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Location: 1927 W. Commerce St.
Dimensions: 51'3" x 13'10" Date: February 1999 Lead Community Muralists: Juan Ramos, Mike Roman, Janette Torres |
Mano a Mano is a simple, brightly colored mural designed to replace graffiti with a positive message of understanding and community. Thirteen-year-old artist Janette Torres designed and painted the row of figures to look like paper-doll cutouts, while artist Juan Ramos painted the night sky with two Aztec symbols and artist Mike Roman added the skyline, globe, and arms. Mike captured the skyline by stepping to the side of the building to observe the city, painting San Antonio as he saw it in in real time.
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Content and Design
The mural design is simple, partially because one of the lead artists was thirteen and partially because the brick facade on the wall was heavily textured, making a more complex design impractical.The background of the mural is a starry night sky, featuring constellation-like outlines of two Aztec symbols: the sun and the ollin (eye), a symbol of movement and change. The foreground shows a line of people in all shapes, sizes, colors, ages, and occupations holding hands in front of the San Antonio skyline. Two hands reach down past the globe, which is focused on North and Latin America. The arms are tattooed with the words “understanding” and “comunidad” (community). The arm on the left is meant to look masculine and the arm on the right is more feminine, emphasizing the themes of balance, diversity, and cooperation.
Together, the images communicate a message of cooperation and solidarity. Co-lead artist Mike Roman says:
Together, the images communicate a message of cooperation and solidarity. Co-lead artist Mike Roman says:
“We all need to work together to make things happen and just to be happy. We can control all the negative, we can control all the positive, we just have to work together and know that people are different and respect that. So I think that’s what this is all about, you got different people from different walks of life and different race and we just come together. This is our world and we have to take care of it.” |
History
The Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies (AHAA) requested the mural for their annual conference in San Antonio, and People en Español magazine donated $10,000 for the project. Although San Anto still followed a community process, the mural is not in a residential area and was intended primarily to deter graffiti. The process was also shortened because artists had only one month to finish the piece. Thirteen-year-old Janette Torres drew and painted the line of figures holding hands, designed to look like paper dolls. Juan Ramos assisted with the mural design and painted the starry background. Mike Roman painted the arms, the globe, and the San Antonio skyline. Including the skyline was a spur-of-the-moment decision. Mike didn’t have a reference image, so he simply stepped to the side of the building and painted what he saw.
Janette Torres recalls Mano a Mano as one of the best experiences of her childhood. Not only did she worked with nationally and internationally recognized artists, she received a $500 check from the Mayor of San Antonio, who presented the check to Janette during a ceremony at a hotel by the Riverwalk. At age thirteen, $500 felt like $1,000,000. The award communicated to Janette the value of her community and her artwork:
Janette Torres recalls Mano a Mano as one of the best experiences of her childhood. Not only did she worked with nationally and internationally recognized artists, she received a $500 check from the Mayor of San Antonio, who presented the check to Janette during a ceremony at a hotel by the Riverwalk. At age thirteen, $500 felt like $1,000,000. The award communicated to Janette the value of her community and her artwork:
“I was a kid in the West Side, my parents were never gonna have the money for art school...That program taught us we can make our neighborhood look nicer, we can make it look visually appealing so people want to come here...It made me really proud to be Hispanic on the Westside.” |
About the Artists
Janette Torres grew upon the West Side, participating in programming at Inner City Development and San Anto Cultural Arts. She helped with the Flower Power, Mano a Mano, and Peace and Remembrance mural projects.
Juan Ramos earned his MFA from the University of Texas at San Antonio and began a now eighteen-year career of teaching at the college level at San Antonio institutions including UTSA, Our Lady of the Lake, Northwest Vista College, and Palo Alto College. He has also had residency at Artpace and his work has been exhibited in galleries across the nation. Ramos learned about mural painting when he worked as a mural workshop assistant for Dr. Jacqui Von Honts, a local artist who completed a dissertation on Mexican muralist David Siqueiros
Ramos befriended San Anto founder Manny Castillo when their punk rock bands went on tour together in 1993. Ramos and Castillo were both drummers and Castillo was living in the volunteer house at Rod and Patti Radle’s Inner City Development. Castillo had a dream of launching a community mural project out of Inner City, but needed an artist on board. Ramos, then 21, had recently begun to contemplate issues of identity politics and to incorporate post-Chicano themes into his work, so the concept of a Chicano-themed public art project appealed to him. He helped put on the first fundraiser for what was then called Inner City Mural Project, a disco party at Tacoland. Along with the third co-founder Cruz Ortiz, Juan Ramos helped to launch what became the San Anto Cultural Arts Community Mural Program. He co-led the murals Educación, Familia y Cultural es Vida, and Mano a Mano, designed Tribute to Martin Luther King, and assisted on El Poder de Muralismo: Cuentos Son Arte, San Anto’s 50th mural project.
Mike Roman - As a kid growing up in the Westside, Mike was always drawing. When he was 22 and studying for his GED, a worker at the Willie Velasquez Community Center noticed Mike’s interest in art and encouraged him to reach out to San Anto Cultural Arts. Manny Castillo (Founder and Executive Director) was impressed with Mike’s ability and asked if he wanted to lead a mural. An artist had begun the Salvación mural on El Paso Street but left it unfinished. Mike took the job and finished his first mural before he turned 23. Later, Mike interned for renowned San Antonio artist Jesse Trevino as his assistant on the Christus Santa Rosa Children’s Hospital mural, The Spirit of Healing. After this, Mike got a job at B2 Designs where he painted murals for Seaworld, Fiesta Texas, Michael Dell, Bill Gates, Concordia Lutheran Church, and other major clients. He also stayed involved in the San Antonio art scene, working part time at the 1906 gallery, assisting with the mural Mano a Mano, and leading the Vietnam memorial mural You Are Not Forgotten. Now Mike lives on a South Side ranch with his wife and two dogs. Clients pay him to restore classic cars and he continues to paint in his spare time.
Juan Ramos earned his MFA from the University of Texas at San Antonio and began a now eighteen-year career of teaching at the college level at San Antonio institutions including UTSA, Our Lady of the Lake, Northwest Vista College, and Palo Alto College. He has also had residency at Artpace and his work has been exhibited in galleries across the nation. Ramos learned about mural painting when he worked as a mural workshop assistant for Dr. Jacqui Von Honts, a local artist who completed a dissertation on Mexican muralist David Siqueiros
Ramos befriended San Anto founder Manny Castillo when their punk rock bands went on tour together in 1993. Ramos and Castillo were both drummers and Castillo was living in the volunteer house at Rod and Patti Radle’s Inner City Development. Castillo had a dream of launching a community mural project out of Inner City, but needed an artist on board. Ramos, then 21, had recently begun to contemplate issues of identity politics and to incorporate post-Chicano themes into his work, so the concept of a Chicano-themed public art project appealed to him. He helped put on the first fundraiser for what was then called Inner City Mural Project, a disco party at Tacoland. Along with the third co-founder Cruz Ortiz, Juan Ramos helped to launch what became the San Anto Cultural Arts Community Mural Program. He co-led the murals Educación, Familia y Cultural es Vida, and Mano a Mano, designed Tribute to Martin Luther King, and assisted on El Poder de Muralismo: Cuentos Son Arte, San Anto’s 50th mural project.
Mike Roman - As a kid growing up in the Westside, Mike was always drawing. When he was 22 and studying for his GED, a worker at the Willie Velasquez Community Center noticed Mike’s interest in art and encouraged him to reach out to San Anto Cultural Arts. Manny Castillo (Founder and Executive Director) was impressed with Mike’s ability and asked if he wanted to lead a mural. An artist had begun the Salvación mural on El Paso Street but left it unfinished. Mike took the job and finished his first mural before he turned 23. Later, Mike interned for renowned San Antonio artist Jesse Trevino as his assistant on the Christus Santa Rosa Children’s Hospital mural, The Spirit of Healing. After this, Mike got a job at B2 Designs where he painted murals for Seaworld, Fiesta Texas, Michael Dell, Bill Gates, Concordia Lutheran Church, and other major clients. He also stayed involved in the San Antonio art scene, working part time at the 1906 gallery, assisting with the mural Mano a Mano, and leading the Vietnam memorial mural You Are Not Forgotten. Now Mike lives on a South Side ranch with his wife and two dogs. Clients pay him to restore classic cars and he continues to paint in his spare time.