Berkeley Murals Contest

A new Berkeley event has many residents excitedly searching their neighborhoods for public art. The Berkeley Mural Contest, created by Brett Weinstein of Reality Advocates in conjunction with the City of Berkeley’s Civic Arts Commission, is in full swing. The contest is organized much like a city–wide mural treasure hunt. Participants visit the Berkeley Mural Contest web site where they can view photos of 143 Berkeley murals. The goal of the contest is to locate as many of the murals on the website as possible. No clues are given and mural–hunters are expected to document the locations of each mural they find. Public art is abundant in Berkeley; the contest founders hope that the event will get Berkeley residents excited and proud of their city’s unique collection of murals.

The murals included in the scavenger hunt range from the instantly recognizable to the obscure. Each mural is given a number and pictures are posted online so that participants can easily start searching.

“As a real estate broker, I spend a lot of time driving around looking at houses,” said Weinstein. Weinstein realized the
great diversity of the city’s murals and was inspired to share this discovery with friends and family. He also began taking and sharing photos of his favorite murals, “That’s when I realized I had the makings of a really fun contest, and a real source of pride in my city,” said Weinstein. He took his idea to the Civic Arts Commission, who enthusiastically supported his efforts.

The contest not only offers prize money to participants, but also includes a money donation towards the creation of a new Berkeley mural. Reality Advocates will donate one thousand dollars to the current project of True Colors, the public murals program at Berkeley City College (BCC), entitled “Posters of Resistance.” BCC students, as well as a few Berkeley High School students, are active in the creation of the new mural. “Public art is especially important because it allows accessibility to people of all incomes, as opposed to art being hung in a museum. True Colors Mural project emphasizes public art in poorer neighborhoods to send a positive message that otherwise would not be seen,” said BHS junior Julie Ngai. “[The mural is being created] through a class at BCC in which the first semester is spent designing and planning, and the second semester is spent executing,” said Ngai.

“Posters of Resistance” will be located on the building of Inkworks Press, a worker–owned printing collective. The collective has created many influential pieces of art and is very excited to be involved in the project. “We do a lot of beautiful political posters and other printing services for many non–profits including environmental groups, immigration and justice groups, workers’ rights and women’s rights, human rights and earth justice organizations. The David Brower Center, Rain Forest Action Network, Earth Island Institute, Ecology Center, UCB and Berkeley YMCA are just a few local organizations that work with us,” said Ranil Abeysekera of Inkworks Press. “We got involved for two great reasons: we want to share our mission with youth and we want to showcase what we do here at Inkworks.”

The contest is broken up into two levels: the first level requires participants to find the first 31 murals located on the Berkeley Mural Contest website and the second level requires the locations of all 143 murals. Ten people who complete the first level will be chosen by lottery and will each win fifty dollars. A three–hundred dollar grand prize will be awarded by lottery to a participant who completes level two.

“[Photos of the murals are posted online] participants print out thumbnails of the entire collection, seven pages worth, and then write down the locations on the sheet when they find them. When they are ready to enter the contest, they go to the contest entry form [on the website],” explained Weinstein. The deadline of the contest has just been extended from May 31 to June 30. “In [originally] setting the contest to end on May 31, I didn’t consider that students would be involved with finals. Since I really would like to get as many young people involved as possible, I will extend the contest to end June 30,” said Weinstein.

Weinstein went on to speak about his favorite murals, “From a historical point of view, number 16 and number 56.” Number 16 is a painting of Sojourner Truth and number 56 is a portrait of Dr. Martin Luther King. “For the hysterical ones, I’m very fond of number 15,” said Weinstein of a smaller mural, a scene of three dogs playing music painted on a brick wall. Each work of art is unique and a surprising number are instantly recognizable as pieces Berkeley residents see every day.

The contest aims to excite Berkeley residents about their culture and inspire them to search for art in their everyday lives. City funding for public art is limited and contests like the Mural Contest seek to showcase Berkeley’s talent in less expensive and more creative ways.

Public art has always been a subject of pride for many Berkeley residents, and the contest highlights some of the most impressive pieces.

Photos:

• Berkeley Mural (Aiden Leslie)