About this project
Please help us give the gift of public murals to the elders of Berkeley!
Please help us to raise funds for the permanent installation of ten monumental ceramic murals that I have created for Satellite Senior Housing's Helios Corner Project in West Berkeley. In 2004, I began the site specific works for their anticipated low-income senior housing project for the corner of University Avenue and Sacramento Street, a series of 2' x 11' and 2' x 8' ceramic bas relief murals for the facade of the now-completed building. I worked for four years to design and fabricate the panels, and finished them in June of 2008. Since then, they have been sitting in boxes in a basement at one of Satellite's facilities, waiting for installation. Satellite has limited funds for the project, and we still need $5,000 to complete the installation of the panels on the exterior walls of the building.
The meaning of the works is stated eloquently in the poetry of Berkeley elder poet Rafael Jesús Gonzalez, from his piece Huehuetlatolli: The Wisdom of Elders, which was a key inspiration for my murals. Here is a selection of one of his verses:
Huehuetlatolli for Juana Alicia’s Satellite Elders’ Housing Project
...Mensaje de sabiduría:
Escucha bien:lo más importantees saber amar.
Listen well:the most important thingis to know how to love.
Anciana a la joven:
La belleza, hija,viene del corazón.
Beauty, daughter,comes from the heart...
© Rafael Jesús González 2007
As the poetry expresses, the murals honor our nature and the natural world from which we come. They portray the five elements: air, water, fire, earth and the souI, with images of elder men and women speaking to young men and women. The human images emerge from the earth motif. This particular project has the goal of creating artworks at a grassroots level to promote environmental justice in underserved neighborhoods. This is a sustainable architecture program which serves low-income seniors. Although I was paid for creating the murals, it saddens me to have them languishing in boxes. Funds will pay the workers to install the panels on ten columns, facing both the street and an interior courtyard, visible from the street. It is my strong desire to see this work completed and given to the City of Berkeley's low-income seniors and community at large. Thank you for helping us meet our goal.
Juana Alicia
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Funding Successful
This project successfully raised its funding goal on November 20, 2011.
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Set of three mural postcards from UCSF SANARTE mural suite
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Poster, Mission Street Manifesto Mural
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11" x 17" Giclee print of "Don't Look Back" or "Spill" Paintings
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18" x 24" Giclee print of "Don't Look Back" or "Spill" Paintings
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Original silkscreen of "Tejedora de Sueños"
Project By
Connected as Juana Alicia (2202 friends)
TRUE COLORS MURAL PROJECT
Juana Alicia, Director
Newest True Colors Project: " Fresh Start" Mural for the
REALM Charter School
True Colors is the public murals program at Berkeley City College, directed by internationally-recognized artist, Juana Alicia. Her murals evolved from the streets of San Francisco’s Mission District, whose mural renaissance is legendary, to installations in other parts of the U.S. and Latin America. Cece Carpio, of the Trust Your Struggle Collective, assists Juana Alicia and brings the power of her own work and international mural painting experience to the project. Other members of the leadership team include Aambr Newsome (Teaching Assistant, graphic artist, printmaker) and Keena Romano (Teaching Assistant, videographer, artist).
Through Juana Alicia's Mural Design and Creation classes at BCC, and in collaboration with the City of Berkeley’s Youth Works Program, Earth Island Institute and other community based organizations, True Colors creates one or more public murals each year. The True Colors Mural Project supports the development of young artist/ activists for the improvement of the urban environment through the creation of public murals. The purpose of the murals is to both educate urban dwellers and beautify the urban environment with messages and images that support ecological sustainability, conservation and restoration. The project recruits, engages and employs under-served, at risk youth from Berkeley and the greater East Bay, in vital community environmental mural arts projects. True Colors trains young artists to design and create community murals with social and environmental justice themes.
