Jonathan Cohen's photos with the keyword: Balmy Alley

It has been said that the best way to view the murals of the Mission is through the windshield of the number 14 bus. Indeed, MUNI’s line 14 carries over 36,000 passengers on its daily runs through the Mission District. In this mural, native children and tropical landscapes juxtapose a rocket-propelled city bus. This mural was a community effort created as part of a Precita Eyes workshop, designed and painted by Elba Rivera, Barbara Devaney, Laura Smith, Keith Lewis, David Isaacson, and Oscar H. Directed by Susan Cervantes and 2 kids Georgina and Jr.

In Buddhism, a bodhisattva is an enlightened (bodhi) being (sattva). Traditionally, a bodhisattva is anyone who, motivated by great compassion, has experienced a spontaneous wish to attain Buddhahood for the benefit of all sentient beings. In Mahayana Buddhism, Manjushri is a bodhisattva associated with transcendent wisdom. In Esoteric Buddhism he is also taken as a meditational deity. The Sanskrit name Manjushri can be translated as "Gentle Glory", "Soft Glory" , "Wondrous Auspiciousness." In the mural Manjushri reaches his hand out in a mudra gesture, symbolizing assistance to others. His other hand holds a lotus flower, a symbol of purification and his sword cuts through ignorance.The mural merges iconic images from 17th century Tibetan Art with elements borrowed from Latin American art. It is dedicated to the Dalai Lama. Marta Ayala is a Latin American woman artist specializing in public murals and paintings. A native of El Salvador, Marta has been a resident of San Francisco since 1968. Her work combines colorful and vibrant images and forms evoking memories from her childhood, ancient cultures and above all, rocks, stones and water. In a sense, Ayala’s work falls into the mainsteam of American art. Her cultural heritage is evident in her primitive approach. In a statement to [me], Marta Ayala sums up her philosophy: "My vision is called primitive because the vivid colors and naive representations call forth ancient emotions. They are a vibrant and powerful affirmation of life."

The Mujeres Muralistas was a group of Chicana/Latina artists in the Mission District who pioneered large-scale, woman-painted outdoor murals. In the words of Patricia Rodriguez: "One big motivation for us was recognizing that there had been no successful women muralists in the Mexican mural movement. We wanted to show that women could also paint large outdoor murals. Another factor was the lack of support from the men painting murals in the Mission District who were also critical of the subjects we wanted to paint. We knew that because we were not harassed by police like the men were, and because we had not suffered by having fought in Vietnam, we had a different visual story to tell. We had the freedom to paint whatever we wanted, and we chose the beauty of women and their Mexican and Latino cultures." As Muralista Irene Perez put it, "We brought fine art to the streets and added the beauty of women in our culture." The mural celebrating 500 years of Indian resistance was painted in 1992 by Perez. The mural makes reference to Coyolxauhqui – the Aztec Goddess of the Moon.

These three adjacent panels are the work of Laura Campos who painted them in 2012. The figure with the crown depicts "Merced Goddess of the Universe"; the figure in the centre is entitled "Lourdes Mother Earth"; the one on the right hand side is quintessentially San Franciso. It depicts "Jesus Meditating at Mount Shasta."

Óscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdámez was a bishop of the Catholic Church in El Salvador. He spoke out against poverty, social injustice, assassinations and torture. He was assassinated on March 24, 1980, while celebrating Mass. He had just delivered a sermon which called on Salvadoran soldiers, as Christians, to obey God's higher order and to stop carrying out the government's repression and violations of basic human rights. As soon as he finished his sermon, Romero proceeded to the middle of the altar and at that moment he was shot. In 1997, Pope John Paul II bestowed upon him the title of Servant of God, and a cause for his beatification and canonization was opened. On 24 March 2010 – the thirtieth anniversary of Romero’s death – Salvadoran president Mauricio Funes offered an official state apology for Romero’s assassination. Speaking before Romero’s family, representatives of the Catholic Church, diplomats, and government officials, Funes said those involved in the assassination "… unfortunately acted with the protection, collaboration or participation of state agents."

Las Milagrosas is a mural on Balmy Alley, painted by Mary Nash in 2001. It pays tribute to four politically engaged women artists of the 20th century. Unfortunately, this mural is in considerable disrepair. The mural depicts (from left to right): Käthe Schmidt Kollwitz (1867-1945) a German painter, printmaker, and sculptor whose work offered an eloquent and often searing account of the human condition in the first half of the 20th century. Her empathy for the less fortunate, expressed most famously through the graphic means of drawing, etching, lithography, and woodcut, embraced the victims of poverty, hunger, and war. In 1933, after the establishment of the Nazi regime, the authorities forced her to resign her place on the faculty of the Akademie der Künste and banned her from exhibiting her work. In July 1936, she and her husband were visited by the Gestapo, who threatened her with arrest and deportation to a Nazi concentration camp. However, Kollwitz was by now a figure of international note, and no further action was taken. Elizabeth Catlett Mora (1915-2012) was an African American sculptress and printmaker. Catlett is best known for the black, expressionistic sculptures and prints she produced during the 1960s and 1970s, which are seen as politically charged Tina Modotti (1896-1942) was an Italian photographer, model, silent film actress, and revolutionary activist who once playfully described her profession as men. Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) was a Mexican painter who achieved great international popularity. Kahlo’s paintings made use of vibrant colours and a style that was influenced by indigenous cultures of Mexico as well as such European influences as Realism, Symbolism, and Surrealism. Many of her works are self-portraits that symbolically express her own pain. Her work has been celebrated in Mexico as emblematic of national and indigenous tradition and by feminists for its uncompromising depiction of the female experience and form. Kahlo was married to the Mexican muralist Diego Rivera and shared his left-wing politics. Their marriage was tempestuous since Kahlo and Rivera both had volatile temperaments and numerous extramarital affairs.

Another mural memorializing people who died of AIDS. This one is by community activist, educator, great-grandmother, and muralist Edythe Boone. The self-taught artist left Harlem in 1978 when crack cocaine overran her neighbourhood. She moved to the Bay Area where “you could see the sky, smell the flowers, and people were marching in the streets.” Edythe gained her reputation as a public arts advocate and artist, painting guerrilla murals against drug trafficking at midnight, as well as collaborating with and heading up a series of community mural projects. Edythe believes that art is for everyone, not just professional artists. Her mission is to empower individuals and transform communities through art. Whether she is working in a diverse collaborative of women artists on the MaestraPeace project, putting paintbrushes in the hands of Richmond seniors unfamiliar with art, or giving teens from rival groups a lesson in non-violent communication, Edythe uses art as a tool to foster empathy and compassion, change perceptions of the “other” and promote cross-cultural/interracial/intergenerational healing. She has taught thousands of students to find their creative voice, filling the Bay Area with colorful murals designed to bring dignity, pride and empowerment to the communities they grace.

This homage to Father Richard Purcell was painted in 2012 by Laura Campos. Father Purcell, a Franciscan priest, worked for 20 years on the Papago and Pima Indian reservations in southern Arizona. He came to San Francisco in June, 1989 to care for his brother, Marty, who was dying of AIDS. After Marty’s death, Richard stayed on in his brother’s apartment to begin a new ministry to homeless people with AIDS. In August, 2011 he died of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), Lou Gehrig’s disease, from which he had suffered for the previous five years. Throughout his life, he produced many paintings, drawings, sculptures, and silver work. As pastor and teacher, he blessed others with his creative speaking and writing skills. He was the eternal optimist, always inspiring others not to give up along the way. Richard changed many lives with his compassion and steadfast encouragement. His ability to laugh at just about anything (including himself) endeared him to most all who met him. His iconoclastic bent and irreverent sense of humor sometimes caused him to be at odds with those in authority. His Franciscan brothers were always accepting and supportive of his nonconformist ways. Even those who did not agree with him understood that his actions sprang from his deeply felt hunger for justice and peace.

One of the artists explains this mural in these words: "My name is Lucia. I was born and raised in San Francisco’s Mission District. Balmy Alley is my home. I have lived here most of my life. I am an artist like my father and since I was young, I have witnessed the changing murals on Balmy Alley along with the changes within my neighborhood, La Mísion. I designed the Mission Makeover Mural to depict the two Missions that I am most familiar with; La Mísion of my youth, filled with a vibrant Latino culture, rich in art and history, a place that I have lived my entire life; and the current Madeover Mission, remodeled and revised with designer boutiques, high priced cafes, less Latino immigrant families, and dwindling diversity. I understand that not all change is necessarily bad. But I want the new Mission residents to respect and understand the history of the older Mission and acknowledge that there was once a thriving community that barely resembles a shell of itself. This Balmy Alley mural honors those individuals, businesses and families who left without choice. It tells the stories of the indirect causes at a local and international level which changed the face of the Mission. My intent is not to antagonize community members against each other, but to create a public document that shares what the Mission looked like in previous years and understand why it changed."

A pair of murals on adjoining garage doors in San Francisco’s Balmy Alley painted by Frances Valesco in 2008 and entitled "The Moon and The Sun." (These represent the fourth version of the mural.) Valesco teaches monoprinting at City College of San Francisco and has taught at the San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco State University, and University of California at Berkeley. Her art is often about environment. Recently she has been interested in visual representations of the consequences of our behavior and how humans are changing the sky and earth.

A pair of murals on adjoining garage doors in San Francisco’s Balmy Alley painted by Frances Valesco in 2008 and entitled "The Moon and The Sun." (These represent the fourth version of the mural.) Valesco teaches monoprinting at City College of San Francisco and has taught at the San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco State University, and University of California at Berkeley. Her art is often about environment. Recently she has been interested in visual representations of the consequences of our behavior and how humans are changing the sky and earth.

Tina Wolfe’s mural about Hurricane Katrina was first installed in 2007. Visitors to the alley were encouraged to add images to the mural in collaboration with the artist over the next 5 years. Over the years the images have decayed just like many places in New Orleans. In 2012, the artist began renewing the project by adding vines in the path of New Orleans highway system used for escape.

By an unknown artist

This mural painted in 2004 by Janet Braun-Reinitz provides an artist’s commentary of the AIDS epidemic. It takes it name from a line from the poem "The Second Coming" written in 1919 by William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) Turning and turning in the widening gyre The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere The ceremony of innocence is drowned; The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity.

Sirron Norris was born in Cleveland, Ohio. After graduating from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, he began his art career in San Francisco in 1997. He was the recipient of the Artist in Residence programs at the de Young Fine Art Museum of San Francisco and San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in 2000 and 2002 respectively. Norris is known for his extensive public art contributions. Among them is his most notable mural, "Victorion: El Defensor de la Mission." Painted in 2007, the mural speaks to the subject of gentrification in the mission district of San Francisco, supporting the persistence of Latino business owners and residents. The mural also speaks to the importance of the preservation of original San Francisco Victorian homes through a ten-foot robotic house, suitably named, “Victorion.” This mural has been featured in various media platforms including magazines, books, and advertisements. The Calumet Mural, located at 18th and Bryant in the Mission district, currently stands as his largest at 600 square feet. It was recently featured in an international Mitsubishi television commercial featuring the launch of their newest vehicle in 2014. His work as a muralist was also used as the platform to launch the new Ricoh Theta campaign in Japan and the US. Norris is also an accomplished artist across several mediums including multimedia, television, film, and illustration. He was the lead artist in Fox Network’s animated show "Bob’s Burgers" and in that capacity, he created backgrounds and character designs. In 2010, Norris’ art career was featured on the PBS news Hour with Jim Lehrer and in the television show, Concrete Canvas in the United Kingdom.