Sunday, December 18, 2016

Project Profiles: Emma Bayne and Manny Garcia



Tucson Arts Brigade muralists are hard at work. We are so excited to share a few snapshots of upcoming mural projects.
Every week we are contacted by artists who want to paint the town. Each mural takes a considerable amount of time. Artists design the work of art, get it approved, gather materials, prepare the wall, transfer the design, paint the mural and finally protect the mural from the elements. Imagine a huge canvas, painted outdoors. It takes special tools, techniques, materials  and a lot of patience. We are now seeking donations for our neighborhood mural program. Most murals range in cost from $500. to $10,000. depending on the scope of the project. TAB works closely with artists creating a collaborative environment where artists share skills, resources and time to accomplish projects. Here are a few snapshots of muralists we are working with this month;
Every donation you make helps bring smiles to peoples faces;
Manny Garcia is an 80 year old artist. He paints on all sorts of objects like fords and wants to paint a mural depicting the wildlife of Tucson. He is really excited to work on a small wall and sent in this design, reminding us that he will be adding many more plants. Manny says he just wants to share the natural beauty of this place, and leave his mark on the town he loves so much.
We are seeking a highly visible smooth wall about 5 feet high by 14 feet long for his mural.



Emma Bayne is 19 and a freshman at the University of Arizona for Art Education. Her ultimate goal is to teach middle to high school art and how to be the next generation of artists. She was born in Denver Colorado, but raised here in Tucson. She has always loved Tucson’s character, especially the art community.

She has designed a mural for the North West neighborhood and writes: “My mural is about rebirth and creativity. It is a model of new life and holds personal significance in that I am starting on this new phase of life, growing older and going to college. I believe that life is circular and death only leads to new and beautiful life. In the mural the skulls represent the past and death, the butterfly of sacred rejuvenation and originality and the spiral of the cycle of rebirth. I chose the tiger swallowtail butterfly because it is my dad’s favorite animal, his symbol of sorts and my dad is the biggest inspiration and motivation in me pursuing art. I tied in the desert flora and fauna to represent Tucson’s amazing wildlife, and used bright colors to give the feel of fresh beginnings. I hope this mural evokes happiness and inspires to community to be thankful of life and to use their resources and time in creative ways. I love being able to give something back to the community which raised me by doing something I love to do.”
We are also seeking to raise $1500. for materials, to manage the project, document and coordinate unveiling celebrations.
Donate to Tucson Arts Brigade Today and help make these murals become a reality.
By Mail: TAB POB 545, Tucson, AZ 85702

Wednesday, November 30, 2016

Tucson Loves Murals!

Tucson Loves Murals!

You helped fund 16 new murals in 2016, and all the work we do is dedicated to you. It’s your tax-deductible investment that results in the murals you love. We know these works have become destinations and landmarks, with people coming downtown for a mural tour, a meal and entertainment.  We hear so many personal stories of people being inspired by these colorful works.

Now it's your turn. We need your help to fund the creation of new works, maintain and preserve existing murals and provide educational opportunities for our community to learn more about what it takes to create these epic works of art.

This holiday season we want to invite everyone to chip in to help paint the town in 2017. Image if everyone who enjoyed these murals was able to donate $50 or $100! So lets keep moving forward and create some new murals in 2017!

Here is how you can help:

New Murals Fund
The new Murals Fund supports the creation of new murals throughout Tucson. Currently we are working on the Bronx Wash Murals at 4th Ave and Linden and gathering designs for spring murals such as the ones in Ajo, AZ.

Donate to the New Murals Fund

Mural Preservation Fund
We maintain over 30 mural sites throughout Tucson. Through wear and tear these works often need maintenance or preservation. Often these repairs are done by student artists and emerging muralists, providing a source of hands on experience.

Donate to the Mural Preservation Fund 




Mural Education Fund
Each year TAB provides mural tours, presentations and hands on mural arts education experiences for youth in Pima County. This fund is used to hire teaching artists to facilitate murals in schools, community centers and other places.

Donate to the Mural Education Fund


Lets Paint the town!

Here is a handy Flier you can download and share!

Monday, October 3, 2016

Community Mural Forum Oct. 26 at Center for Photography’s Auditorium

The University of Arizona School of Art is partnering with The Tucson Arts Brigade Mural Arts Program, to offer an exciting public event discussing the present and future state of public murals in Tucson.

Colin Blakely, Director and Professor, School of Art, and Michael B. Schwartz, Temple’s Tyler School of Art ‘88/UA MFA ‘91, Founder and Director of Tucson Arts Brigade and its Mural Program, will be inviting the greater arts community, students, faculty, the School of Art Board and the City of Tucson mural advocates for a panel discussion about the mural arts in Tucson, focusing specifically on the programs’ downtown murals and ongoing efforts to create a sustainable mural program in the city.

The panel takes place on October 26, 2016, 5:30 – 7:00, in the Center for Photography’s Auditorium on the U of A campus. The evening will feature a discussion with Blakely, Schwartz (formerly part of the City of Philadelphia’s Mural Program), Prof. Alfred Quiroz (mural artist of record on campus and in the studios); the City of Tucson’s prominent muralists which include Ignacia Garcia and To-Ree-Nee Wolf; and Camila Bekat, City of Tucson’s Office of Economic & Business Development.

The School of Art Advisory Board, in discussing a worldwide mural trend early last spring, quickly discovered Tucson Arts Brigade initiative to support the creation of murals in neighborhoods, schools and community centers.

The latest initiative led by the Tucson Arts Brigade and launched in May ‘16 resulted in eight murals in the downtown area and was funded by Tohono O’odham Nation with additional support from the City of Tucson. The Advisory Board subsequently connected Schwartz to Mr. Blakely, whose second year goals include expanding community outreach within the School of Art. “Tucson is a vibrant community for artists, and the university has an important role to play in recognizing and supporting that community. Works of public art like the Tucson Arts Brigade’s mural project remind us of art’s ability to impact our everyday lives in positive ways,” says Blakely.

The muralists will receive a modest honorarium from the UA School of Art while the panel discussion will provide important recognition for the launch of one of the Southwest region’s greatest mural development projects. “The mural program seeks to create an outdoor gallery that embraces local, national and international talent, creating paid opportunities for artists and promoting Tucson as a world class exotic destination.” says Schwartz.

Promoting these local and regional artists’ murals dovetails with Tucson being named UNESCO’s first top City in Gastronomy, also being ranked 7th Best Music City in USA, and all moving the spotlight onto Tucson as a relevant and ascending national center for the arts.

Wednesday, August 31, 2016

Fall 2016 Arts Brigade Schedule Features Murals, Lectures and More!

Installation Art/ Visiting Artist
Wednesday Sept 14   
2:30 - 6pm, $15. per student (Ages 11-17)

We will be set up and meeting on location: Art Club at Monsoon (A Pop Up Art Collective)
127 S. 5th Ave. *Parents please pick up and drop off from this location.*

For this session we will be doing installation art and working with Miss Hazard, a visiting mural artist from the UK.

Community Artists Potluck & Artists Talk by Miss Hazard
Wednesday Sept 14
6pm - 8pm  (Free & All Ages)

This month we are proud to host Miss Hazard UK based an Illustrator, Graffiti Artist, Designer and Director at KOP & Hibbert Contemporary Art Gallery. She will be doing an aerosol mural while visiting our community.

Come learn more about her work at the September Arts Brigade potluck.

 




Mural Painting
Wednesday Sept 21 (raindate, our Sept. 7 was rained out:)
2:00 - 7pm, *Free*   
All Ages

We will be set up and meeting on location: East Warwick Castle Lane Overpass on South Tucson Blvd. (between Drexel and E Irvington Ave.) Adjacent to the Esperanza ES. *Parents please pick up and drop off from this location.*

Open Studio Session
Wednesday Sept 28   
Wednesday 2:30 - 6pm, $15. per student (Ages 11-17)
44 W. 6th St. Studio 13
(enter from 9th Ave, around the corner from parking lot where red stairs are near the railroad tracks)
Working on individual visual arts projects in your selected media.

Community Artists Potluck & Artists Presentation
Wednesday Oct 19
6pm - 8pm
(feature topic TBA) (Free & All Ages)
44 W. 6th St. Studio 13
(enter from 9th Ave, around the corner from parking lot where red stairs are near the railroad tracks)

Acrylic Painting Workshop
Wednesday Nov 9
6pm - 8pm
All Ages. $40. per person, all supplies included.
44 W. 6th St. Studio 13
(enter from 9th Ave, around the corner from parking lot where red stairs are near the railroad tracks)

Learn the basics of acrylic painting. You get to go home with a painting too!

Community Artists Potluck & Artists Presentation
Wednesday Nov 30
6pm - 8pm
(feature topic TBA) (Free & All Ages)
44 W. 6th St. Studio 13
(enter from 9th Ave, around the corner from parking lot where red stairs are near the railroad tracks)

Tuesday, August 9, 2016

2016-7 Community Arts Internship Opportunities

Call for Mural Assistants and Interns

Help Beautify and Unify Tucson!



 2016 - 7 Mural Arts Internships Opportunities
We have several exciting internship opportunities open. If you are like to have fun, build community and work with a highly energized creative team of change makers and artists this opportunity is perfect for you.
(10 - 20 hrs a week) Mural Arts Program: This position includes assisting Lead Artists, visiting artists, working on mural projects and maintaining our inventory of murals.
(5 hrs week) Marketing & Development: Help fund raise and publicize TAB programs and opportunities.
(5 hrs week)  Assessment and Research: We are seeking social science or education majors familiar with a variety of approaches to evaluation, assessment and tracking tools.

Internship Positions reports to the Executive Director and supports the executive leadership team in daily operations.

What will I actually be doing?
  • Assisting Muralists as needed;
  • Preparing, priming walls, top coats.
  • Coordinate transportation and field trips;
  • Assist in material inventory and distribution;
  • Assist on documentation;
  • Assist Coordinating community paint days and projects;
  • Assist in identifying and securing healthy snacks;
  • Update calendar listings to local media, follow up calls;
  • Studio work: painting, cleaning, light lifting, preparing surfaces;
  • Painting and preparing walls.
  • Assist on Community Cultural Development initiatives, colloquia and meetings.
The ideal candidate will have:
  • Experience or interest in working within the field of community cultural development.
  • Excellent written and oral communication skills, a pleasant telephone manner and courteous and professional work style.
  • Capacity to execute tasks with accuracy, consistency and attention to detail.
  • Outstanding organizational/planning skills and the ability to work independently or as part of a team.
  • Ability to function professionally in an open studio environment.
  • A sense of humor and describe oneself as flexible and reliable.
  • Finger print clearance required for some tasks. (working with youth).
How to Apply: Submit information to: info@TucsonArtsBrigade.org
Please include contact information, schedule, CV or resume, and a cover letter that answers:

1. What interests you in this opportunity?
2. Briefly describe your most relevant experiences and skills for this position.
3. What should we know about you and/or your background that might not be evident in your CV/resume?

Sunday, June 19, 2016

Iconic Downtown Murals Become Destinations

Niki Glen's Pollinators Mural
Tucson, AZ: The Downtown Mural Program has been a huge success. There have been numerous stories in the press and social media is on fire. This program comes after years of hard work, experimentation and the perfect timing. Our most recent collaborations have brought joy, inspiration, dialogue, excitement and energy to our downtown.

Hundreds of people are coming downtown to see the murals, thousands more are talking about them. This is much more on the way, stay tuned!

This artwork is inspired by Tucson’s rich cultural diversity, history and urban fabric.
The project started back in late January on the heels of the City of Tucson Environmental Services mural project, and the new Traffic Control Box mural initiative. 

 The Arts Brigade issued a statewide call for Mural Artists to submit works, the selection committee, which included Julie Sasse Chief Curator Tucson Museum of Art, Ceci Garcia and Susan Silverman from the Tucson Pima Arts Council Public Art Committee,  Mary Lou Thompson of Tierra Antigua Realty and Brandi Haga-Blackman of the Downtown Tucson Partnership reviewed 58 applicants work. As you can see we were seeking muralists that would uphold the highest professional standards of quality, with delightful and inspiring themes.

We want to especially thank the Tohono O’odham Nation, Visit Tucson and Arts Brigade supporters for funding this project. Our partners Graffiti Protective Coatings, Park Tucson, and the Downtown Tucson Partnership provided critical in-kind services.

This project would have been impossible without the hard work and dedication of Sabrina Wilson, our Assistant Project Manager. Our artists are, Ignacio Garcia, Niki Glen, To-Ree-Nee Wolf, Rock Martinez assisted by Cristina Perez, Summer Kitchen Studios – Alexandra, Rachel and Tim, Jessica Gonzales, Luis Mena and Isaac Caruso.








A very special thank you also to the Businesses and property wall owners: Rialto Theatre, City of Tucson Housing and Community Development Department, 5 North 5th Hotel, CafĂ© 54, Wig-o-Rama, Century Link and John Wesley Miller. 

If you need additional information on the mural project, or how to support our efforts, visit our website at www.TucsonArtsBrigade.org

There were a number of great stories about the Downtown Mural project. Here are links to the Arizona Daily Star and Zocolo articles, which include some great writing, photographs and links to artist websites for you to enjoy.

9 new murals in downtown scream TUCSON
By Kathleen Allen Arizona Daily Star

Tucson’s New Outdoor Art Gallery
by Craig Baker, Zocolo Magazine


Monday, June 6, 2016

Mural Arts * Community * Inspiration *Hope *Joy!

Dear Friends of the Tucson Arts Brigade,

After 20 years of grassroots organizing, the Tucson Arts Brigade (TAB) has facilitated a vibrant Mural Arts Program for the entire Tucson community - and for that, we thank you. Already images of our eight new murals have become Downtown Tucson icons and the buzz is going viral! With your help, TAB will be able to sustain this momentum and continue to partner with the City of Tucson, local businesses and others to give artists an opportunity to sharp0en their skills, deter graffiti, and get paid! What better way can there be for the Tucson Arts Brigade to support artists in our community?

Even though the City of Tucson Mural Arts Program has been a great success and we have supported the creation of new public art works, we still need your help to keep TAB alive and thriving. Now you can help conserve and grow this citywide outdoor gallery. Preserving these monumental murals is no easy task. It takes time, resources and the sort of long standing commitment Arts Brigade has demonstrated since 1996.

Click Here 2 Donate

Today is your chance to jumpstart the TAB Summer Fundraiser Campaign, so please donate today! Help us prepare for the next wave of mural requests by helping us raise the $50,000 in matching funds needed to keep stable infrastructure support for TAB. This Campaign will sustain our ongoing efforts to hire artists to work in schools, neighborhoods, and community centers.

For the inaugural series of the City of Tucson Mural Arts Program, TAB managed a public art selection process, and produced 8 murals by 10 artists and 20 assistants in six weeks! Funding support was provided by the Tohono O'odham Nation, Visit Tucson and others to make this dream a reality. As the program manager, TAB provided critical technical support, extra materials and administrative guidance that guaranteed our success in downtown Tucson. We worked in partnership with eight businesses that included: Benjamin Supply Company, Rialto Theater, Wig-O-Rama, CafĂ© 54, Century Link, John Wesley Miller and others who were involved in the selection of the mural design for their sites. Each mural has become a destination point and the business owners are thrilled with the high level of media attention and overwhelming community celebration of the eight murals.

Now, we are asking you, the friends of the Tucson Arts Brigade, to build on this tremendous momentum and help us vision the next round of murals on utility boxes and walls all over Tucson and beyond. Our new mural motto was inspired by TAB artists: "Get permission. Get paid!"

At TAB, our vision is to curate a city-wide outdoor gallery of professional murals for Tucson. We have grown a team of highly skilled and energized interns who have been assisting with our growth and provided invaluable support by assisting with logistics, organizing mural meetings and assisting with the TAB Arts Education program. This fall we will be presenting more murals, hands on visual arts workshops, public forums, mural films and more. Your donations make it happen.

You help fund it all: the art supplies, the curriculum development, and even the artists. Often TAB workshops are the ONLY visual arts instruction that students receive in the public schools. The waiting list is filled with more than 50 schools, neighborhoods and community centers that are requesting services from TAB.

TAB Summer Fundraiser Campaign Donation Request:

    • $20 will provide art supplies for one student participant.
    • $50 will purchase one gallon of paint for a Tucson mural.
    • $100 will keep help Conserve our growing inventory of murals.
    • $250 supports a TAB Teaching Artist for one afternoon in a Tucson school.
    • $1,800 helps underwrite one mural


Donate to Tucson Arts Brigade
By mail: TAB P.O.Box 545, Tucson AZ 85702
Online: http://bit.ly/YrIrJh
By phone: 520-791-9359

Thank you all for your kind words, encouragement and unyielding support for the last 20 years. With your support, we have made our dream of showcasing world class murals in Downtown Tucson come true. Keep your eyes open for more exciting TAB news coming soon!

With utmost gratitude,


Michael Schwartz
Director Tucson Arts Brigade
www.TucsonArtsBrigade.org • info@TucsonArtsBrigade.org • EIN: 86-0996770
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P.S. - Don't forget to visit our website www.tucsonartsbrigade.org to download the Mural Program Map, join our mailing list, subscribe to the blog, and stay connected for all of the latest and greatest TAB news!

P.S.S. - Tell all of your friends to tag #tucsonartsbrigade whenever they post an image of one of the Downtown Tucson Murals so that we can receive notice and keep our artists connected to and supported by TAB!







Friday, June 3, 2016

Neighborhood Based Cultural Programs and the Emerging Eco -Industrial Era

Neighborhood Based Cultural Programs 

and the Emerging Eco -Industrial Era


by Michael B. Schwartz community arts practitioner
( ** This writing was a part of the 2009 MICA Community Arts Convening**)


This article explores the possibilities and challenges faced by community artists in the Eco Industrial Era. Issues of process, aesthetics and cross-disciplinary collaborations in works of participatory art will be investigated.
    We are standing in the dawn of a new era, a moment in time that challenges us to transform, mend and rebuild the world we co-inhabit. This is an exciting time to dream, create and organize. Economic, social and environmental challenges are being confronted through the retrofitting and repair of our nations infrastructure resulting in an increasing demand for high tech green jobs. Green job training centers are sprouting up nationwide, coupled by a proliferation of micro industries from solar fabrication and installation to water harvesting, development of new building materials, food and craft products. Community artists exist at the center of this change, equipped with the skills and sensibilities essential to focusing group creative energy and building grassroots social, cultural and economic networks. These overlapping micro networks constitute the backbone of America’s cultural and economic legacy. This is where the sound of music lessons blends with the smells of breakfast, in the cellars, garages and kitchens throughout our nation.  
©2016 Rocky Martinez/Tucson Arts Brigade

    Much of the popular attention paid to the arts revolves around the critically important and valuable work supported by traditional cultural institutions. In the world of community arts we seek to build a bridge between the kitchen and these institutions, to make cultural resources accessible and understandable. In the process of walking between these two worlds cultural workers have developed a unique tool box - one that may be more valuable than we think as the world reels from a ritualistic pattern of economic, political and social disasters.

    How will we in the field of community arts contribute to the development to our nation’s aesthetic, cultural, environmental, political and economic development over the next 50 years? One solution is to find our seat at tables of power, to advocate for state and federal level cabinet positions. Additionally, we can organize and advocate for a funding structure that provides neighborhoods and community-based artists with the resources, training and skills needed to employ the arts in helping communities express identity, build community life, and inspire new creative green industries.

    As we put America back to work rebuilding the nation's infrastructure community artists can contribute to the participatory design, building and animation of development projects. Examples might include wastewater treatment facilities, the development of interpretational community gardens, out-door education and human energy station parks, pedestrian centered plazas, roadways, bridges and public buildings. Classes, seminars and workshops would assist in the development of green businesses marketing locally produced crafts, services and materials. 

    The planning and administration of these projects would be participatory, transparent, and provide employment for numerous individual artists, members of small ensembles and organizations. As artists partner with green job training centers, each participating community would create industries unique to its bioregion, employing local potters, painters, performing artists, musicians and others who are part of the creative economy.

    The practices, tools and techniques employed in community-based cultural development are symbiotic to the Sustainable Design job training process and struggles for self-determination. The process employed by community arts practitioners distinguishes us from all other cultural fields, and this is reflected in the end product of our work.

Process and Product: The aesthetics of participatory visual art projects.


    Bringing together a group of people to conceive of, design, create and celebrate works of visual art is exciting, time intensive and dynamic. As community muralists we want participants to be empowered, inspired and have a feeling of ownership to the process and final product. Unfortunately funding all too often is directed towards outcome, product, rather than innovative new approaches to community arts process with unpredictable and magnificent results. The reasons given vary, but usually revolve around aesthetics and timelines.

    Over the past 50 years many thousands of murals have been created using a broad spectrum of approaches to community engagement. (1) These practices are as varied as the artists who are employed. There are still challenges, unrealized opportunities and journeys to be taken in this realm. Opportunities include critically engaging communities in the planning, design and creation phases of murals using cross-disciplinary techniques, functional and eco-tech murals.

    When we see a mural designed and painted by a single lead artist we marvel at the beauty and technical mastery of the final product. These works have a participatory component in terms of the aesthetic experience. When using a projection/ photo-shop technique we can teach almost anyone to create highly representational imagery, thereby demystifying the art making process. A paint-by-number approach to engagement is a gateway experience to the arts and may be a giant leap for some. In this model the artist often parachutes in to create a beautiful work with only a modest amount of civic engagement.

    I feel that as community artists it is our responsibility to impart an understanding of individual creativity and poetic thinking. How can we observe or remember something, and then draw or paint it? How can we connect with our creative sensibilities through poetry, music or movement arts? What happens when we combine these creative sensibilities and modalities to orchestrate our voices, research and stories into a single work of art?

   As community muralists we need to be able to step out of our traditional role as lead artists and into the role of lead artist facilitators. This means setting aside personal and professional aesthetic preferences and guiding others through the design and painting of a mural. The artist transmits technical information, leads the process and listens carefully to issues and ideas continuously dovetailing them into the process. We demystify the mural making experience through lessons on mural technique and history. Differences become strengths as we work towards visual and spoken consensus. This mix of dialogue and art making combined with peer-peer education, sharing of stories and research is dynamic. The work that emerges is not our own, it belongs to the group. The satisfaction here, for me, is in the process, in seeing eyes light up, walls of isolation melt and hope restored.

    Murals are fantastic because they have a beginning, middle and end. Once the project is complete there is a palpable sense of collective accomplishment. Feeling connected and empowered many participants carry on the work. Evaluations of projects I have co-facilitated include numerous success stories. For example:
  • Students at Pueblo Gardens Elementary School in Tucson created a comic book club after participating in a year long dialogue based mural project. The multi year, multi disciplinary Art Genesis’s Arts Build project resulted in dramatic improvement on test scores in reading, writing and arithmetic.
  • Artists and business people in Newark, Delaware established the successful Newark Arts Alliance as a result of a participatory Grassroots Cultural Resource Assessment.
  • Inspired and informed by a year- long participatory mural with the Rotunda in Philadelphia the Rite of Passage project is formed.
  • Dunbar Spring, home to a number of our community arts programs, is described as one of the safest and civicly engaged neighborhoods in Tucson.
  • The City of Tucson amended our building code to allow straw bail construction after a group of arts activists illegally constructed a straw bail house at the Pima County courthouse the night before an annual homeless encampment. (We removed it several weeks later transforming it into a gallery installation.)
Differences of opinion often arise when it’s time to integrate our ideas. Modeling consensus-based listening and non-violent communication skills has a positive impact on participants. For example:
During a participatory mural at Richey Elementary School in Tucson two fifth grade boys working on the image of a low rider together were arguing about the perspective of the car - a side view or front view. Each stated their case, why they felt strongly about this issue. And then one asked the other - to my delight - “so what is our compromise?” They decided they were both wrong and created a worm eye view in two-point perspective, together they came up with a better third solution.
Participatory murals stimulate civic participation through a shared experience by providing a forum for creative integration of ideas. This dialogue to drawing process, combined with music, movement, writing and painting builds trust and familiarity. When a mural is finished people can see, hear, feel, smell and taste the change they have created.

Part 2: Participatory Models: Community Engagement Learning Labs (CELL)


    The Community Engagement Learning Lab (CELL) is a laboratory for the development of innovative new practices involving groups in the design and creation of multi-disciplinary artworks. The curriculum for CELL is informed by dozens of successful collaborations with schools, community centers and a broad spectrum of civic and neighborhood that I have developed organizations over the past 24 years.

    The CELL story includes a conference of community artists in 1995. At the event seventy-five of us shared skills, resources, stories and identified areas for growth. The group described a gap in cultural programming during after-school and weekend hours. A sub-group continued to meet and six months later our ad-hoc association became the Tucson Arts Brigade, an arts and education organization dedicated to the participatory arts with an emphasis on mural production and professional arts education for youth and adults. (2)

    TAB grew organically, with one initiative leading to another. We produced murals, parades, puppets, prints, workshops, performances, publications, summer mural camps, arts education  training, conflict resolution, nonviolence, consensus-based decision-making and curriculum development. We established the Community Arts Lab (CAL) that soon became a multi-lingual popular education center with presenters on topics ranging from permaculture design to border rights collaborating with artists in a variety of media. CAL was flooded with meeting notes, brainstorm charts, and works in progress. We had 7 year-old students inventing seed art paper with poetry, and neighborhood elders who came to share stories.

    One of those stories was of a local Depression Era saying; “If you have nothing to do, make adobe bricks”. These adobe bricks made from the sand and clay along the fingers to the Santa Rita River were used to barter for food or services. Everyone needs an additional room or just a place to call home.

    Process reveals stories that make us who we are. New stories are created and woven to the old.  At TAB we brought arts education out of the classroom and into the community. We found that some people were better at expressing an idea or feeling through poetry, music or movement than in visual art. The process of expanding a mural project to include video editing, lighting, choreography and sound results in exciting projects with very unexpected results.

    The projects described below speak to the topic of holistic practices in community arts that can be integrated into green job training programs. The first three took place in Tucson, the fourth in Philadelphia. Each project employs a spiral-based curriculum over an extended period of time. Most participants were involved in a variety of civic organizations ranging from activist and religious groups, to home-school associations and senior centers. Each of these projects integrated assessment and educational philosophies informed by theories of Multiple Intelligence's, the popular education movement as well as grassroots organizing and facilitation techniques.

1) “We Give Birth to a Choice Each Day” 1998



 “We Give Birth to a Choice Each Day” received significant media. (3) Over 100 people participated in bringing this project to fruition, including 48 artists who helped to paint the mural every Monday for over a year. Participants ranged in age from 5 – 78 and included many cultures and perspectives. It was one in a series that included discussions about place, community and transformation. The wall is located in the Dunbar Spring Neighborhood, known for civic participation, progressive and environmental values. The core group working on this project included writers, gardeners, environmentalists, artists and neighborhood residents.

    The design process took six months and included potlucks, benefits, meetings and break out projects facilitated by group members. One of those projects involved animating characters from our drawings and journals as large-scale puppets (including one that gave birth) for our annual May Day parade. There were a couple of participants who were pregnant and influenced the mural title and parade theme “Women of the Earth Take Back Your Birth”. Another break out project involved reproducing the final mural design in chalk during the Downtown with the Arts Festival. Dozens of us spent hours carefully crafting the piece. As the clock struck 11pm the night watchman emerged unannounced and started to hose the work down. It was a sad but hilarious scene. On one side of the mural artists of all ages and walks of life scolding while furiously attempting to finish their work and on the other a man with a badge hosing away the chalk.

    Another ongoing side project was writing and group poetry as a way of developing our ideas or overcoming group creative blocks. This group poem was assembled over a series of months and gives voice to the images in the mural.

WE GIVE BIRTH TO A CHOICE EACH DAY

On this broken ground
We have common ground.
We can break this gridlock
into a new cycle.

With every contraction
of our city blocks of Industry
We can expand ourselves
by building on blocks of Nature
Turning our social classes
into classes of being social
once again.

Transforming our cycle
from subsistence in sustenance
from waste into growth
from contention into intention
from wheeling dealing into healing
from reformation into restoration
from overgrowth into growth
from impoverishment into nourishment
from descension into ascension
from coercion into cohesion
from justified into justice
from non-existence into coexistence
from complexity into simplicity
from city dwellings into homes
once again.

- Collectively Written by Tucson Arts Brigade, ©1998
Edited by Tina Huerta

    The energy for this mural reflected a theme in many of our works: the duplicity of living in an urban environment, amidst a highly industrialized nation, while cherishing nature and a politics of meaning.

    The final mural unveiling was a multi hour event starting with a meal, speakers, awards, gifts, poetry and music. (4) One of the bands was a metal band and it was exhilarating to see the youth body surfing and dancing wildly as elders stood by smiling. The music wasn’t too loud, and there was still plenty of food.

2) “Seeds of Life” 1999

    Food seems to play a consistent role in my work. “Seeds for Life” was a project that emerged from the local practice of native seeds preservation. The work was designed and created by 26 people in the spring of 1999 during biweekly workshops. These artists ranged in age from 12 - 58 and came from a diversity of communities throughout Tucson.

    The process involved the drawing of an elaborate design conceived over twelve weeks. Bevin Dunn, an artist who uses natural materials, Susan Silverman of the GREEN Project, Henry and D’ana Soto on the Davis Garden Project “El Jardin de los Ninos” each presented their work. The group drew and wrote individually in project journals, then mapped and discussed ideas. Each session new people joined the process of learning, dialogue, writing, drawing and painting. As our project and process evolved a group creative dynamic started to emerge. In those silent creative moments people began to draw similar imagery, using line, colors, textures and shading to connect various forms and shapes. We decided our ideas could be organized using the four elements; air, water, fire and earth. Breakout projects emerged like the creation of painted cardboard seeds with participant poetry written on them “planted” around our neighborhoods.

    We decided to create a freestanding sunflower shaped mural with a billboard on the back for a local organic farm. Seeing the final product on site was exhilarating. As we planted sunflowers at the base of the work everything connected, from the birth of our idea to the garden food at the unveiling. As a result of this project we brought new volunteers to the small farm and established our first pigment garden.

3) “Gaia” 2002

    The TAB Youth Arts Training Program (YATP) offered fine art classes, workshops and events involving arts education, training and development, after school and summer fine arts programs for ages 4-17 featuring visiting artists and innovative curriculum.

    This project involved eight YATP youth, performance art instructor Navab Murnith and myself. Students expressed an interest in environmental issues and doing something for earth day. We invited board member and professor Bella Vivante to read, in Greek, the Gaia story. As a group we read the translation and discussed the origins and ideas revolving around the Gaia concept. Our small group size promoted an intimate dialogue while providing time to develop personal and collective ideas, ask questions and delegate visual research tasks. As a result there was a deeper understanding of the Gaia concept, of the earth as a living being.

   Originally we had planned to design and paint a mural using movement arts to brainstorm and integrate our ideas. Many of the youth had been involved in past projects and suggested that we branch out into other art forms. They wanted to embody the idea of Gaia - literally become the art, the figures in the mural. We started to take apart the elements of a mural - community, people, action, color, form, space, place, movement, lines, smell and sound. This mixture of artistic techniques, holistic thinking and language was turning into a multi-media performance. We invited Jade Stokes, a local video teacher, to document our process and lead several video-editing sessions.

    We discussed creating a performance with live audience, but decided that the video would be the final product. As in many of our projects we combined the use of storytelling, visual art and technology. The video was distributed to participants and aired on our local Access TV. (5)

    This project demonstrated the power of eco-mythology to inspire creativity. The kids expressed a strong affinity for the theme, and saw the video as a personal way of documenting their experience and sharing it with the public. The video itself is powerful not only in that the youth created and directed the piece but as a stand alone work of environmentally themed art.

4) Collective Imprints 2008


    Collective Imprints (CI) sought to animate the mission of the Rotunda in Philadelphia;
“Fueled by the belief that art is a catalyst for social change and that the arts can lead to the formation of meaningful partnerships between the University of Pennsylvania and its surrounding community, The Rotunda is a community gathering place for the promotion of arts and culture.”
Over 300 events are presented annually, including live music, spoken word, theater, film, art, dance, and education.

    CI started as a conversation with Gina Renzi, Director of the Rotunda about a participatory work of visual art that could build community among those who utilized the venue. We invited others to become part of our dialogue. After a series of meetings we agreed on two 4’ x 40’ murals on masonite panels to be installed in front of the venue’s two overhanging balconies.

    We developed an organic curriculum, one that could twist and turn as needed. Working with movement artist Jodi Netzer we developed an important element to the design process. Integrating movement and theater helped build group affinity, cleared blocks to the creative process and clarified overlapping narratives.
“We created gestures, mimicked those of the people around us, traced imaginary paths along the floor, bent our bodies into untested shapes, and used movement to act out the themes that we've been developing throughout CI. All along, our movements were sharing stories that our words couldn't. Eventually, we formed smaller groups and chose themes such as West Philadelphia's origins, perceptions of the neighborhood, and local Hip Hop. Incorporating the Viewpoints principles, we created movement skits, each of which differed significantly from the last. In doing so, we taught and were taught”
 -CI  participant (6)
    In addition to utilizing movement, dialogue and writing music became a feature during the workshops. Musician Bill Feiger shared a new instrument each week creating a live sound track for the project. Each session included structured group dialogue, painting time and a group wrap up where we would quietly reflect in our journals.
“Joining CI was one of the more rewarding things I’ve done in the past year. Drawing and painting became for me what I always knew it would be - an expressive way to meditate and create. But, it also gave me something that I hadn’t expected- a tool of empowerment, a sense of confidence and a source of joy.” – participant
    There are a number of thoughtful participant writings that emerged, several can be found on the project blog. (7) A group of University of Pennsylvania education students actively observed and wrote about the project, submitting their findings to the school president.

    One year and over one hundred and fifty participants later the work was installed in time for May Day. The unveiling was a work of art in itself, with food, music, a video about the project, spoken word descriptions of the mural and finally a collective movement dance party.

Community Based Eco-Cultural Development

    Reflecting on these projects I have expanded on a number of themes that correspond to the development of curriculum for green community arts training programs.

1) An Opportunity for Creative Training


Provide training in a variety of artistic media, in a creative and imaginative environment.
These skills include administrative and studio time for building artistic skills. Specific training areas could include;
  • Creative facilitation skills for participatory planning and production of art projects, development of active-visual assessment techniques.
  • Knowledge in a variety of models of cultural production and pedagogy.
  • An understanding of the historical and cultural context for eco-industrialism that includes an analysis of cultural democracy and policy.
  • Modeling empathy, holistic thinking, cross-cultural and non-violent communication.
  • Multi disciplinary collaboration.
  • Technical aspects of preparing and delivering a variety of proposals.
  • Fostering and guiding creative, divergent approaches to problem solving.
  • Design skills for workers entering into the field of remodeling and interior design.
2) Cross Disciplinary Integrated Research Opportunities

A green arts training center would support, encourage and foster integrated training and collaboration among science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM) professionals. Collaborations would seek to identify new opportunities for ecologically sustainable development including the development of agriculture, energy and building materials. Eco-villages such as Gaviotas, Colombia, Arcosanti, Arizona and Auroville, India, demonstrate that bringing together a mixture of artists, builders, ecologists and scientists can result in fantastic innovations. (8) Example projects might include:
  • Development of new papers, local pigments, inks and dry media.
  • Development of unutilized resources from waste treatment facilities, factories and land fills.
  • Develop a formula to conduct a carbon count on community arts projects. What practices do we need to alter?
  • Community Arts based conservation initiatives combined with Green technologies such as solar panels, water harvesting, growing food, composting, recycling and waste reduction.
3) Implementation of Model Projects
  • Provide high visibility green community arts projects through permaculture murals and interdisciplinary public works projects.
  • Place making projects that foster stewardship through civic engagement.
  • Develop, facilitate and evaluate green arts service and infrastructure projects.
4) Employing Visual Consensus

Understanding the differences between visual and spoken consensus is something one has to experience to appreciate. There is no direct route to visual consensus within a community design group. Like all community arts practices it’s about building trust, honoring the individual voice, drawing upon an abundance of expertise and creating a safe place to express ones ideas. As a group learns to communicate it’s not uncommon to experience group visual epiphanies.

Imagine Barriers Dissolving

    What are the challenges of participatory art making? There are a number of issues that revolve around trust, accountability and safety. Within participatory visual arts projects the sense of vulnerability is informed by previous art making experiences, perhaps being chastised or having some sort of negative “art-room” experience. Untangling this web of self -doubts and detrimental art instruction is part of the trust building process.
“The move from our journals to the panels was a scary one. Before that, it was okay for us to praise the whole “not an artist movement”, but that was cool as long as no one really had to see what we drew! On the panel, it was all you, and whatever you put on there would be there for everyone to see. Yikes. Armed with a pencil and a mighty eraser, we got down to business.
I decided to start drawing an idea I had with a couple of other women involved in the sessions. The idea began as a tree with various fists making up the trunk of the tree, and growing out into branches representing the growing movements and power that comes out of the Rotunda, and the community as a whole. Although initially intimidating, the vibe was perfect. “There’s a very supportive atmosphere, so even if someone is like, ‘Oh, I can’t do that’, it still connects to what maybe someone else is doing,” says another participant and facilitator. The idea overrules the insecurities you may have about it.” After a few weeks of drawing, it was time to bust out the paints. By this time, with the support of the collective, plunging into this next step wasn’t so scary.” –CI  project participant (9)
   The group creative process can be intimidating at first. Creating a safe place for people to authentically share without feeling coerced, is critical.

  Hand eye coordination and observation, visual intuition, teaches people to observe rather than name. This is a great metaphor for the change we seek. We have to be sensitive to the complex nature of individual creative process, memory and experience.

An example is described by another CI participant:
“My first (and only) memory of trying to draw is from when I was six or seven years old. I remember it vividly – I wanted to draw a sunset I had seen on the beach in Florida. The image was crystal clear in my head (and it still is), but I struggled to put that vision onto paper. It’s not my happiest memory, to be honest – it ends with me tearing paper and throwing markers, but I’m sure that the clarity with which I still recall it indicates the magnitude of its impact on my psychology.
 Whenever I try to draw, or map, or chart my ideas into something visual, I feel like I run into a brick wall. I’m an okay thinker, but when it comes to the visual creative manifestation of my ideas – nothing.

 I’m not sure what I was expecting him to do, how I anticipated he’d advise me. I assumed it would be an art lesson, a basic drawing tutorial, maybe even a concession that some people just aren’t visual artists. But instead of teaching and instruction, he offered me a diagnosis and a prescription.

 We performed a few technical exercises designed to separate my hand (and the act of drawing) from my mind (and the act of thinking). And after just a few minutes, Schwartz told me the problem – I was too critical, too analytical, too concerned – not even concerned, but obsessed – with what the final image would look like, that before I even picked up my pencil, I had already stifled my imagination. And he was right.”
(10)
These stories of personal transformation are imbued in the spirit of the work we create. 

Following our Intuition: Time for Action

    Community artists are vital to the emerging eco-industrial era. Our participation, however, is not guaranteed. To seize this unique moment in history will require persistence. We must continue to dialogue, organize and reach out to colleagues in a variety of sectors.

    So what are some things we can do to bring together the Green Jobs and Community Arts training movements?
  • Collaborate with colleagues and job training centers to develop curriculum and offer new courses.
  • Establish working alliances with local environmental groups.
  • Organize community dialogues and projects.
  • Develop, document and implement model projects based on community need. Present your findings to city council.
  • Develop, maintain and shop lists of local site-specific “shovel ready” green arts projects.
Yes We Are!

    Community artists have a vast wealth of knowledge and skills perfectly suited to implementing participatory green-arts projects that model stewardship for our planet. Integrating our practices, passions and talents with green job training centers can result in bountiful harvests. This dream may not be a far off. The realities of climate change, coupled with a global economy, are forcing us to alter every aspect of our lives. It is impossible to negotiate these changes without a conversation about cultural democracy and a need to reconcile our nation’s formal and informal cultural policies. The natural place for this conversation is within the green jobs and community arts movements where shared values for self-determination have tangible results.

Seeds for Life Sunflower Mural

Michael B Schwartz (MFA 1991, University of Arizona School of Art, BFA 1988 Tyler School of Art at Temple University) is a community artist whose work includes civic engagement murals, inter- disciplinary collaborations and cultural democracy activism. His life and work have been spent on the front lines of the community arts and activism movements.

Footnotes:

1. William Walker, 1967, “The Wall of Respect,” on 43rd and Langley Streets in Chicago.

2. Tucson Arts Brigade www.TucsonArtsBrigade.org

3. Image of We Give Birth to a Choice Each Day Mural:

4. Near the completion of the mural Sean Burlew, a project participant and friend, was killed by a drunk driver. He was an irreplaceable member of our community who brought people together with gardening, bicycles and laughter. He led critical mass bike rides, planted gardens with kids and was active in numerous civic projects, including the mural. His death, sudden and unexpected had an impact on the mural and the ensuing celebrations.

5. Tucson Community Cable Corporation  http://accesstucson.org/

6. Renzi, Gina “It’s simple. Move.”, 1/1/08Philly Creative Guide http://www.phillycreativeguide.com/guest/guest_columnist_20080101.aspx

7. http://collectiveimprints.blogspot.com/

8. Gaviotas, Colombia: http://www.friendsofgaviotas.org/Home.html
Auroville, India: http://www.auroville.org/
Arcosanti, Arizona: http://www.arcosanti.org/

9. Pierre-Louis, Marly  “Square Rootz Tries: Painting a Mural” 4/28/2008

10. Richman, Peter  “Catalysis”, 12/14/07, http://collectiveimprints.blogspot.com/2007/12/catalysis.html


Friday, May 27, 2016

EVENT TO SHOWCASE DOWNTOWN MURALS


The City of Tucson Economic Initiatives Office will showcase the eight murals painted as part of the City of Tucson Mural Program. The event will be held Tuesday, May 31 at 8 a.m., in the parking lot across the street from Benjamin Supply Co., 440 N. 7th Ave. Speakers include Mayor Jonathan Rothschild, Tucson Arts Brigade Director Michael Schwartz and other participants in the program. 



Eight Tucson artists designed and painted the murals as part of the pilot program to beautify downtown, add visual interest, attract residents and visitors to the area, and reduce tagging. The City contracted with the Tucson Arts Brigade to coordinate the project with the hope that the program also will improve urban aesthetics and ultimately save taxpayers money. 


Artists were selected from 58 applicants who ranged from established painters to first-time muralists. The artists are Ignacio Garcia, To-Ree-Nee Wolf, SummerStudios, Rock Martinez, Isaac Caruso, Jessica Gonzales, Luis Mena, and Niki Glen. Corresponding property owners participating in the program include: Rialto Theatre, 5 North Fifth, LLC, Café 54, Benjamin Supply Co., John Wesley Miller, Wig-O- Rama, Century Link, and the City of Tucson Housing and Community Development department.
 
The project is a result of a $50,000 grant provided by the Tohono O’odham Nation, with an additional $2,000 in funding from Visit Tucson. Graffiti Protective Coatings, Park Tucson, and the Downtown Tucson Partnership provided in-kind services.

Monday, May 23, 2016

Downtown Mural Unvieling May 31, 8am

Nikki Glenn's mural features pollinators of the Sonoran Bioregion

If you've been downtown in recent weeks you have probably noticed that Arts Brigade Muralists are hard at work creating eight monumental works of beautiful art amidst the bustle of downtown development. The work is far from over. This is where you come in, as you admire and take pictures of these spectacular works we invite you to join the excitement by supporting Tucson Arts Brigade.











People who donate $100 or more will receive a special limited edition of eight postcards of the final murals.

These new murals represent the continuation of an exciting city wide mural program and collaboration with the City of Tucson as we continue to hire artists to work in schools, neighborhoods and community centers to beautify and unify the places we live and work.

Your support means we will be able to maintain our growing inventory of murals, and expand opportunity to even more artists. Employing fine artists to bring beauty and joy to our neighborhoods and centers of civic life is what Arts Brigade does best. So we hope you will join with us to celebrate this unique moment by making a donation to a very special arts organization.

We invite you to join us this Tuesday for a special event:

Downtown Murals: Artists Forum

When: Tuesday May 24, 6-7pm
Ages: All Ages, Free and Open to the Public
Where: Lower Level Meeting Room, Pima County Public Library, 101 N Stone Ave.

Lead Muralists and assistants will share their experiences of being muralists, painting downtown, building a mural movement life as an artist.

Presented by the City Of Tucson Mural Program, and management partner Tucson Arts Brigade.
Click Here for More Information


Students from various schools have been going on mural tours and getting a first hand account from muralists.


**As a supporter of the Tucson Arts Brigade we want to invitee you to a special unveiling ceremony for the Downtown Mural Project**

Tuesday May 31, 8am
Benjamin Plumbing Supply
440 N 7th Ave 85705


Ignacio Garcia's mural in progress at the Rialto Theater.
Isaac Carusos Mural on Scott Ave.

Thursday, May 19, 2016

Downtown Mural Project Map: Eight Artist Teams at Work

©2016 Isaac Curuso/Tucson Arts Brigade
Our first mural by artist Isaac Curuso, is finished. Eight more are being produced this month. Come on downtown and see what all the excitement is about!

Watch as seven more murals transform the downtown landscape.

This is the perfect moment to make a tax deductible donation to the Tucson Arts Brigade Inc. You can donate safely here.

Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Community Design Review Meeting

The City of Tucson Mural Program, managed by the Tucson Arts

Brigade had a fantastic open house April 26 at the Pima County Public Main Library in the Lower Level Meeting Room. The community at large had the opportunity to review the eight mural designs. Murals are being painted downtown starting May 2. The audience had many questions, and an opportunity to directly interact with the artists.

Painting will continue through June 6.

This call was issued statewide. We are delighted that Issac Caruso, will be painting at 9 North Scott Ave. and  Pete Goldlust, at Old Scrappy’s, 213 East Broadway 85701. Both artists will be traveling to Tucson to paint their murals. We are still seeking assistance for accommodations for the artists. If you can help drop us a line!


 Rachel Slick, Tim Schirack, and Alexandra Gjurasic, at CafĂ© 54, 54 East Pennington

 Niki Glen, at the West corner of 5th Ave and Toole

 Jessica Gonzales, at Wig-O-Rama, 98 East Congress

Rocky Martinez, at Benjamin Supply, 440 North 7th Ave.

 Ignacio Garcia at the Rialto Theater, 318 E Congress St, Tucson, AZ 85701

 Luis Mena, at Century Link, 142 E Pennington


This project is a program of the City Of Tucson Mural Program, which is managed by the Tucson Arts Brigade with funding from the Tohono O’odham Nation, Friends of Tucson Arts Brigade and Visit Tucson. Additional support is being provided by the Downtown Tucson Partnership and Graffiti Protective Coatings, Inc. (GPC) .