Project Mural

For the past two weeks, CRP Albuquerque artists, Release, Bryan and Tosh, have been participating in the CRP Bay Area Artist in Residency program.

There is a powerful witness to community and the struggle for migrant justice in the form of a massive mural in San Francisco.

A DJ spins cool cumbia-inspired beats under the dim lighting of Oakland’s Layover, as the people sitting on the plush couches are joined by friends.

Refa’s experience is paralleled by that of graffiti artist Desi, whose nonprofit organization, Community Rejuvenation Project, has created a series of murals—both commissioned and illegal— promoting peace and nonviolence in high-crime areas throughout West and East Oakland.

Before another contingent of the Caravan for Peace set off for Mexico, its first stop was in Watsonville. CRP artists meet the activists at the Watsonville Brown Beret Bike Shack early Sunday morning.

Fremont Federation’s cafeteria is not only for food but also for art, thanks to the Community Rejuvenation Project, an Oakland-based organization who seek to improve urban neighborhoods through art.

Gompers High School students celebrated a victory last week when the Richmond City Council awarded them $1,000 to restore a mural that was painted out by the city’s graffiti abatement team.

Crowded in the back of St. Vincent de Paul’s community center in downtown Oakland, dozens of people paint an extensive wood panel with a mosaic of images—trees, faces, buildings and flowers and words like “peace,” “love” and “kiss.”

Oakland is known nationwide for its reputation as one of the toughest, most urban, and unfortunately crime-ridden cities in America . Yet predicable newspaper headlines announcing the latest outbreak of violence paint a picture of “The Town” which only tells part of the story.

Hundreds of street murals brighten Oakland’s walls, painted by local artists, graffiti writers and collectives, like the Community Rejuvenation Project.