嘿嘿视频

Murals Old and New At 2 嘿嘿视频 Campuses

MU Patio Mural Anniversary Celebrated; Health System Gets New Wide Open Walls Mural

Struggle, progress and paint: the MU patio mural

By Nat Curiel

Ever notice the 20-foot-tall mural on the south side of the Memorial Union? You've likely walked past it on your way into or out of the building or, sitting at a picnic table in the south patio, you might have looked up from your work or lunch and wondered about the faces and figures depicted in it.

For most of 2021, when The Unfinished Dream mural turned 30, few people were on campus to wonder about or even notice it. Now that students are back, the time seems right for a belated anniversary celebration and鈥攖hrough hearing from the artists who painted it, students and administrators who participated in its creation and others鈥攖o take a look into its dramatic backstory, and why it remains surprisingly relevant today. 

At the start of May 1990, around 200 students marched to Mrak Hall to protest what they perceived to be discriminatory practices in the Spanish department and to highlight the need for higher retention and recruitment rates among students from underrepresented communities. By the middle of the month, four students motivated by these and related concerns had launched a water-only hunger strike on the steps of Mrak Hall.

The strikers鈥擩os茅 Qui帽onez, Andrea Gaytan, Gopal Dayaneni and Ahmanal Dorsey鈥攄emanded three things: an official investigation into the alleged racism in the Spanish department; an increase in the number of full-time faculty members in the ethnic studies programs and the immediate establishment of an ethnic and cultural center on campus.

鈥淭he administration has been promising us each of our demands since 1960,鈥 said Andrea Gaytan 鈥92, one of the four striking students, as quoted in a May 1990 issue of The Aggie. 鈥淲e need action, not rhetoric.鈥

The strike鈥攚hich began on May 14, 1990鈥攍asted six days and concluded with an agreement between the students and university administration on a plan for adding ethnic studies faculty, a cross-cultural center and investigating concerns about discrimination in the Spanish department and elsewhere on campus. 鈥淚鈥檓 pleased that these issues, about which the students feel very deeply, have been clarified and that our planning for a cross-cultural center and for addressing racism is proceeding so well,鈥 said then-chancellor Hullar in The Aggie.

While a mural wasn鈥檛 among the strikers鈥 stated demands, Gaytan noted that it had been a topic of discussion among student activists, as well as with administrators like Griselda Castro, a now-retired assistant vice chancellor in Student Affairs and career-long champion of art on campus. 鈥淏ut we figured by the time a public piece of art would be up for display, we would have starved to death,鈥 said Gaytan, laughing. 鈥淎nd we wanted students to be able to give input.鈥

Before work on the mural could begin, artists Miranda Bergman and Kim Anno held a listening session with students to gather feedback on their initial design.

In May 1991, after about a year's planning, Anno and Bergman got to work on the mural. The four hunger strikers could walk by and watch it being painted, along with the rest of campus. Students from the Art department came out and helped with the work.

"We were creating something that was a container for a lot of dialogue,鈥 said Anno. 鈥淎nd resolution of conflict, after coming out of the hunger strike 鈥 we were trying to figure out how to have a bridge to create a new world.鈥

Public art's power to embrace conflict and catharsis鈥攁s well as community aspirations, was on the minds of artists Miranda Bergman and Kim Anno when they visited the 嘿嘿视频 campus in late summer 2021 to see the mural and sit down for .

"I think particularly on a university campus, [art] gives students something to wonder about鈥攖hink about, research,鈥 said Anno. The ones that really work, added Bergman, are pieces that truly engage and reflect where they are located. 

Contemplating how The Unfinished Dream might look different if it were painted today, the artists noted that gender fluidity and the Black Lives Matter movement would have to be represented. 鈥淲e titled our mural 鈥楾he Unfinished Dream鈥 because it is unfinished 鈥 still,鈥 said Bergman.

In Gaytan's view, the mural and symbols like it can help raise awareness and inspire people to be determined and keep going in the face of obstacles. "The work is constant, and the commitment is going to be a long-term one," she said. 鈥淏eing on a university campus as vibrant as 嘿嘿视频 is a great place to work toward ending injustices.鈥

For Castro, that 嘿嘿视频 is on the cusp of becoming a Hispanic-Serving Institution, or HSI, serves to show how far the university has come. 鈥The Unfinished Dream was a mural about the work in progress, and the miles to go,鈥 she said. 鈥淢any miles have been covered, but it鈥檚 still in progress. Still evolving.鈥 

Original post and video is .

New Wide Open Walls mural painted at 嘿嘿视频 Health

Courtesy, 嘿嘿视频 Health Insider

As part of , the Sacramento mural festival, artist (Liv) painted a mural at the entrance of Parking Structure No. 2 located off Y Street.  The mural festival was conceived to activate spaces throughout Sacramento and promote diversity through artistic expressions. This is that has been painted on the Sacramento campus as part of Wide Open Walls.

Liv attended the School of the Arts in San Francisco, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and the University of Pennsylvania. She has been drawing since before she could write and has painted murals professionally since 2020.

This Wide Open Walls mural depicts bright California poppies and now greets visitors at the entrance to Parking Structure No. 2 at 嘿嘿视频 Health.
This Wide Open Walls mural, of bright California poppies, now greets visitors at the entrance to Parking Structure No. 2 at 嘿嘿视频 Health.

鈥淐alifornia poppies are so beautiful and resilient 鈥 they grow in sidewalk cracks all over California,鈥 said Liv. 鈥淚 think these large-scale poppies growing triumphantly out of the concrete of the parking structure are the perfect welcoming image for folks coming into the hospital. Resilience, beauty, kindness, and growth are all themes I thought about while designing this piece.  I'm also obsessed with using bright colors to paint happiness into all my pieces.鈥 

"It was such a beautiful, positive experience painting this mural and I felt so welcomed by the folks here. Health care workers, in particular, are heroes in this really difficult time we're living through, and I can't thank them enough for their generosity and hospitality both to me in this very specific circumstance and in general to the citizens of Sacramento.鈥

Media Resources

Arts Blog Editor: Karen Nikos-Rose, kmnikos@ucdavis.edu

Primary Category

Secondary Categories

Society, Arts & Culture

Tags