Features

Members of one South Berkeley neighborhood say their home has a lot going for it, and they gathered Sunday to create a mural to share their exuberance with the world. 

After months of planning and weeks painting, neighbors partied and painted throughout the afternoon to give the city its newest public art display, adorning the wall of Grove Liquors at the corner of Ashby Avenue and Martin Luther King Jr. Way. 

One-by-one, children, adults, old-timers and recent transplants slabbed their handprints and scrawled messages onto a mural designed, funded, planned and painted entirely by their friends and neighbors. 

“South Berkeley Shines” is the theme, with “Shine” outlined in block letters a dozen feet high. Showcased within each character, the artists painted in such local treasures as the Thai Temple, the Ashby Flea Market, and the Community Gardens. 

Singled out for special artistic attention was Joseph Charles, a Berkeley legend who for thirty years stood outside his house two blocks away at the corner of MLK and Oregon Street, waving with his signature yellow-orange gloves at motorists zipping past on their way to work. 

“We decided we wanted [the mural] to represent how fabulous our neighborhood is,” said Eve Cowen a four-year resident who spearheaded the project. Envisioning a mural that could both beautify and unify the neighborhood, she took to the streets passing out fliers to drum up interest in a project she hadn’t yet received permission to undertake. 

Over fifty neighbors attended the first meeting in February, bandying about ideas for the wall and debating strategies to get the project moving. 

Help came from Epic Arts—a South Berkeley nonprofit art collective that guided Cowen through raising money, finding free paint and getting city support—and the Nasser family, which has run the corner store for 15 years. 

The Nassers live just a few blocks from the shop, where they have long supported independent art. Two years ago the graffiti-scrawled wall blossomed with a globe symbolizing world peace, but after the artwork came under repeated assaults by spray paint-wielding taggers, everyone agreed it was time for a new mural. 

The family set up a collection box in the store which eventually collected the bulk of the $1,000 donated. Their generosity extended to the artists Sunday, whom they supplied with food and drink, including some wine and tequila. 

The eight artists, selected by community members from a pool of 15 applicants, received no pay, but said the opportunity to leave their mark on the famous wall was worth the labor. 

“We’ve been wanting to be part of this wall for 15 years,” said Brian Wallace a Berkeley-born graffiti artist who, along with partners Noah Daar and Rosario Archimedes, has made the leap from underground graffiti art to commercial and public art projects. 

Susan Bruckmeier, chosen to paint the homage to Joseph Charles, spent hours at the Berkeley Historical Society researching the man whose gloves sit under glass at the museum. She remembered seeing him as a kid growing up in Berkeley, but said the assignment helped her grasp how much he meant to the community.  

“It touched my heart that Mr. Charles spent all that time out in the neighborhood spreading good will,” she said. Once she started painting, neighbors stepped up to compliment her work and share their stories of Charles, who began waving in 1962 and didn’t stop for thirty years. He died last year at the age of 91. 

Neighbors were quick to heap praise on the new mural Sunday, with one woman declaring the new creation “hotter and spicier” than previous works. If there was any complaint, it was that the artists didn’t manage to squeeze in all of the legendary figures of South Berkeley. 

Idella Melton, who has lived in the neighborhood for more than 30 years, questioned the absence of Councilmember Maudelle Shirek and Mabel Howard, a community activist who led the fight to make sure BART passed through South Berkeley underground so it wouldn’t rattle the neighborhood. 

“It’s a fun wall, but you should have serious people up there too,” she said. 

Several neighbors said they hoped the mural would help foster community spirit and lift the mood in South Berkeley, which has recently suffered from a series of shootings believed to be connected to a rivalry with some residents of North Oakland. 

“This [mural] blows me away,” said Debby Segal. “This neighborhood needs a good feeling about itself right now. We need a reminder here that the neighbors are good, decent people.” 

The artwork should be a lasting tribute to the neighborhood, thanks to the plastic coating artists applied which they said will shield their creation from graffiti banditry.  

Cowen insists the mural is just the beginning of a community movement to get neighbors working for a better world. She plans to use any left over money for new projects, perhaps planting trees on MLK or adding murals to other South Berkeley locals. 

“We want this to be an annual mission of rejuvenation that will unite and inspire people to make a lasting difference,” she said.