InvasiveThoughts.com

Eduardo Garza of The Jazz Poets Society

Bassist George Prado and his son and pianist Aaron Prado, music director for Trinity University’s radio station KRTU 91.7, played for mural attendees in the low-lit yellow theatre hallway before the short pre-walk lecture. During one piece, the organizer of the Jazz Poets Society, who hosts readings every Tuesday evening at the Guadalupe Coffee House, Eduardo Garza stood beside the electric keyboard and improvised lyrical poetry. 

Cruz Ortiz and Ruth Buentello standing in front of Lead Artist Victor Ochoa's mural Dualidad.

San Anto Mural Director Ruth Buentello then explained her involvement with the organization and the mural program after people had settled themselves in the theatre. Buentello, now 24 years old, has been with the non-profit organization since she was 16.

At 18 years of age, Buentello completed her own mural for San Anto under the direction and guidance of founders and participants Manny Castillo, Cruz Ortiz, and Alex Rubio. 

A house near the Guadalupe Theatre.

Audience members shared in the creative process of Buentello’s mural as they viewed a short documentary that showed the young girl working. As Buentello explained, her mural and those of other artists helped to add vibrant color to the West side, to areas where the dull ache of poverty is often seen in weeded overgrowth, decrepit or abandoned and graffitied buildings, or boarded and barred home windows.

Buentello’s mural, the Piedad, at the corner of Colorado and Buena Vista, depicts an image of Christ, which she explains in the video represents the crucifying of the people of her community for their language and clothing differences. A menacing gas-masked police officer seems to come out of the very wall and Buentello explains that this represents the police brutality that many people in the community experienced. The smokestacks next to the neighborhoods represent what she termed “Environmental Racism,” where toxic or hazardous elements are often located in impoverished areas where people are socially or financially unable to prevent the development. But Buentello also included the Spanish words for Power, Forgiveness, and Mercy in her mural. These words were to empower her community, which is one thing San Anto hopes to do through the mural work, the video project, and the monthly youth-created and published newspaper El Placazo. 

Buentello’s mural and documentary video helped take the young artist from the West side to the Art Institute of Chicago, where she earned her Bachelor’s of Fine Art. She now gives back to the organization that guided her by coordinating with other artists and assisting in the creation of murals, and by helping to maintain or restore the West side murals that sometimes suffer from graffiti or simple weather wear. Maintenance can involve the repainting of a section or even an entire piece. But by making the effort to restore and maintain the murals, San Anto shows its dedication to restore a community and a people and shows a desire to care for residents of the West side.

The murals, which can take anywhere from three months to a year to complete, are an evolving process that includes cleaning and spraying the chosen wall with an anti-bacterial before power-washing any previous paint off. Then, the outlining of the artist’s design is started. Once the artist outlines the mural scene, a crew of 8–10 volunteer community residents, aged anywhere from 4 years to 80 years of age (so far!), help to fill the color by painting under the guidance of the lead artist. 

The mural project has also been a learning experience for San Anto Cultural Arts organizers and artists, as one of the earlier murals, Mary Helen Herrera’s 1996 Comprando y Prestando (Buying and Lending), at the corner of Guadalupe Street and South San Jacinto, was completed using house paints.  

Mary Helen Herrera's Mural "Comprando y Prestando"

The organization discovered that house paints deteriorated relatively quickly. In 2007, the mural was restored by an artist from San Diego, and now the murals are painted using Nova Color®, which are acrylic out-door paints from a company in California.

During the restoration, Herrera’s mural was further developed, with additions made to the scene. The mural currently depicts the many trades and skills of the Native American peoples, including cloth weaving, harvesting, beadwork and leatherwork, hunting, fishing, and planting, and jewelry work and pottery. The people stand between two strong-looking Indian chiefs in headdress.

Above the mural is this saying by Herrara: This is the way of our people, sharing talents, food, & land; Giving to your neighbor, friends & family, a word of wisdom if you can…Let us live in harmony once again.

Mary-Agnes Rodriguez’s 2001 "Nicho Para La Virgen de Guadalupe"

Another mural highlighted on the Saturday afternoon walk was Mary Agnes Rodriguez’s 2001 Nicho Para La Virgen de Guadalupe, located at the San Jacinto Senior Home on El Paso Street. As speaker and co-founder Cruz Ortiz explained, “artwork on walls is part of the social traffic.” Sometimes the artwork blends in with its surroundings. For example, many of the houses in the neighborhoods have artistic shrines or altars in the yards. Rodriquez did a lot of this symbolic altar art, as well (which is seen in the construction of her altar).

But in this instance, Rodriquez, who lived only a few streets away from San Anto’s headquarters, sought out the organization through correspondence. Rodriquez sent images of some of her art to San Anto and asked if she might have it included in El Placazo. Instead, the organizers were so impressed by Rodriquez’s art, they asked her to be a lead artist for a mural.  

Mary-Agnes Rodriguez’s 2001 "Nicho Para La Virgen de Guadalupe"

Nicho Para La Virgen de Guadalupe is a triptych piece, that is, it consists of three (tri-) wood panels. Each panel includes several wood pieces that are individually mounted to the main panels. This mural is unique in that it is made of wood and mounted wood rather than painted directly onto a wall, and the reason resides in the needs of the art crew. The artists were members of the senior home and because many were unable to stand or spend a great deal of time outside, the mural was created in pieces. Each panel was taken inside so that the crew could sit at table, in wheelchairs if needed, and paint. 

Mary-Agnes Rodriguez’s 2001 "Nicho Para La Virgen de Guadalupe"

The mural consists of vibrantly painted red roses, contrasted-leaf agave plants, and toothpick cactus set before painted mountains in a desert. In the middle panel is a relief painting of the Virgen de Guadalupe surrounded by a wooden frame with colored glass stones. One protective cross and three white doves of peace are set above the Virgen’s head. As Ortiz explained, “art makes neighborhoods feels safe.” And Rodriquez’s mural in particular provides a comforting touch to the senior home. The recently installed awning provides a defense against the elements of weather, too.

And a further step to protecting the murals is taken by San Anto. They often try to get graffiti street artists to put energy and effort into mural work instead of the more destructive tagging. As Ortiz indicated, this can mean driving the streets late into the night, spotting graffiti artists and stopping to talk with them. Sometimes, San Anto has bridged the gap. The effort is made to get youths on the path of creating constructive art. 

Una Mesa Para La Gente

Currently, there are 37 murals throughout the West side of San Antonio that have been sponsored by San Anto. It is a vision that is being continued by the organization that was recently shaken by the sudden and unexpected passing (from cancer) of its founder, Manny Castillo. The murals help to teach youth how to paint but they also encourage respect in the community, and a sense of unity. As co-founder Juan Ramos explained, “the ideas are coming from the people in the neighborhood.” He continued, “a sense of pride is fostered through this kind of activity…respect is nurtured through this program.”

And after each mural is completed, there is a mural blessing. The blessing is a prayer for the mural and the community and includes a celebration by artists and residents. One of the latest mural blessings was for the recently restored Una Mesa Para La Gente, Cruz Ortiz and Lisa Veracruz’s piece, painted on the side of Ybarra car wash on Zarzamora and Salinas Street. The celebration included music by some of the members of San Antonio’s beloved Latin and blues band, Sexto Sol. 

The latest mural under construction, at 1303 W. Commerce Street, is being overseen and created by lead artist David Blanca, who was also part of the crew on Comprando y Prestando. Blanca’s mural will be the largest of them all and it captures some of the great San Antonio musicians who have passed on. A recent alteration was made to the design to include San Anto Cultural Arts beloved founder, and drummer, Manny Castillo. 

Blanca and crew can be found each Saturday, weather permitting, at the mural site, painting. They hope to have the mural completed and the blessing in June of this year.