Heart of the Mission District
I recently finally finished a painting about San Francisco’s District 9 called “Heart of the Mission” that took me over seven years to create. I would occasionally take the canvas out of the closet and try to solve it, gradually repainting the entire thing several times over.
As we discuss San Francisco’s political districts and David Campos’ campaign for state assembly, now is the perfect time to share this whole process with you.
The piece began in 2014 when I had an art show in the city hall office of my supervisor, who at that time was David Campos. I had a collaborative art installation in the office as part of the show that asked people “What do you love about San Francisco?” Visitors were invited to draw a picture of their answer. You can read about this installation in a Mission Local article here.
Here are some pictures of my art show at City Hall including the collaborative art installation, friends at the opening reception, and paintings from my City of Awesome series on the walls.
Look at all of the wonderful drawings visitors made expressing their love for San Francisco’s District 9.
painting in progress, 2018
I collaged the crowd-sourced drawings onto the canvas and tried to incorporate them all into a painting of the neighborhood, but I just couldn’t get it to work.
detail in progress, acrylic and mixed media on canvas.
I was inspired by this Oree Originol print of Alex Nieto. You can see his entire Justice for Our Lives series here.
2014 was the same year that Alex Nieto was murdered by San Francisco Police Officers while eating a burrito on Bernal Hill. It felt right to include Nieto in my painting. I tried including a painting of the young man in the style of Oree Originol overlaying a crowd-sourced drawing of a burrito. This didn’t work with the rest of the painting either.
I replaced the painting of Nieto and the burrito with a painting of the rock and flower shrine that the community has created in his memory. I also changed the perspective of the painting to be from this location on Bernal Hill looking through flowers down onto the Mission District.
I tried painting a crowd of protesters on the steps of city hall, but then decided to replace them with a more abstract design. I eventually covered up all of the crowd-sourced drawings except for the drawing of the “Amnesia” sign by Cameron Shaw. Amnesia was a bar and music venue that closed down in February 2020 (yes, just before the pandemic) that we will always remember for being a reliable venue to hear some of our best local musicians.
Heart of the Mission
acrylic and mixed media collage on canvas, 24” x 30”, 2021
This finished painting shows you how I feel looking out across San Francisco from Bernal Heights. It’s about the physical and socio-political landscape of the city. What do you see? What does this mean to you?