Working in the printmaking studio was a refreshing addition to PLI. The time spent with classmates and our artist Victor Cartagena was well spent. We learned the process of printmaking and as a team we were able to produce wonderful works of art. I appreciated the opportunity to express myself through an artistic medium outside of discussions, paper-writing, and presentations and decided to express my potential as a leader. The process of printmaking is one that requires a level of patience and attention to detail unlike that required in a school administrator. Printmaking is also more hands on. I learned, however, that planning and development of a vision is a necessary shared component of both professional fields and although as leaders we may not work so much with our hands, we do take hold of others’ futures. My pieces all reflect an aspect of leadership that must be taken into account as we work to create the structures and systems that will bring our visions out of our heads and into our reality. We must use our skills to work with families, colleagues and students. We must be constantly aware that our actions are powerful and that they have both rewards and consequences that we must carefully weigh against each other. In class I have most enjoyed seeing everyone’s joy as a piece they worked hard to create was revealed. The class was relaxing, productive, and I truly enjoyed the space and time to create.
- Suniqua Thomas
I appreciate art that requires the observer to develop their own interpretations about the messages being conveyed. However, I prefer my own work to be more literal because I want my audience to be clear on the message I am attempting to convey. My unfinished print was intended to update the history of lynching with a commentary on the alarming number of young people of color who have been pushed out of the Oakland school system. At my small school alone, over 80 students who started the school with us this year are no longer there - some were expelled, others transferred to adult schools, and many others stopped coming to school. My piece contains the names of these young people, and will eventually be printed over newspaper articles about budget cuts or images of violence from East Oakland committed by and upon young people who have been, for a variety of reasons, unserved by their schools.
My two finished pieces were experiments with inverse - making lines and shapes come to life not by giving them color, but instead by focusing on the void around them.
Thank you to PLI and Victor for giving me this incredible opportunity. - Jonathan
When I joined Victor Cartagena’s printmaking BRAVO group, I knew I wanted to make something that summarized the meaning, goals and philosophy of the Principal Leadership Institute (PLI) at UC Berkeley, but I did not know what that would be. After studying Victor’s work, in particular his fascination with interlaying images of the human body and text, I got an idea.
In the spring we were given a flat image of hand titled the “Framework for Decision-Making: Thinking Like a Leader for Equity.” The hand’s palm represented our identity as a leader, and the five fingers represented the need to consider the context, data, legal, policy, and equity aspects of a situation before making a major decision. Learning to use the “hand of equity” was the theme of our coursework and something I wanted to expand upon through art.
So, I decided to create a play on that theme by drawing a picture of my hand. But instead of drawing it two-dimensional and lifeless, I decided to draw it with tense, curled fingers to illustrate that working for equity is three-
dimensional and alive. By presenting it in different ways on different backgrounds, I wanted to show that regardless of how it is seen and regardless of how it is framed, leading a school for equity is a conscious and active effort to undo the generations of prejudice and discrimination that persists in the form of the achievement gap. - Mark Herrera
FACES: "To a true artist only that face is beautiful which, quite apart from its exterior, shines with the truth within the soul." - Mahatma Ghandi
When I first began working with Victor to develop my art, I was a bit perplexed. I had no background in visual art, much less printmaking. However, from the moment I began to work with the plexiglass and paint, I instantly enjoyed the medium. Instructive, yet flexible, Victor was the perfect mentor to help guide me to a place where I really focused on my thoughts and how I would portray them in a visual piece.
Working in an authentic artist studio in San Francisco inspired me. Being able to work with materials and equipment that more experienced artists use helped me to enter a space where I engaged with my thoughts like I rarely do. Traversing reality and sur-reality, I enjoyed exploring the realm of race and society as I engaged with images, the other artists, and my own thoughts.
While perusing through hundreds of images, faces continually to pique my interest. In fact, I felt a palpable attraction to each of the faces I selected for my piece. Transcending differences such as race, age, and gender, the faces all spoke to me about human connection and in particular, the message of hope. Thank you Victor Cartagena, PLI, Cohort 8 and Bravo for this powerful experience. - Cliff Hong
Reflections: 1st masterpiece: - Los Ojos de La Historia - "Never forget the shoulders we stand on!"
2nd masterpiece: - La Sonrisa "If only the dead could speak? - jorge melgoza
I decided to use Woody Guthrie as a voice to express frustration with the
lack of change that has occurred over the past century. The song *Deportee
(Plane Wreck at Los Gatos,)*was written to recognize the mistreatment of
illegal immigrant workers more than fifty years ago, yet many of the same
issues feature just as prominently today. - Marilyn Zoller Koral
Beginning the process of making prints with Victor, I did was unable to create a vision in my head of what kind the product would be. It took reassurances from Victor and the realization that several others in my group were going through a similar process. In the end, I'm thankful that Joshua suggested working with prints. Being able to work beside Pia was extremely beneficial because she always projected an assurance that things would work out. Jorge's drive, combined with the focus of Jen, Cliff, Lynn made the studio such a welcoming place to experiment and take risks. It was looking over the shoulder of Ruth on our second day in the studio that I realized that no matter what direction I chose, the product was going to reflect commitment to my understanding issues of equity in California.- Lucius McKelvy
Though originally I felt uncomfortable with printmaking, Victor pushed us out of our comfort zone while letting us hold on to our own ideas. The process of learning about printmaking was therapeutic, enlightening, demanding, exciting, and worthwhile. Working in an artist's studio was inspiring. Being immersed in the studio space and surrounded by Victor's work increased the authenticity of the experience. In this space, Victor drew from his expertise and resources to help us transform our ideas into tangible products. As my ideas evolved throughout the process, I became more and more excited that I could become completely engaged in the process without knowing quite what the product would look like in the end. In the final image, my hand is printed on top of different emotions and roles that have been put upon me or that I have chosen to embrace in my palm. As this pile grows with each experience, inevitably, parts of who I am or have been ascribed to be will slip through my fingertips, with and without consciousness. - Lynn Tu
What is Bravo? An opportunity to reflect, engage, reflect, carve, experiment, and contribute to a larger "conversation" with other fledgling (and professional) artists. Victor, as mentor, helped guide my thoughts and nurtured my innate ideas about representing conflict, racism, and subjugation.
There was never enough time to play in the art…but the experience helped me see that imperfections can be organic and beautiful.
The title of my pieces are called THE HEARTS OF CAPTIVES. The images were compiled from archaeological images taken from The African Burial Ground Project and Waterloo Plantation, two 18th century cemetery sites for enslaved Africans. The words engraved represent the language that is often used to “capture” the history of African Diasporic people. Language that often does not reflect the feelings and tones of the people themselves. What does it mean to live in duality as a person and property, a captive? Inevitably, only in death, were these early Africans able to find freedom. The SANKOFA symbol (an Akan adinkra symbol from Ghana) is a reminder to “go back and fetch” the truth in history. - Ruth Mathis Bissell
