Bay Area Mural Nominated for Assessment
Song of Unity, a dynamic mural on Shattuck Avenue in Berkeley, California, has recently been nominated for assessment by Rescue Public Murals. The mural is a local landmark that incorporates the façade of the La Peña Cultural Center, a vibrant community group that promotes peace, social justice, and cultural understanding through arts events, educational programs, exhibits, and artists’ residencies.
La Peña was founded in 1974 by Latin Americans and North Americans in response to the Chilean military coup of 1973. It became an important place to Chilean exiles who came to the Bay Area. In the years since, the center has established itself as a diverse and vital artistic and political center that has responded to conflicts in El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Cuba and connected to the struggles of local Native American, African American, and other Latino groups. Because of the many activists that have passed through La Pena’s doors, and literally the mural itself, Song of Unity has an international reputation.
Song of Unity shows unification of the Americas using symbols and iconic figures, the most prominent being Chilean folk singer Victor Jara, who was executed by the Chilean military junta. Others depicted in the mural are Pablo Neruda, Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador, Woody Guthrie, Native American activist Bill Wahpepah, and folk singer Malvina Reynolds. The supporting structure on which the mural is mounted is badly deteriorated due to water and termite damage, threatening the stability and long-term viability of the mural.
The mural was painted in 1978 by Commonarts, a group of a ceramicists and painters, and includes three-dimensional elements in papier mache, fired ceramics, and fiberglass. The artists included noted Berkeley and Oakland painters Osha Neumann and O’Brien Thiele, as well as Ray Patlán, one of the early Chicago community muralists, who has remained active in the California mural movement. O’Brien Thiele will represent the artists when meeting with a local conservator to assess the condition of the mural in spring 2008. It will be the fourth mural site to be assessed by Rescue Public Murals.