Balmy Alley
Encyclopedia
Balmy Alley is the location of the most concentrated collection of murals in the city of San Francisco
. Located in the south central portion of the Inner Mission District
between 24th Street and Garfield Square.
The project to install murals in Balmy Alley has been described, along with San Diego's Chicano Park
and Los Angeles' Estrada Courts, as a leading example Chicano/a
mural environments giving expression to a history of displacement and marginalization traditionally experienced by Mexican and Chicano/a
of the United States, and as a means to reclaim the spaces historically denied to them. The murals of Balmy Alley date to 1972, as work of the two woman team of Patricia Rodriquez and Graciela Carillo known as Las Mujeres Muralistas. A further project for this space began in 1984 spearheaded by Ray Patlan to install murals throughout the alley with the common theme of a celebration of indigenous Central American cultures and as protest of US intervention in Central America. This culminated in the addition of twenty seven murals during the summer of 1985, funded in part by a grant of $2,500 from the Zellerbach Foundation. This art project proved influential, inspiring the La Lucha Continua Art Park/La Lucha Mural Park in New York City the following year.
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
. Located in the south central portion of the Inner Mission District
Mission District, San Francisco, California
The Mission District, also commonly called "The Mission", is a neighborhood in San Francisco, California, USA, originally known as "the Mission lands" meaning the lands belonging to the sixth Alta California mission, Mission San Francisco de Asis...
between 24th Street and Garfield Square.
The project to install murals in Balmy Alley has been described, along with San Diego's Chicano Park
Chicano Park
Chicano Park is a 32,000 square meter park located beneath the San Diego-Coronado Bridge in Barrio Logan, a predominantly Mexican American and Mexican-immigrant community in central San Diego, California...
and Los Angeles' Estrada Courts, as a leading example Chicano/a
Chicano
The terms "Chicano" and "Chicana" are used in reference to U.S. citizens of Mexican descent. However, those terms have a wide range of meanings in various parts of the world. The term began to be widely used during the Chicano Movement, mainly among Mexican Americans, especially in the movement's...
mural environments giving expression to a history of displacement and marginalization traditionally experienced by Mexican and Chicano/a
Chicano
The terms "Chicano" and "Chicana" are used in reference to U.S. citizens of Mexican descent. However, those terms have a wide range of meanings in various parts of the world. The term began to be widely used during the Chicano Movement, mainly among Mexican Americans, especially in the movement's...
of the United States, and as a means to reclaim the spaces historically denied to them. The murals of Balmy Alley date to 1972, as work of the two woman team of Patricia Rodriquez and Graciela Carillo known as Las Mujeres Muralistas. A further project for this space began in 1984 spearheaded by Ray Patlan to install murals throughout the alley with the common theme of a celebration of indigenous Central American cultures and as protest of US intervention in Central America. This culminated in the addition of twenty seven murals during the summer of 1985, funded in part by a grant of $2,500 from the Zellerbach Foundation. This art project proved influential, inspiring the La Lucha Continua Art Park/La Lucha Mural Park in New York City the following year.
See also
- Precita EyesPrecita EyesPrecita Eyes Muralists Association is a community-based non-profit muralist and arts education group located in the Mission District of San Francisco, California, founded in 1977 by Susan and Luis Cervantes.-History:...
- Google Image Gallery of murals
- Balmy Alley website.