Muralism from the Museum to the Street ______

Course Number: VISST-300-16 Professor: Monica Bravo, PhD Class Meetings: Tuesdays 12-3 PM Email: [email protected] Classroom: Grad Center room 3 Office Hours: SF Library Tues. 11-12 and by appt.

Course Description: Murals are typically large and often made for public consumption, whether displayed outside or indoors. Unlike many other forms of painting, a mural is literally part of a wall rather than created on a free-standing support such as a canvas or board. Site specificity is thus an essential part of a mural’s context. San Francisco is home to a number of important twentieth-century murals whose content is political and activist. This course will trace muralism’s history in San Francisco with an emphasis on Mexican, Chicanx, and women’s contributions. We will make several site visits to murals by Diego Rivera, Coit Tower, the Women’s Building, as well as contemporary graffiti in the Mission. This class encourages students to think big—either in terms of scale and/or social impact—about their own artmaking practices.

Juana Alicia, La Llorona’s Sacred Waters, 2004. York and 24th Street, the Mission, SF.

Learning Objectives: Upon completion of this course, students will be able to: • Identify various materials and techniques used to create murals, and understand their relatives benefits and drawbacks. • Apply the tools of formal analysis and critical visual thinking to murals, both familiar and unknown (visual literacy). • Critically evaluate textual analyses about murals in terms of their context, rhetoric, use of evidence, and interpretations. • Assess and critique differing perspectives on key debates regarding the content of murals in public spaces.

Prof. Monica Bravo Syllabus- Muralism 1 • Understand how their work and that of their peers relates to muralism, either in terms of scale, site, or stakeholders.

Readings: All readings will be made available as PDFs on our course Moodle site. I recommend reading the texts in the order listed below each week’s heading. Average required reading for this course is 40 pages per week. Field trip: We will be taking various field trips during our regularly scheduled class session, and travel time will be accounted for to fit within our 3 hours. These sessions are NOT optional. You may have transportation, but not admission, costs associated with these visits. Please speak to me privately if the transit fees represent a financial hardship.

COURSE ASSESSMENTS ______

Grading Policy with Important Dates: Attendance and Participation 15% Throughout course Oral Presentation (10 minutes) 10% Student selected Written Reading Response 1 (2-3 pages) 10% Student selected Written Reading Response 2 (2-3 pages) 12% Student selected Teach-in about Borders Written Reflection (1 page) 5% March 17 Exhibition or Site Analysis (4-5 pages) 15% April 7 Mural Design and Written Justification (4-5 pages) 25% April 28 Student Mural Design Presentation (10 minutes) 8% April 28 or May 5

All grades will be tabulated mathematically (that is, on a 100% scale) during the semester and converted to a letter grade at the end of the course.

Grading Scale Description: A 93-100 Outstanding A- 90-92 Very good B+ 87-89 B 83-86 Good B- 80-82 C+ 77-79 C 73-76 Satisfactory C- 70-72 D+ 67-69 D 60-66 Below average, marginally acceptable F 59-0 Below average, not acceptable

Attendance and Participation: Attendance at all class meetings is required, as material is routinely covered in lecture and discussion that does not appear in the readings. Students are further expected to actively participate in class, which may take the form of asking questions, contributing comments, small group work, completing short in-class writing exercises, etc. You should prepare for class by completing the required reading and/or viewing assignment before

Prof. Monica Bravo Syllabus- Muralism 2 arrival, taking notes, and critically thinking about the material (including perhaps how it relates to your own practice or that of your contemporaries). I understand that not everyone is comfortable answering or asking questions in a large group: you can show me you are still participating by taking notes, paying attention to your peers, and actively listening. Behaviors that will adversely affect your participation grade include being on your phone for extended periods, engaging with your laptop more than the class, being out of the classroom outside of the break, falling asleep, or chatting with peers off-topic. Good attendance and participation are forms of professional practice and community—key learning outcomes at CCA. Two latenesses of more than 10 minutes will equal one absence. One unexcused absence is ok: more than one unexcused absence will result in reduction of attendance and participation grade by half a letter grade (e.g. B+ to B). An excused absence is one you discuss with me in advance and receive permission to take. Excused absences are typically reserved for family emergencies that require you to leave town, extended hospitalization, and similar matters that can be verified. Nonetheless, I appreciate knowing if you will be absent for any reason. If any situation is repeatedly interfering with your ability to attend class, please discuss it with me as soon as possible.

Oral Presentation (10 minutes): Effective oral communication is a central learning outcome of the Visual Studies program. Each week, beginning in the second week of class, one or two students will present an example of contemporary muralism relevant to the week’s readings. Email your example to me ([email protected]) by 10 AM before class in the form of a JPEG, URL, PowerPoint, Keynote, etc. Each presentation should be approximately ten minutes long, with time after for discussion. Please limit all time-based examples to a maximum of three minutes. There are no make-up presentations (unless you have cleared this with me in advance). I am happy to talk with you about your ideas for the presentation. Consider these presentations as opportunities to connect our historical and theoretical readings with contemporary practices, and try to choose examples that extend, update, challenge, contradict, or otherwise engage with the examples already given to us in our readings. You should research the mural you have chosen and try to find out everything you can about it. The in-class presentation of your example should include the following: 1) A careful and expressive description of the mural; 2) Why you chose this particular mural; and 3) How the mural relates to the week’s reading. The talk should be well organized and concise, giving appropriate background information on the subject. Consider bringing in a book of the muralist’s work to pass around and preparing a few discussion questions. Classmates will ask questions and offer appropriate feedback. *You may not sign up to do an oral presentation for the same weeks as your written reading responses.*

Written Reading Responses (2-3 double-spaced pages, 12 point font x 2): During our second class meeting, students will sign up to write TWO short papers responding to the assigned readings for a particular week. Students should write a thoughtful, thesis-driven essay structured around analyzing one or two key questions or terms rather than write a book-report style summary. You should address two or more of the assigned texts. Students may be called upon to help push discussion forward on dates for which they have submitted reading responses. You must e-mail your paper to me at [email protected] in the form of a Microsoft Word, Pages, or Google Document before the start of class, even if you are unable to attend class or are running

Prof. Monica Bravo Syllabus- Muralism 3 late. *You may not sign up to write reading responses for the same week as your oral presentation.*

Teach-in about Borders and Migration Written Reflection (1 double-spaced page, 12 point font): CCA is organizing a teach-in about Borders and Migration on March 9 and 10. Participation in the event in some capacity is mandatory during our class session on March 10. Some students will elect to participate in a community mural workshop while others will attend talks and other programming. You will write a one-page, double-spaced reflection about your experience and submit it via email to [email protected] in the form of a Microsoft Word, Pages, or Google Document before the start of class on March 17, even if you are unable to attend class or are running late.

Exhibition or Site Analysis (4-5 double-spaced pages, 12 point font): Students have the option of visiting either Frida Kahlo: Appearances Can Be Deceiving at the de Young Museum (opens March 21, ticket cost) and writing an exhibition analysis of the show, or visiting the WPA-era murals at the Beach Chalet on Ocean Beach (open daily, free) and writing a site analysis. Your analysis should describe what the exhibition or mural program is about and how the items/artworks on view support the exhibition’s premise. The review will include observations on the purpose, organization, text, and specific artworks in the show, particularly as they relate to major themes of the course. The exhibition and site analysis do not require outside research. You must e-mail your paper to me at [email protected] in the form of a Microsoft Word, Pages, or Google Document before the start of class on April 7, even if you are unable to attend class or are running late.

Mural Design and Written Justification (4-5 double-spaced pages, 12 point font): For this assignment, you will design a mural on a theme of your choice using whichever medium you prefer (paint, software, digital projection, photographs, etc.). You will submit your mural design to me at the beginning of class on April 21, along with a 4-5 page, double-spaced paper explaining your proposal, your mural’s symbolism and influences, the mural’s intended site, etc. You must e-mail your paper to me at [email protected] in the form of a Microsoft Word, Pages, or Google Document before the start of class on April 28, even if you are unable to attend class or are running late.

Student Mural Design Presentations (10 minutes): Effective oral communication is a central learning outcome of the Visual Studies program. This is an opportunity to communicate your mural design and elements of your written justification to your classmates in an engaging manner. The talk should be well organized and concise, giving appropriate background information on the subject. Email your presentation to me ([email protected]) by 10 AM on the day you are presenting (either April 28 or May 5) before class in the form of a JPEG, URL, PowerPoint, Keynote, etc. Each presentation should be approximately ten minutes long, with time after for discussion. Please limit all time-based elements to a maximum of three minutes. There are no make-up presentations (unless you have cleared this with me in advance). I am happy to talk with you about your ideas for the presentation. Classmates will ask questions and offer appropriate feedback.

Prof. Monica Bravo Syllabus- Muralism 4 RESOURCES AND GUIDELINES ______

Technology Policy: Laptops and tablets may be used in class if used appropriately. Cell phones should be silenced and put away for the duration of class. The instructor reserves the right to prohibit use of electronics in the classroom if they prove to be a distraction.

Late Work: All assignments are due at the beginning of class because they are specifically designed to promote and facilitate class discussions. The instructor may consider extensions if they are requested at least 36 hours before the assignment is due, or if a request is accompanied by official documentation. Work is considered late if submitted anytime past the specified time. For graded assignments, your grade will be reduced by half a letter grade for each 24 hours that it is late (e.g. B becomes a B-). Assignments involving an in-class presentation may not be postponed except in cases of emergency.

Academic Integrity: The college defines four types of academic dishonesty: • Cheating, or the intentional use or attempted use of unauthorized materials, information, or study aids in any academic or studio exercise. • Fabrication, or the intentional and unauthorized fabrication or invention of any information or citation in any academic or studio exercise. • Plagiarism, or the intentional or knowing representation of words, images, concepts, or ideas of another as one's own in any academic or studio exercise. • Facilitating academic dishonesty, or intentionally or knowingly helping or attempting to help another to violate any provision of this code. See: https://www.cca.edu/students/handbook/integritycode for full guidelines. The Academic Integrity Code is to be upheld and enforced by all CCA students and faculty members. Depending on the nature and severity of the incident, violations of this code may result in academic or disciplinary sanctions, or both, up to and including failure of the course and dismissal from the college. When in doubt, cite your source! If you have questions, please ask.

Learning Resource Center: CCA offers an extensive coaching program that provides individual attention and guided inquiry from trained coaches. Oakland: Irwin Hall, Room 213; SF: Student Affairs Office, 80 Carolina. https://www.cca.edu/students/resources

Etiquette: You may address me as Monica or as Professor Bravo, whichever you prefer. I expect professional etiquette in all e-mail communications; please open with a salutation such as “Dear Monica,” and describe or ask about the matter at hand with complete sentences. Please check the syllabus or other handouts (all of which will be uploaded to Moodle) for factual answers to questions before writing, though early communication is always welcome.

Advising: Questions about your path to graduation can be addressed to your assigned advisor. Further information is available at WebAdvisor: https://www.cca.edu/students/advising

Counseling: Professional, confidential, and free of charge to students. Contact Student Affairs: https://www.cca.edu/students/counseling

Prof. Monica Bravo Syllabus- Muralism 5 Access/Disability Services: If you are in need of disability-related accommodations or services, it is your responsibility to contact the Office of the Dean of Students in order to formally request accommodations. The Office will assist you in preparing a Letter of Accommodations, which will serve as an action plan for you and your instructor. I encourage you to seek out the Office and talk to the Dean if you are concerned about your ability to fulfill the expectations of the class; official accommodations through the Office of the Dean of Students will be the most helpful way for you to have a successful semester. The accommodations process is entirely confidential. Please talk to me if you have questions or concerns. See: https://www.cca.edu/students/disability

Citation Guide: Chicago Style: Full access to the Chicago Manual of Style is available through the CCA Libraries website. Make sure your footnotes (not in-text citations), bibliography, and grammar conform to these standard guidelines.

Prof. Monica Bravo Syllabus- Muralism 6 COURSE CALENDAR ______

WEEK 1, Jan. 21 Introduction to the Course: What is a Mural?

In-class: Introductions and description of course and its philosophy. Practice formal analysis and close reading. ______

WEEK 2, Jan 28 First Murals

In-class: Sign up for individual presentations. Discuss prehistoric cave paintings at Lascaux and Altamira, and issues of aura and conservation. Lecture on hidden Mission Dolores murals.

Mary Beth Looney, “Lascaux,” Khan Academy, https://www.khanacademy.org/ humanities/ap-art-history/global-prehistory-ap/paleolithic-mesolithic-neolithic/a/lascaux Laura Anne Tedesco, “Lascaux (ca. 15,000 BC),” in Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History (New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000), https://www.metmuseum.org/ toah/hd/lasc/hd_lasc.htm Judith Thurman, “First Impressions: What does the world’s oldest art say about us?,” The New Yorker, June 23, 2008, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2008/06/23/first- impressions Ben Wood and Jonathan Cordero, “California’s Hidden Sacred Mural: The History of the Painted Adobe Reredos at Mission Dolores,” Journal of the West 57, no. 4 (2018): pages. ______

WEEK 3, Feb. 5 Murals at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition of 1915

In-class: Practice formal analysis on murals from PPIE. Discuss the politics of mural-making, including various stakeholders.

James A. Ganz, “Introduction: ‘A Beautiful Jewel Set in the Turquoise of the Sea,’” in Jewel City: Art from San Francisco’s Panama-Pacific International Exposition, ed. James A. Ganz (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2015), 11-39, Exhibition catalog.

Anthony W. Lee, “Harmony and Discord in the Murals,” in Jewel City: Art from San Francisco’s Panama-Pacific International Exposition, ed. James A. Ganz (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2015), 71-81, Exhibition catalog. ______

WEEK 4, Feb. 11 The Mexican Cultural Renaissance

Prof. Monica Bravo Syllabus- Muralism 7 In-class: Lecture on the MCR and Mexican muralism. Manifesto exercise. Learn about fresco techniques.

Desmond Rochfort, “The Sickle, the Serpent, and the Soil: History, Revolution, Nationhood, and Modernity in the Murals of Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco, and David Alfaro Siqueiros,” in The Eagle and the Virgin: Nation and Cultural Revolution in Mexico, 1920-1940, eds. Mary Kay Vaughan and Stephen E. Lewis (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2006), 43-57.

Mary K. Coffey, “The ‘Mexican Problem’: Nation and ‘Native’ in Mexican Muralism and Cultural Discourse,” in The Social and the Real: Political Art of the 1930s in the Western Hemisphere, eds. Alejandro Anreus, Diana L. Linden, and Jonathan Weinberg (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2006), 43-70.

David Alfaro Siqueiros, et. al, “Manifesto of the Syndicate of Technical Workers, Painters, and Sculptors,” in Mexican Muralism: A Critical History, eds. Alejandro Anreus, Robin Adèle Greeley, and Leonard Folgarait (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2012), 319-337. or Jose Clemente Orozco, “New World, New Races, and New Art,” in Mexican Muralism: A Critical History, eds. Alejandro Anreus, Robin Adèle Greeley, and Leonard Folgarait (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2012), 321-322. or Diego Rivera, “The Revolutionary Spirit in Modern Art,” in Mexican Muralism: A Critical History, eds. Alejandro Anreus, Robin Adèle Greeley, and Leonard Folgarait (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2012), 322-330. or David Alfaro Siqueiros, “Toward a Transformation of the Plastic Arts,” in Mexican Muralism: A Critical History, eds. Alejandro Anreus, Robin Adèle Greeley, and Leonard Folgarait (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2012), 332-335. ______

WEEK 5, Feb. 18 Mexican Murals in the U.S. In-class: Discuss the various ways by which Mexican murals traveled to the U.S. (commissions, “portable” frescoes, photographs, and prints), focusing on major (controversial) projects by Diego Rivera. Anthony W. Lee, “Workers and Painters: Social Realism and Race in Diego Rivera’s Detroit Murals,” in The Social and the Real: Political Art of the 1930s in the Western Hemisphere, eds. Alejandro Anreus, Diana L. Linden, and Jonathan Weinberg (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2006), 201-220. Anna Indych-López, “Mural Gambits: Mexican Muralism in the United States and the ‘Portable’ Fresco,” The Art Bulletin 89, no. 2 (June 2007): 287-306, http://www.jstor.org/stable/ 25067318. ______

Prof. Monica Bravo Syllabus- Muralism 8

WEEK 6, Feb. 25 Works Progress Association (WPA) Murals

In-class: Lecture on the New Deal’s various art programs. Focus on Coit Tower and Rincón Annex murals in SF. Possible guest lecture by Professor Jackie Francis of CCA VCS.

Deborah Cullen, “Contact Zones: Places, Spaces, and Other Test Cases,” American Art 26, no. 2 (Summer 2012): 14-20, https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/667946.

Jacqueline Francis, “Making History: Malvin Gray Johnson’s and Earle W. Richardson’s Studies for Negro Achievement,” in The Social and the Real: Political Art of the 1930s in the Western Hemisphere, eds. Alejandro Anreus, Diana L. Linden, and Jonathan Weinberg (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2006), 135-153. ______

WEEK 7, March 3 Mexican and WPA Murals in SF

In-class: Field trip to North Beach to see Diego Rivera’s Making of a Mural Showing the Building of a City at SFAI and Coit Tower

Anthony W. Lee, Ch. 4 “Making a Fresco, Showing Another Public,” in Painting on the Left: Diego Rivera, Radical Politics, and San Francisco’s Public Murals (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999), 87-114. Anthony W. Lee, selection from Ch. 5 “Revolution on the Walls and in the Streets,” in Painting on the Left: Diego Rivera, Radical Politics, and San Francisco’s Public Murals (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999), 130-159. ______

WEEK 8, March 10 CCA Teach-In about Borders and Migration

In-class: CCA is organizing a teach-in about Borders and Migration on March 9 and 10. Participation in the event in some capacity is mandatory during our class session on March 10. Some students will elect to participate in a community mural workshop while others will attend talks and other programming. You will write a one-page, double-spaced reflection about your experience, due March 17. ______

WEEK 9, March 17 Mural Controversies in the United States

In-class: Teach-in about Borders and Migration written reflection due via email by beginning of class. Complete midterm course evaluations. Debate about George Washington High School murals. Distribute prompt for Exhibition or Site Analysis assignment.

Prof. Monica Bravo Syllabus- Muralism 9 Diana L. Linden, “Ben Shahn’s New Deal Murals: Jewish Identity in the American Scene,” in The Social and the Real: Political Art of the 1930s in the Western Hemisphere, eds. Alejandro Anreus, Diana L. Linden, and Jonathan Weinberg (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2006), 241-258.

Carol Pogash, “These High School Murals Depict an Ugly History. Should they Go?,” New York Times, April 11, 2019.

Robin D.G. Kelley, “We’re Getting These Murals All Wrong,” The Nation, September 10, 2019, https://www.thenation.com/article/arnautoff-mural-life-washington/. ______

WEEK 10, March 24 Spring Break

No class ______

WEEK 11, March 31 The Mission’s Murals

In-class: Discuss various methods of paint application (fresco, spray paint, grid, etc.). Learn about the Mission’s historical Latinx makeup, and gentrification today.

Holly Barnett-Sanchez and Tim Drescher, selection from Ch. 2, “Contexts,” in Give Me Life: Identity and Iconography in East LA Murals (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2016), 34-42. Exhibition catalog.

Cary Cordova, Ch. 5 “Hombres y Mujeres Muralistas on a Mission: Painting Latino Identities in 1970s San Francisco,” in The Heart of the Mission: Latino Art and Politics in San Francisco (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2017), 126-151.

Rupert García, “Chicano-Latino wall art: the mural and the poster,” in The Hispanic American Aesthetic: Origins, Manifestations, and Significance (San Antonio: University of Texas, 1983), 27-30, ICAA record ID: 809445. ______

WEEK 12, April 7 Walking the Mission

In-class: Field trip to the Mission: walking tour of Balmy Alley, the Women’s Building, and other sites. Exhibition or Site Analysis due via email by beginning of class.

Angela Y. Davis, Foreword to Maestrapeace: San Francisco’s Monumental Feminist Mural (Berkeley: Heyday, 2019), 11-38.

Jaime Cortez, “Beauty is a Verb: Mission Muralismo 1971-1982,” in Street Art San Francisco: Mission Muralismo, ed. Annice Jacoby (New York: Abrams, 2009), 59-76. [Actually far fewer pages, lots of images!]

Prof. Monica Bravo Syllabus- Muralism 10 ______

WEEK 13, April 14 Murals of Los Angeles

In-class: Compare and contrast SF with LA.

Anna Indych-López, Ch. 4 “Looking Back,” in Judith F. Baca (Los Angeles: UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center Press, 2018, 111-151.

Holly Barnet-Sanchez, selection from “Radical Mestizaje in Chicano/a Murals,” in Mexican Muralism: A Critical History, eds. Alejandro Anreus, Robin Adele Greeley, and Leonard Folgarait (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2012), 251-262. ______

WEEK 14, April 21 Considering Digital Murals and the Institutionalization of Street Art

In-class: Field trip to SFMOMA to see JR’s The Chronicles of San Francisco.

Learn about JR’s The Chronicles of San Francisco and watch video at https://www.sfmoma.org/exhibition/jr/ Read Emily Wilson interview with JR on Hyperallergic: https://hyperallergic.com/507923/jr-digital-mural/ Katya Tylevich and Ben Eastham, “The Last Hiding Place: Staying Sane and Sound in the Art World,” in My Life as a Work of Art (London: Laurence King Publishing, 2016), 55-89. ______

WEEK 15, April 28 Student Mural Design Presentations

In-class: Mural design and written justification due at beginning of class. Half the students in the class present their mural designs. Students complete course evaluations. ______

WEEK 16, May 5 Student Mural Design Presentations

In-class: Half the students in the class present their mural designs.

Prof. Monica Bravo Syllabus- Muralism 11