Event “ in the East Bay Express in 2006.
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Elijah Pfotenhauer
Elijah Pfotenhauer was born in Santa Cruz, California in 1980. He studied art and animation at Cal Arts, Valencia and Cabrillo College in Santa Cruz. His works have been shown at a variety of galleries in the greater Bay Area including: The Hide Gallery, The Mill, Mama Buzz, and 4th Street Triumph, with murals across California as well as in Europe and Asia. He currently lives in Santa Cruz at the Art Space Tannery Lofts, painting canvas, murals, and teaching art.
Elijah personally utilizes painting and visual arts to engage and uplift the community. He believes that through the Arts, the public can actively participate in the transformation of society. Through the creation of public works, the community can take pride in the area and engage in prevalent social issues. Elijah also believes that art is a tool to unite people across lines of age, race, gender and general socio economic background. The Arts open a new doorway for participants to engage in new and unknown opportunities.
Mike 360
Mike 360 is an internationally renowned, trans-medium artist, with a long history of public service and high profile artistic projects. His first commission was a steel sculptural mural, which he completed at age 18. He later received a commission from the NEA to create a commemorative mural in collaboration with Coco 144 and Phase 2, two of New York City’s most distinguished aerosol artists. He also participated in a painting for Chech Marin’s Chicano Now Show, to an audience of over 10,000 people.
In addition to being engaged in countless community art and service projects over the span of his career, Mike has lectured on art in a wide variety of venues, including The Robert Frost Breadloaf conference, Def Poetry Jam, UCLA, and community centers across the nation. Through the years, Mike has facilitated several workshops, coordinated the theatre company “We Don’t Act, We Don’t Play,” fine-tuned a method for using fresh air to compress natural earth pigments into an aerosol can, played flute as an opening act for such famous musical artists as Roots, Common, and the Black Eyed Peas, and coordinated the “We Don’t Act, We Don’t Play” theatre company. Mike still continues to seek opportunities to positively impact his community and expand the scope of his artistic portfolio.
For more info: Mike3sixty(at)yahoo(dot)com
Lavie Raven, Minister of Education, University of Hip-Hop
Lavie Raven is a social studies and language arts instructor at the Multicultural Arts School (a Chicago public high school), and the Prime-Minister of Education for the University of Hip-Hop. Having taught in the Chicago public school system for thirteen years and done community arts work for twenty years, Raven has created strategies for integrating hip-hop into community service projects and classroom education. He has worked with youth on many community hip-hop arts programs and social justice projects, for groups such as Habitat for Humanity, Pogranizce (Borderlands Project), Alternatives community center, the Southwest Youth Collaborative, the Chicago Park District, the University of Chicago, the Chicago Public Schools, and numerous other organizations. Raven has also done community mural projects in Sejny, Poland; Liberia, Costa Rica; Oakland, California; New Orleans, Louisiana; Aleut Bay, British Columbia; and Pine Ridge, South Dakota. He is presently completing his doctorate in interdisciplinary studies at Teacher’s College at Columbia University, researching the impacts of hip-hop education and the integration of alternative arts on community development guided by youth centered curricula.
As one of the co-founders of the University of Hip-Hop, a multi-disciplinary school of the street arts, Raven helped to create a dozen charter branches that serve youth across the city of Chicago and throughout the nation. Raven is a certified teacher of social studies and English, grades 7-12, and he has taught courses in World Studies, African-American History, Argument and Debate, Popular Culture, and English, levels I-IV. In his experience as an educator Raven has assisted youth in addressing issues of social justice through the public arts and community service-learning projects. As a mural artist he has worked with youth to create culturally conscious murals that have been displayed at museums, cultural centers, and community organizations. Raven believes in providing youth with a multi-disciplinary approach toward life that holistically engages their academic skills, celebrates their talents and artistic abilities, and empowers youth desires to bring positive change to society. In his work for local, national, and international communities, Lavie Raven continually strives to spearhead unconventional and prolific youth empowerment projects in and out of the classroom.
ERIC ARNOLD
Before joining CRP as its Director of Communications, Eric Arnold fashioned a legendary career as a hip-hop journalist, beginning with pioneering Bay Area magazine 4080 and later as a columnist for the Source and East Bay Express and a contributor to the SF Chronicle, Vibe, Wax Poetics, SF Weekly, SF Bay Guardian, Bay Citizen, XLR8R, and many other outlets. Of late, he has added photography to his skill set, exhibiting at Pecha Kucha – Oakland and Power to the Peaceful, in addition to shooting events such as Rock the Bells, Outside Lands and the Treasure Island Music Festival. Over the years, Eric has often written about aerosol artists and the politics surrounding public art and urban expressionism; among the spraycan artists he’s interviewed are Doze TC5, Futura 2000, Tats Cru, Dream TDK, Mode2, Estria, and many others. In recent years, he has served as Media Relations Manager for the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights and Grind for the Green; covered gang injunctions for Oakland Local; written about the impact of media and telecommunications policy on artists and communities of color for AlterNet and New America Media; and shed light on green hip-hop, the urban bicycle movement and, most recently, economic development and the Oakland arts renaissance for Urban Habitat’s Race, Poverty, & the Environment journal.
Daz
DAZ is a graduate of youth mural programs, Higher Gliffs and Visual Element, and trained under several of the Bay Area's best aerosol mentors including Zore, Estria and Desi. He has created murals in Mexico City, New York, Chicago and throughout the Bay Area. His work has been featured at the Oakland Museum of California and Museum of Children's Art. He recently was featured in the Estria Third Annual International Graffiti Battle.
Dave Young Kim
Daves first piece was scrawled in crayon through the pages of a pristine volume of encyclopedias; he hasn’t stopped creating since. His public artistic career began at the age of 5, when he won the first place trophy for understanding perspective. At 13, he was first introduced to and began painting with oil paints.
As a of rite of passage in his hometown of Los Angeles, Dave later became involved in gangs and the graffiti scene where he was initially exposed to spray paint. He went on to attend the University of California, Davis where he received his B.A. in Studio Art, and, upon graduating, moved to San Francisco, where he worked a number of years for a pharmaceutical company. Just three years ago Dave decided to make drastic changes in his life which lead him to East Oakland where he lives with chickens in his yard and paints in his West Oakland studio. He spends most of his days community organizing through Regeneration Church and is commited to seeing Oakland beautified.
All his figurative painted works are mixed, using all forms of media; from oils, acrylics and watercolors to inks, graphite, markers and aerosol paints. Much of his influence come from traveling, most notably, to Europe where he first discovered Art Nouveau.
PESKADOR
Peskador is a self-taught artist born and raised in Chile. He has participated in various group shows both nationally and internationally. He currently lives in Oakland, CA where he creates, as he calls it, “visual guerrillas” expressed in mediums such as paintings, drawings, prints, collages, murals and mixed media.
MISS AMMO
Artist, Activist, and Alchemist (by way of creative transformation and the alchemic process of using art as a means to transform poison into medicine) Miss Ammo aims to practice the integration of multiple art forms as a way to expose truth through beauty. She is an experienced muralist, performance poet, playwright, youth organizer, and visual artist. She has toured her poetry and solo show Sangria Cipher nationally, performing in various venues ranging from prisons, shelters, high school auditoriums, SisterSong Conference for Reproductive Justice, Children’s Law Institute, and the WGI Manhattan stage. Her poetry was featured in the Wise Fool New Mexico’s production of BAGGAGE, a social justice theater initiative that addresses issues of domestic violence and women of color within the state of New Mexico.
Miss Ammo is the co-founder (along with Cynthia Ruffin and Jessie Workman) of the B.R.E.A.T.H (Building a Revolution of Expression Through Heartwork) program in Albuquerque, NM that teaches poetry and performance to incarcerated youth as a means to heal, resolve conflict, and uplift. She is a graduate of the We Got Issues intensive leadership program (www.wegotissues.org) and is currently pursuing a degree in community arts at California College of the Arts. Through innovation, integrity, intuition, and intention, Miss Ammo has dedicated her life’s work to stand with countless others in the movement that intersects the arts with activism, using creativity and expression as the tools necessary for community liberation, and the means by which we may all realize our sparkling dreams.
Miss Ammo is the co-founder (along with Cynthia Ruffin and Jessie Workman) of the B.R.E.A.T.H (Building a Revolution of Expression Through Heartwork) program in Albuquerque, NM that teaches poetry and performance to incarcerated youth as a means to heal, resolve conflict, and uplift. She is a graduate of the We Got Issues intensive leadership program (www.wegotissues.org) and is currently pursuing a degree in community arts at California College of the Arts. Through innovation, integrity, intuition, and intention, Miss Ammo has dedicated her life’s work to stand with countless others in the movement that intersects the arts with activism, using creativity and expression as the tools necessary for community liberation, and the means by which we may all realize our sparkling dreams.
Mike Melero
An audiophile, 1960's world music junky, blogger, radio show host, and Audio/Visual professional, Mike Melero finds inspiration in creative and positive movements in the community and beyond. Beside being the epic weird man in the crew, Mike provides the Community Rejuvenation Project with grassroots video clips, photography, and moral support at the walls/meetings. Recording Artist Mike has worked with range with diversity from Pep Love to Religious Girls, Solo Cissokho to Earl Zero.
BEATS 737
Beats has been writing and piecing since 1988. His experience with the discipline traverses a broad spectrum of artistic eras and geographical spaces. Beats began his aerosol career in Los Angeles, moved to Reno to attend University there for music, then eventually ended up back in the bay, collaborating with various aerosol crews and non-profit entities like SB (Spray Brigade), CRP, and Estria. Beats is a purist, and still makes art just for the rush of it.
Beats has been writing and piecing since 1988. His experience with the discipline traverses a broad spectrum of artistic eras and geographical spaces. Beats began his aerosol career in Los Angeles, moved to Reno to attend University there for music, then eventually ended up back in the bay, collaborating with various aerosol crews and non-profit entities like SB (Spray Brigade), CRP, and Estria. Beats is a purist, and still makes art just for the rush of it.
Francis Aviani
Francis brings heart and soul to her community work. She is honored to contribute her programming, leadership, and communications skills in any way she can to support CRPs mission to "promote professional development, artistic and cultural expression, and community empowerment ".
