Creative Seedshad the privilege to learn from ‘Gato’ who is a long term organizer and artivist from San Francisco and Mexico City.
He talked to us about printmaking as a revolutionary tool that is widely accessible. He shared with us many different examples on how we can do relief printing from anywhere and print on just about anything, including on ourselves.
He talked to us about the many ways that he has created an impact in the world through sharing his work and understanding of printmaking. He instilled in us a sense of hope and inspiration by sharing with us how art and love can change the world.
The topic of home is political and emotional. Home can be defined in many ways. Sometimes a place, other times a feeling.
In Creative Seeds we talked about the topic of home from the perspective of displacement. All of the youth attending the program have grown up in San Francisco and are no strangers to the effects of gentrification. Many of them are first, second generations here in the US. Because of that experience the concept of home might not be of a singular thing or place.
Here are the youth printing their lino blocks with their interpretation of “Home.”
Transitioning from experimental printmaking to relief we had the opportunity to invite and learn from Fernando Marti, a printmaker and community artivist!
He shared with us the history of relief and activism through political work created by Posada in Mexico in the 1880’s. Students had the chance to see Fernando’s intricately carved blocks as sources of inspiration for what they could create with their next project!
Thank you Fernando for sharing your wisdom with us!!
You are cordially invited to Creative Seeds first youth arts show “Through Our Youth’s Eyes,” at Puerto Alegre!! The opening reception will be June 15th, 2024 from 12pm - 1:30pm! Come and see all the work these young printmakers have created over the last 20 weeks!
The show will be available from June 3, 2024 - June 30, 2024 during the hours of operation! Support local businesses and youth art!!
Thank you to @puertoalegresf for hosting our show, @mcclasf for allowing us the space to create, and @ybca and @calartscouncil for sponsoring the program!!! 🌱
Our first art project was experimental printmaking with embroidery hoops, gelli plates, fish, etc.
I wanted to introduce screenprinting to my students in a way where they could use materials they could find at home or buy for a very low cost. It can be challenging to access a printmaking space and I wanted my students to see one of the many ways they could adapt this art form.
My personal approach to printmaking is to treat it as an experiment. To play and push the boundaries of what can at times be a very technically precise art medium. I encouraged my students to get messy and to try many things- to create without an end result.
Had lots of fun watching them play and explore materials. Also seeing what they could create with these seemingly random things.
If you would like to do a screenprinting embroidery hoop workshop let me know!!!
We started off Creative Seeds of Activism, Youth Arts Program by learning about the history of Mission Grafica and Printmaking in SF from the birth of the studio in the late 1970’s till early 2000’s.
Juan Fuentes is one of many artists that helped bring Mission Grafica together and was highly influential in the evolution of art and culture in the Mission. Juan shared with us his artistic journey and the many challenges he overcame. He talked about the many calls to action that he and many artists helped support through creating posters- which formed the historic legacy of Mission Grafica.
He inspired us with his work and showed us how he now combines relief and screenprinting. Very grateful to have had Juan as our first facilitator and to be able to create multigenerational spaces where we can learn directly from our elders.
Hello everyone! My name is Alejandra and I am the Director and Lead Educator for Creative Seeds of Activism, Youth Arts Program!!
I have been an art educator for 3 years working with kids, teens, and adults!! I primarily focus on teaching Art and Activism through Printmaking in the form of workshops and classes. I aim to share my love of printmaking to inspire folks in my community to embrace their inner artists by bringing accessible printmaking activities to any and all spaces. I find inspiration in the resilient history of printmaking and how it has adapted and evolved through experimental processes!
Creative Seeds of Activism, Youth Arts Program was inspired from my years of working with youth at different capacities. I noticed that youth had a strong desire to share their voice and printmaking allowed them the space to do so. But many times 4 - 8 weeks did not feel like enough time for youth to fully immerse themselves in this art form and become well equipped to talk about social justice issues. In 2023 I applied and received funding through the YBCA Creative Corp grant and partnered with the Mission Cultural Center to host this 20 week program from the historical Mission Grafica.
For the past few months I have been working closely with 10-12 youth (11 - 18), bringing in community artists and organizations to share their experience and knowledge with my cohort. I am very excited to share the work that my students have created and updates on how you can support them in their end of program exhibition!! (Information coming soon)
I feel very grateful to be able to fully step into this role as Director and Arts Educator, and for the opportunity to be of service to my community through something that I love.
