#32 - Lideres de la Comunidad



​Location: 1204 Buena Vista at Colorado St.
Dimensions:​ 55'6" x 22'
Date: September 2006
Artist: Valerie Arranda 
Crew: Meredith  North, Brooke Spivey, Adriana Garcia, Jeff Diaz, Kim Sida, John Ivarra, Cardee A. Garcia, Alvaro Ramirez, Eddie Montalvo, Paco Klein, Gerrado E. Garcia, Anilu Gonzalez, Alex Garcia
Muralist in Residence Valerie Aranda worked with San Anto community members and artists to create this tribute to Westside community leaders. The brightly-colored mural is a compilation of portraits, ranging from labor organizer Emma Tenayuca to local mechanic and accordionist Paul Morada. The tree on the right side of the mural speaks to the roots and continual growth of the Westside community, while the chicharras shedding their skin remind us that even when someone we love leaves their body behind, they live on in us and the communities they labored to build.
Guide to ​Figures in the Mural
1. RuDy "Diamond" Garcia
Local artist and co-founder of Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center, portrait painted by niece Adriana Garcia.

​Additonal information: Adriana Garcia felt she came to know her uncle better when she painted him into the mural. As a reference image, Adriana used a snapshot her father had taken of his brother painting in a smock. She wanted to show Diamond in action, doing what he loved most. People ranging from passers-by to influential artists began to tell her how wonderful and talented her uncle was, and Adriana started to see him as not just as her tio but also an artist and a leader. She wrapped Diamond in the colors and patterns of the Virgin of Guadalupe’s tilma, a subtle reference to the name of the organization he founded.

​2. Southwest Workers Union (SWU)
San Anto has partnered with SWU since its beginning. Ruth Buentello recalls passing out leaflets at SWU marches as a youth participant in El Placazo Community Newspaper, experiences that shaped her passion for social justice. The SWU building on the East Side of San Antonio hosts one of San Anto’s newer murals, East Side is Love.
​3. Charlie Campos
Local resident and shop owner; spouse of Maricela Campos
​4. Maricela Campos
Local resident and shop owner; spouse of Charlie Campos
5. Refugio Gonzales
Local resident
6. Gloria Rios
"La Reina de Rock'n'Roll Mexicano"
​7. Cesar Cano
President of South Texas Amature Boxing Association
8. Emma Tenyauca​
Labor organizer and social activist
​
Additional info: Perhaps no single figure has shaped community organizing on the Westside as profoundly as Emma Tenayuca. Born in the Westside and raised on the South Side, Tenayuca began studying Marxism at age 15 and was arrested in 1933 at age 16 for her involvement in a strike against the Finck Cigar Company. Emma went on to graduate from San Antonio’s Brackenridge High School and organize female workers in textile factories.  At age 22, she lead a successful campaign of pecan shellers to stop a fifty percent pay cut and improve working conditions. Our Lady of Guadalupe Church on the Westside supported the pecan shellers’ strike. Despite personal and political obstacles, she continued her fruitful career of activism and organizing until her death in 1999. The tree in this mural is a pecan tree, referencing Tenayuca’s achievements in what used to be San Antonio’s most important industry.
9. Pecan SHeller's Protest
​10. Jackie Diaz
San Anto Teen Mentor
​11. Cristina Ordonez
El Placazo Program Coordinator

Additional info: Cristina grew up on the Westside and became involved with San Anto in middle school, when she started writing for El Placazo Community Newspaper. In high school, Cristina became a teen mentor, not only writing for the paper but teaching other students what she knew. As an undergraduate student of bilingual education at UTSA, Cristina worked as the program coordinator for El Placazo Community Newspaper and held the position for three more years after graduation. She later served as a board member and eventually, president of the board for San Anto Cultural Arts. Since then, Cristina has worked as an academic advisor and education professional in various San Antonio organizations. Cristina says that she carries with her the values she developed at San Anto: “always giving back to your community, always checking yourself, making sure that you’re always staying humble, mentoring. That’s why I’m still in education.”
​12. Jessica Torres
San Anto Teen Mentor
​13. Charlie Mata
Social activist and former professional boxer
14. Jason Charles Mata
Local youth and grandson of Charlie Mata
15. Alejandro Macias
Local entrepreneur

Additional information: Alejandro Macias immigrated from Mexico and worked to develop the Westside, buying and operating properties along West Commerce Street. He owned Las Brisas, a legendary Mexican restaurant that Westside icons like Patti Radle, former Distrct 5 Councilwoman, founder of Inner City Development, and SAISD School Board President, frequented in the 70s and 80s. Although Las Brisas is no longer open, the properties are still within the Macias family. Alejandro’s son Jaime Macias attended high school with San Anto founder Manuel Castillo and is the wall owner for You Are Not Forgotten.​
​16. Paul Morada
Local mechanic and accordionist
​17. La Gloria
Barrio landmark

Additional information: ​La Gloria was once a gas station and ice house with a rooftop dance hall. On evenings and weekends, people gathered at La Gloria to talk, drink, sing, and dance. In 2002, the City of San Antonio slated La Gloria for demolition, despite its historical significance. Westside organizers spearheaded by San Anto artists and staff members like Manny Castillo and Mary Agnes Rodriguez organized a campaign to keep La Gloria. Despite weeks of picketing, protesting, and contacting City Council through letters and speeches, La Gloria was demolished. The building has become an icon in Westside memory, giving birth to the Westside Preservation Alliance that now works to recognize and preserve historic Westside buildings.
​18. Aurora Olguin
Local resident and activist; spouse of Guadalupe Olguin and grandfather to former San Anto Board member Maricela Olguin
​19. Guadalupe Olguin
Local resident and activist; spouse of Aurora Olguin and grandmother to former San Anto Board member Maricela Olguin
​20. Rudolfo "Don Fito" Garcia
"El Bato Suave" of La Carpa Garcia

Additional information: ​Don Fito is the grandfather of artist Adriana Garcia. When Gerry invited Adriana to paint her uncle Rudy into the mural, Adriana asked if she could also add her grandfather. The picture is of her grandfather as a young man, performing as a clown. Don Fito was part of a carpa, a group of traveling performers who put on comedic Vaudeville-style shows for migrant Mexican farm workers. Adriana remembers her grandfather always cracking jokes and making people laugh. By painting his black-and-white image in bright colors, Adriana felt that she was, in a way, bringing him to life in the mural.
​21. Guadalupe Martinez
Local business owner
22. Anilu Gonzalez
Local educator
​23. Jose P. Riojas
Local resident, barrio​ historian, and elder
24. Trinidad Sanchez Jr.
Social activist and poet

Additional information: Trinidad Sanchez passed away shortly before the Lideres de la Comunidad project began, so artists chose to feature him prominently in the design. Best known for his poetry collection “Why Am I So Brown?”, Sanchez was also a teacher and mentor to many young San Antonians as part of the SAISD “Artist in Education” program. Through the program, he travelled to different San Antonio high schools, elementary schools, and middle schools, leading workshops in bilingual poetry. He describes poems as “safe places to go to where you can express your true feelings, to celebrate who you are. You have to love yourself before you can love other people.” Originally from Pontiac, Michigan, Sanchez worked in San Antonio from 1970-1981, moved to Detroit, and returned to San Antonio in 1990 where he lived with his wife Regina Chavez y Sanchez and his daughter Amanda. A a poet, he was influenced by Horizons in Poetry, an African-American poetry group that met at Windstate University in Detroit and La Latino Poets Association. In Lideres de la Comunidad, Trinidad Sanchez looks as though he is reading one of his poems to viewers.
​Content and Design
      Valerie Aranda, an Arizona native and Georgia resident, wanted the mural to focus on “San Anto history, leaders within that history, and everyday leaders, people who make a difference in San Antonio communities: youth, activists, artist, grandparents, etc.” The mural is a blended collage of Westside leaders (see below for a full list of names). The tree on the far right speaks to the deep roots and continual growth of the Westside. Chicharras shed their skin as they climb the tree, leaving old bodies for new life. Many of the figures in this mural have also left their bodies, but live on in the community they labored to build. The mural’s warm, vivid colors evoke the beauty, peace, and hope of a quiet sunset. The text at the bottom right of the image is from a poem by local author Trinidad Sanchez:
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​Let life be a festival, festival of happiness and justice. The New World where there will be no rich, nor bombs or wars, where the only hunger will be for justice."
History
      This mural happened in warp speed. Lead artist Valerie Aranda came to San Anto from Georgia College as part of the Muralist in Residence Program (MIRP). A studio art instructor, Valerie brought two of her students as assistants, Meredith North and Brooke Spivey. The trio planned to stay in San Antonio for five to six weeks.  Just before Valerie arrived, the wall owner backed out of the mural agreement. Valerie and the San Anto staff were left with no mural wall and a ticking ten-week clock. Manny Castillo reached out to Maria DeLeon from National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures (NALAC), who agreed to let San Anto paint on one of NALAC’s buildings, right next to Ruth Buentello’s mural Piedad. Manny Castillo had originally met Valerie Aranda through a NALAC leadership program. 
       Mural coordinator Gerry Garcia described designing the mural as a “shotgun process.” Artists and community members gathered and began listing names of community leaders, ranging from legendary labor organizer Emma Tenayuca to an accordion player who performed at a local mechanic shop. Gerry Garcia and Valerie Aranda compiled the twenty-four portraits into a single image, and then painting began.   
        Community members flooded the mural project with support. Over thirty-six people joined the mural crew or contributed as volunteers, including San Anto muralists Adriana Garcia, Cardee Garcia, Mary Agnes Rodriguez, Ruth Buentello, and Mike Roman. Even though volunteers had to work in sweltering San Antonio mid-summer heat, hardly a day passed with less than ten people working on the mural. The project culminated in a mural blessing by Isaac Cardenas and Father Marty from Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church. District 5 Councilwoman Patti Radle spoke and Santiago Garcia read a poem. The party ended with a backyard barbecue hosted by NALAC and live Westside punk music from the band Out of Order! 
      Today, Lideres de la Comunidad is one of San Anto’s best-loved murals. Friends and family members of the people featured in the mural are proud to see their loved one honored, and passers-by are able to learn years of Westside history simply by investigating the stories behind the mural. Artist Adriana Garcia was moved by the experience of of painting her uncle Rudy Diamond Garcia, Guadalupe Cultural Arts co-founder, and her grandfather Rudolfo “Don Fito” Garcia, a traveling theater performer for migrant workers. Adriana says:
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I had always practiced art but it was always solitary as an individual artist in my own studio right. As a solitary artist, you can do whatever you want, obviously. but then once you move to the mural sphere you stay in line with respecting the community and what experiences the community might have or the history of the community. So when I was asked to volunteer, it served as a way for me to heal from experiencing a sense of loss and a way to honor my ancestors, and then also to get out of the studio and be a part of something bigger.”
​About the Artist
(Taken with permission from http://www.changastudioworks.com)

Valerie Aranda is a visual artist from Tempe, Arizona. In her artwork she focuses on painting, drawing, and muralism. She received her BFA in painting from Arizona State University and her MFA in Visual Arts from the University of California, San Diego. Creating narrative based paintings with culturally affirming images, Aranda’s artwork examines her identity where she explores issues of place, race, gender roles, and cultural traditions in the Mexican American family. “Drawing from my Mexican, American, and Indigenous roots, I examine the negotiating between differing worldviews within the U.S. and the Americas and my use of culturally affirming imagery is a decolonizing strategy.”