Dominican University students are working with members of a homeless work service program to make an empty storefront in downtown San Rafael more appealing to the eye.
As part of a one-unit class, a dozen students and six people from the Downtown Streets Team, a nonprofit helping homeless people get employment experience and services, are collaborating to create murals to fill the windows of the former Sabor of Spain restaurant on Fourth Street. The artists plan to install their creation April 10.
Nontokozo Tshabalala, 20, a junior at Dominican University studying graphic design, signed up for the class because she was intrigued by the idea of bringing different types of people together with art.
“I wanted to see how art and design can be bridged together with community,” Tshabalala said.
An exchange student from South Africa, she said she was particularly interested in seeing how San Rafael treats its homeless people compared to her hometown where everyone is housed via government programs. She said the class has been eye-opening and enjoyable.
“So far it’s quite interesting,” Tshabalala said.
The mural project is part of an effort to promote Creative San Rafael, an attempt among the arts community and businesses to hype the downtown area as an arts destination. Youth in Arts, a nonprofit visual and performing arts program in San Rafael, is leading the effort with the Downtown San Rafael Business Improvement District, the city, Artworks Downtown and the Fortnight Collective.
Miko Lee, executive director of Youth in Arts, said San Rafael received a grant from the California Arts Council to create multiple murals with a variety of people, including professional artists and children, to fill the downtown area.
“We’re trying to embrace the bold, big picture of what is San Rafael art and how we can represent that,” Lee said. “We look at this as really the beginning of multiple ways we can celebrate arts in the community.”
University steps up
When approached by the Creative San Rafael group to tackle the storefront mural project, Lynn Sondag, Dominican University art professor, said she was excited by the prospect of bringing art to a location where passersby could see it on a daily basis.
“I just feel that art belongs in the community. It needs to extend beyond the classroom,” Sondag said. “Art can bring vitality to an area.”
As part of the mural venture, co-teacher for the project Julia Van der Ryn, Dominican University service-learning director, said she and Sondag wanted to partner with the Downtown Streets Team to further their outreach efforts. They wanted to give students the opportunity to work with underserved citizens who have had different life experiences.
“Art can make people’s perceptions change,” Van der Ryn said. “It’s amazing being able to have the creative process bring people together.”
The first time the students met for class with members of the Downtown Streets Team, they did an exercise where they wrote a poem and talked about themselves. Van der Ryn said that helped break the ice, and everyone was hugging and excited about creating artwork together by the end of the session.
Inspired by quotes from famous locals such as comedian Michael Pritchard, dancer Chitresh Das and architect Frank Lloyd Wright, the students and team members are creating silhouettes of birds, trees, hearts and open hands using paper and transparencies. The images will then be enlarged to five times their size and printed on sheets of paper big enough to fill the seven-foot tall windows of the storefront. The quotes will appear at the bottom of each mural.
Creating art together
Sophie Miller, 20, a sophomore at Dominican University studying occupational therapy, said it’s been an amazing experience, but she wasn’t sure what to expect from team members in the beginning.
“I was really nervous on our first day, but having a project to work on made it easier to connect,” Miller said. “I’m hoping this will inspire other projects.”
Kayla Rodriguez, 21, a senior at Dominican University studying history, agreed.
“I didn’t know what to expect going into this,” Rodriguez said. “You never know people’s stories until you get to know them.”
For Downtown Streets Team member Pam Scoggins, 58, of San Rafael, being part of the team “has been a blessing.” As someone who loves drawing cartoons, Scoggins said she’s grateful to be part of the window dressing project.
“I love it when I do my artwork and someone appreciates it,” Scoggins said. “Art can express things and open up windows if people are willing to listen, and you can see parts of someone else you haven’t seen before.”
Jaclyn Epter, case manager for the Downtown Streets Team, said all of the team members are enjoying the experience and pleased to be meeting new people. She said it will be exciting to see the mural once it’s installed.
“It’ll add value and beauty to the downtown area, for sure,” Epter said.
Lee said residents will start seeing murals created by other groups inspired by quotes from local artists, historical figures and news-makers on city-owned parking garages soon.
“We’re excited by this,” she said. “The idea is to create a sense of pride in our community.”
Follow Megan Hansen’s blog at http://blogs.marinij.com/bureaucratsandbaking.
