Connecting communities through collaborative public art

Through a grant from the City of Oakland Public Art Program's Open Proposals, City Canvas will work with eighth grade students at Westlake Middle School near Lake Merritt. As part of a leadership course, the students will work with the community, create art that explores their identities as youth and as Oakland residents, and examine how they fit into the broader civic community.

Lead teaching artist and professional muralist David Stern-Gottfried will adapt this art into a format to be painted and installed on traffic signal boxes throughout Oakland's Uptown/Lake Merritt neighborhood. As part of the design process, students will actively engage local residents and businesses, and open paint days in the spring will provide an opportunity for interested community members to be directly involved in the project. Student work may also be featured in gallery settings, and as part of Oakland's First Friday Art Murmur sometime in the late spring. Art work will be installed summer 2010 on traffic signal boxes.