Emporium Strike,” Redstone Building Mural by Susan Greene

Project Title:  Redstone Labor Temple Mural Project
Recipient Organization:  The LAB/The.art.re.grup, Inc.
Lead Artist: Aaron Noble
Genre and Date Awarded:  Visual Arts, May 1996
Completed:  January 25, 1997

Artists associated with the Clarion Alley Mural Project (CAMP), led by Aaron Noble, collaborated with The Lab/The.art.re.grup, Inc. and residents of the Red Stone Building to create a series of murals in the building’s lobbies that reflect the building’s history and many uses.  Among other dimensions, this project celebrated The Lab’s move into the Redstone.  The artists’ plan began with the idea of creating three murals but the finished project comprised twelve. The murals are executed primarily in acrylic and are on permanent display in the entrance lobbies of the building in San Francisco’s Mission District.  More than 300 people attended a celebration on January 25, 1997, at which Mayor Willie L. Brown, Jr. dedicated the murals.

One of the first steel frame buildings erected in San Francisco, The Redstone was built as a “Labor Temple” by unions in 1914 and used for labor meetings for five decades.  Later it housed government unemployment offices, a Filipino dance hall, and accommodated many other uses.  Today it houses an array of nonprofit arts, social service, and environmental organizations.  Through this project, the artists and The Lab sought to highlight the building’s history and strengthen a sense of community among its many tenants.

CAMP was a loose collective of artists and activists, many of whom lived in the Mission District along or close to a derelict alley between 17th and 18th Streets.  Together they had worked to transform Clarion Alley by making it into a public art corridor.  Several of the CAMP artists also had collaborated with members of the International Longshoreman’s and Warehouseman’s Union Local 6 to create the mural Bloody Thursday, commemorating an important story in San Francisco labor history on the Union’s building.

Building on their prior projects, the process for the Red Stone Building murals included conducting research into the history of the site and outreach to its current community of tenants, neighbors, and constituents; and coordinating a collective design process that incorporated community input. Noble wrote, “The project exemplifies a method I have always favored:  Pick one spot, or one idea, or one sentence, and focus.  Keep digging, keep looking, keep working that spot.  There is always more there.  We are surrounded by ghosts and walking through history all the time.”

Artists participating in the Red Stone Building project were: Carolyn Castaño, Matt Day, John Fadeff, Susan Greene, Barry McGee, Ruby Neri, Aaron Noble, Rigo ’96, Isis Rodriguez, Chuck Sperry, and Scott Williams.  Many of the murals within the building were executed by a single artist or a small team of artists, but addressed the shared vision and themes that emerged through the community design process.  Aaron Noble commented, “I had envisioned a series of closely interrelated panels with the artists working collaboratively on each.  As it turned out, there was some collaboration in the design process but beyond that each artist assumed full responsibility for an individual mural.  In retrospect, I am not surprised.  The layout of the space itself encouraged separation, as did the need to represent a disparate range of people and activities over a long period.”

Six of the completed Red Stone Building murals depict the activities of the labor unions in the building (from 1914 to 1966). Chuck Sperry recreated the scene of a Labor Council planning meeting for the landmark 1934 General Strike, while Aaron Noble’s piece illustrates two important moments in the City’s labor history—when the corrupt union official Ben Rasnick was thrown out of the Red Stone Building by Dow Wilson; and, later, when Wilson was murdered by shotgun fire on April 5, 1966.  Other labor-themed murals in the building are Isis Rodriguez’s illustration of the Bindery Women’s Local 125, which occupied the building in the early 1920s; Sebastiana Pastor’s depicting the organization of the Chinese Ladies Garment Workers Union Local 341 in 1938; Ruby Neri (with Alicia McCarthy)’s personal work (in ball-point pen) on the theme of sign painting—an oblique tribute to Sign Painters’ Local 510, which sanctioned the project; and Susan Greene’s rendering of the Service Employees International Union’s hotel and department store strike of 1941.

The remaining six murals reflect later uses of the building.  Two are historical: John Fadeff’s piece evokes construction of the building’s foundation, and Carolyn Castaño’s depicts ballroom dancing in the former Filipino-American social club.  Others reflect the building’s current uses: an abstract piece by stencil artist Scott Williams for the entrance of the LAB, invoking a technological urban landscape;  Barry McGee’s illustration of immigrants floating to a new land; Rigo ’97’s “3/4 Water,” celebrating the environmental organizations in the building; and Matt Day’s small piece dedicated to the building’s many alternative media organizations.  Later, a mural honoring long-time building tenant Theater Rhinoceros was added to the project.

The LAB is an interdisciplinary artists’ organization that supports the development and presentation of new visual, performing, and literary art.  It assists artists in the creation of new work and presents work of the highest quality by emerging and experimental professional artists.  It is particularly interested in work that crosses boundaries—material, cultural, or presentational—and encourages new artistic and social dialogues between artists and audiences.  It was founded in 1983 and, after eleven years of programming on Divisadero Street, moved to the Red Stone Building in San Francisco’s Mission District.

Aaron Noble

Professional Experience/Related Work

• Co-director, Clarion Alley Mural Project, San Francisco, California (1992-   )
• Juror, “Flag,” 50 artist show, Emmanuel Walther Gallery, San Francisco Art Institute (1990)
• Curator, “Sex, Violence, America,” video component of “Na Ostri Noze,” festival of United States alternative art, Czech Republic (1990)
• Editor, Bloatstick, low-end arts criticism zine, San Francisco, California (1988-90)
• Organizer, “Art Strike Mobilization Week,” six-day mass conceptual performance with Scott MacLeod, Steve Perkins, Minnette Lehmann, and many others, Artists Television Access, San Francisco, California (1989)
• Curator and Performer, “Bad Words,” occasional reading series, nine events at various spaces, San Francisco, California (1984-89)
• Director/Author, “Rumpelstiltskin,” one act punk rock musical with a teenage cast, Coastal Community Players, Florence, Oregon (1987)
• Editor, Storms of Youth, student published review of punk art and politics, San Francisco Art Institute (1981-82)

Gallery Work (Group Shows)

• Millennium Coming:  The New Degenerate Art Show, The Lab, San Francisco, California (1995)
• “Wild Side,” Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, Los Angeles, California (1995)
• “Re:Drawing,” Southern Exposure, San Francisco, California (1994)
• “The Conservative Show,” Show and Tell, San Francisco, California (1992)
• “The Unwanted Animal at the Garden Party for Democracy,” Southern Exposure, San Francisco, California (1991)
• “The Hitler Centenary Show,” Artists’ Television Access, San Francisco, California (1989)
• “The Black and White Show,” Artists’ Television Access, San Francisco, California (1988)
• “Festival of Plagiarism,” Artists Television Access, San Francisco, California (1988)

Murals and Public Art

• “Bloody Thursday,” project coordinator, eleven-artist collaborative mural on the ILWU Local 6, San Francisco, California (1995)
• “No Mas Drogas,” and “Two Fisted,” mural collaborations with local children, Clarion Alley, San Francisco, California (1994)
• “Eight Days a Week,” mural collaboration with local children, Zabrehg Grade School, Ostrava, Czech Republic (1992)
• “Free Look Into the Snake Pit,” window installation with developmentally disabled artists, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, California (1991)

Performance

• “The Story of Adolph Hitler,” Southern Exposure and Intersection for the Arts, San Francisco, California (1994-95)
• “Man.Hole,” Intersection for the Arts, Josie’s Cabaret, Artists Television Access, and Kiki, San Francisco, California; De Fabriek and V2, Netherlands
• “Jerkin’ Off,” collaboration with Chelsey Bailey and Marshall Weber, Artists Television Access, San Francisco, California (1994)
• “Worm,” The Lab, San Francisco, California (1993)
• “Flossing,” with Marshall Weber, Antimatter, The Lab, San Francisco, California; Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, Los Angeles, California; Eindhoven City Park, Netherlands (1991-92)
• “Lords,” with Fred Rinne, Antimatter, San Francisco, California (1991)
• “The Four Seasons,” with Matias Jaramillo, San Francisco, California (1991)
• “Confession,” Southern Exposure, New Langton Arts, Academy of Art Center, San Francisco California; Tacheles Cultural Center, East Berlin, Germany; Ironworkers Cultural Center, Ostrava, Plzen Cultural Center, Gallerie Mladych, Prague, Gallerie H, Kostelec, Kaspar International Theater Festival, Prague, and Theatre on a String, Brno, Czech Republic (1989-91)
• “Sean Penn, My Idol,” with computer generated video by Richard Gaikowski, Artists Television Access and Southern Exposure, San Francisco, California (1988-90)

Awards

• SoundLab residency, The Lab, San Francisco, California (1995)
• California Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowship (1992)

Appointments

• Visual Arts Curatorial Committee, Intersection for the Arts, San Francisco, California (1991-94)
• Chair, Artist Committee, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, California (1990)
• Secretary, Artist Committee, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, California (1989)
• Member, Artist Committee, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, California (1988)
• Curatorial Committee, Artist’s Television Access, San Francisco, California (1988)

Carolyn Castaño

RESUME HIGHLIGHTS

Solo Exhibitions

• “Betty Ramirez Was Here,” Southern Exposure, San Francisco, California (1996)
• “Latin Pop,” curated by Meridian Gallery, Victoria Theater, San Francisco, California (1995)
• Liz Claiborne “Window Series,” curated by Center for the Arts at Yerba Buena Gardens, San Francisco, California (1995)
• “Dos Painters of La Mission,” The Luggage Store Gallery, San Francisco, California (1994)
• “The Latin All Stars,” Diego Rivera Gallery, San Francisco, California (1994)

Selected Group Exhibitions

• “Snacks,” Acme Gallery, San Francisco, California (1996)
• “Swell,” Meridian Gallery, San Francisco, California (1996)
• “About Drawing,” Meridian Gallery, San Francisco, California (1995)
• “The Spirit of Latin America,” Diego Rivera Gallery, San Francisco, California (1995)
• “Another Life Up Inside Her Head,” Galería de la Raza, San Francisco, California (1995)

Murals

• “Tito Puenta-Timbal Thumbs,” Clarion Alley, Clarion Alley Mural Project, San Francisco, California (1995)
• “Bloody Thursday,” Warehouse Union Local #6, collaboration with the Clarion Alley Mural Project, San Francisco, California (1995)
• “Celia Cruz Dancing,” Clarion Alley, Clarion Alley Mural Project, San Francisco, California (1994)

John Fadeff

RESUME HIGHLIGHTS

Individual Exhibitions

• El Balazo, San Francisco, California (1995)
• Latin American Club, San Francisco, California (1994)
• Southern Exposure, San Francisco, California (1994)
• Pancho Villa, San Francisco, California (1993)
• Phoenix Gallery, San Francisco, California (1986)

Group Exhibitions

• “No More Scapegoats,” Marin Peace Center, Corte Madera, California (1995)
• “Drawing First,” Southern Exposure, San Francisco, California (1993)
• “Santa Luzia,” Porta 33, Madeira Island, Portugal (1993)
• “Fix the Earth,” Center for Native Knowledge, Eureka, California (1993)
• “Some Show,” Artists Television Access, San Francisco, California (1987)

Murals

• “The Big Strike,” Warehouse Union Mural, Clarion Alley Mural Project, San Francisco, California (1995)
• “Fix the Earth,” Center for Native Knowledge, Eureka, California (1994)
• “Sweat Lodge,” Center for Native Knowledge, Eureka, California (1993)

Susan Greene

RESUME HIGHLIGHTS

Murals

• Mural about homeless youth in Clarion Alley, San Francisco, California (1996)
• Mural with youth at Juvenile Hall, San Leandro, California (1996)
• Untitled, Mural honoring Hiroshima Victims, New Langton Arts, San Francisco, California (1995)
• “Remember American Anarchism,” Haight and Masonic, San Francisco, California (1994)
• Four murals with hearing impaired, severely emotionally disturbed youth, and victims of the Oakland Fire, Oakland Public Schools, at the Museum of Children’s Art, Oakland, California (1992-93)
• “Spirit of San Francisco,” 21st Street and Mission, San Francisco, California (1991)
• “Our Roots are Still Alive,” co-director with Miranda Bergman and Break the Silence Mural Group, 21st and Mission Streets, San Francisco, California (1991)
• “Break the Silence Mural Project,” six collaborative murals in the West Bank and East Jerusalem (1989)
• “New Visions,” director and collaborator with developmentally disabled adults from Creativity Explored of San Francisco, 20th and Folsom Streets (1987)
• “We Shall Overcome,” 23rd Street and Mission, San Francisco, California (1985)

Videography

• Wrote, performed and produced, “Turn Around,” autobiographical tape (1992); Screened at the Pacific Film Archive, Judah Magnes Museum Jewish Film Festival (1995); Mill Valley Film Festival (1994); “The Family,” group show, Artist’s Television Access, San Francisco, California (1994); and Traveling Group Show at The Lab, San Francisco, California and Houston, Texas (1992)
• Directed, produced, “Break the Science,” Jewish Americans and Palestinian muralists in the West Bank (1991); Premiere at San Francisco Cinematheque; International Women in Media Show, Austin, Texas; California State University Film and Video Festival, San Francisco, California (1991)

Professional Honors and Grants

• Third Place, Judah Magnes Museum Jewish Film Festival (1995)
• Graduate Student Distinguished Achievement Award (1992)
• Bronze Apple Award, National Educational Film and Video Festival (1992)
• Finalist, California State University Film and Video Festival (1992)
• Mayor’s Office of San Francisco, Community Development Block Grants (1987, 1990, 1991)
• Zellerbach Family Fund, Columbia Foundation (1987, 1989)

Barry McGee

RESUME HIGHLIGHTS

Exhibitions

• “City Folk,” group exhibition, Holly Solomon Gallery, New York, New York (1996)
• “Wall Drawings,” The Drawing Center, New York, New York (1996)
• “Degenerate Art,” group exhibition, The Lab, San Francisco, California (1995)
• “Post No Bills,” Wall Installation, San Francisco, California (1995)
• Group Installation, Pro Arts Gallery, Oakland, California (1995)

Awards

• The Creative Work Fund, for a collaboration with the 509 Cultural Center/Luggage Store Gallery (1994)
• Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Fund/Arts International International Artist Program for a residency in São Paulo, Brazil (1993)
• Eureka Fellowship, Fleishhacker Foundation (1993)
• Merit Scholarship, San Francisco Art Institute (1991)

Teaching

• Visiting Artist Program, McClymonds High School, Oakland, California (1992, 1991)
• Franklin Park Mural, California Conservation Corps (1992)
• “Life on the Water”/School of the Arts Installation, San Francisco, California (1992)

Commissions

• Wall Installation, the Creative Work Fund and 509 Cultural Center, San Francisco, California (1995)
• 509 Cultural Center and San Francisco Redevelopment Agency, San Francisco, California (1994)
• Mural, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, California (1992)
• Market Street Art in Transit Program, San Francisco Art Commission, San Francisco, California (1992)

Ruby Rose V. Neri

RESUME HIGHLIGHTS

Group Exhibitions

• House of Ill Repute, Southern Exposure, San Francisco, CA (1995)
• Collaborative Mural for Longshoremen Union (1995)
• Mostly Painting By Alicia And Ruby; Diego Rivera Gallery, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, California (1994)
• Breath Control, Berkeley Store Gallery Annex Berkeley, California (1994)
• John Berggruen Gallery; Guest Artist in Mark Di Suvero's show. San Francisco, California (1994)

Commissioned Murals

• 509 Cultural Center/ Collaborative Mural; Barry McGee, Mural Coordinator, San Francisco, California (1994)
• Commissioned Mural; Inverness, California (1993)
• Center For The Arts, Yerba Buena Gardens; Window Display for Liz Claiborne, San Francisco, California (1993)
• Clarion Alley Mural Project, San Francisco, California (1993)

Rigo ’96

RESUME HIGHLIGHTS

Solo Exhibitions

• “Time and Time Again,” Richmond Art Center, Richmond, California (1996)
• “American Landscapes,” Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco, California (1995)
• “Black and White Drawings,” Refusalon, San Francisco, California (1994)
• “Eagles,” The Lab, San Francisco, California (1994)
• “Largo Do Canto Do Muro,” Galeria Porta 33, Madeira Island, Portugal (1994)

Selected Group Exhibitions

• “Radical Ink,” SPACES, Cleveland, Ohio (1995)
• “Homeland,” “Please Pray The Home Ground,” with Brian D. Tripp. LEF Foundation, St. Helena, California (1995)
• “Old Glory/New Story,” Santa Monica Museum of Art, Santa Monica, California (1995); Capp Street Project, San Francisco, California (1994)
• “Post Colonial California,” San Francisco State University, San Francisco, California (1995)
• “San Francisco Murals,” Centre de Animation et des Loisirs Valeyre, Paris, Frances (1993)

Mural Commissions

• “Extinct,” (40’ x 90’); and “One Tree,” (40’ x 100’) San Francisco, California, sponsored by the Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation and the Capp Street Project (1995)
• “IndianWater,” (7’ x 80’) and “Time,” (8’ x 112’), sponsored by the San Francisco Arts Commission, San Francisco, California (1995)
• “InnerCity-Home,” San Francisco, California, sponsored by the Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation and the Capp Street Project (1994)
• Southern Exposure Fence Mural, with Barry McGee and Brett Cook, (65’ x 8’), San Francisco, California (1994)
• “Colors,” Balmy Alley, San Francisco, California (30’ x 7’) (1993)

Related Experience

• Residency, Brandywine Workshop, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1996)
• Residency, Centre d’Art de Herblay, Pontoise, France (1995)
• Curatorial Committee, Southern Exposure (1993-95)
• Co-founder, coordinator, Clarion Alley Mural Project, San Francisco, California (1992-95)
• California Arts Council, Artist-in-Residence, International Studies Academy, San Francisco, California (1992-94)

Awards

• WESTAF/National Endowment for the Arts Regional Fellowship for visual artists (1994)
• Chauncey McKeever Award, San Francisco Art Institute (1991)

Isis Rodriguez

RESUME HIGHLIGHTS

Exhibitions

• “Lagrimas y Sonrisas,” (Re) Generation Project, Galería de la Raza, San Francisco, California (1995)
• “Relation, Generation, MACLA, San Jose Center for Latino Arts, San Jose, California (1994)
• “La Fe,” Galería de la Raza, San Francisco, California (1993)
• “Quincentennial Chicana and Latino Perspectives,” Fort Mason, San Francisco, California (1993)
• Red Dora’s Bearded Lady Café, San Francisco, California (1992)

Commissions

• Billboard/Mural Artist for “Another Life Up Inside Her Head,” Galería de la Raza, San Francisco, California (1995)
• Clarion Alley Mural Project Mural, San Francisco, California (1993)
• “500 Years of Resistance for Women,” group mural with ten teenage Latinas in the Mission District for “Roots Against War,” San Francisco, California (1992)

Awards

• San Francisco Art Institute Grant (1990)
• University of Kansas Minority Award of Excellence (1989)
• Daniel McMorris Arts Scholarship, Lawrence, Kansas (1989, 1988)

Chuck Sperry

Chuck Sperry lives in San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury and does rock posters for the New Fillmore.  He’s the comics editor for Filth, a bi-monthly tabloid with a circulation of over 10,000.  His comic art appears in Last Gasp Comics & Stories, World War 3 Illustrated, and Xray (which was recently accepted by both the Cooper-Hewett and Getty Museum archives).  He has also created mini-commix available through the Puppy Toss and Wow Cool Catalogs and a board game called, “Kids These Days,” distributed by the Scary Hairy Toy Company.  One of Sperry’s most recent projects—painting a dying striker in the mural Bloody Thursday for the ILWU (Longshoremen) at 255 9th Street, San Francisco.

OTHER RESUME HIGHLIGHTS

Highlighted Exhibitions

• “On the Wall,” Parson School of Design, poster art by artists involved with the magazine World War 3 Illustrated (1996)
• “Next Wave,” CBGB Gallery, New York, New York (1996)
• “Visual Jams,” The Powerhouse, Cleveland, Ohio (1995)
• “Art Against the War,” group show against the Gulf invasion, Artists Television Access, San Francisco, California (1991)
• “Project Mission:  Who’s the Landlord,” Artists Television Access group show (1990-91)
• “Concrete Crisis,” Exit Art Gallery, A PAD/D project group show, New York, New York (1987)