Positive Wall Affirmation "Grow"

This word started out as something else, then it grew to be this. Grow. Pwa's are back. In case you just tuned in and are wondering what these are about, take a look at some of the previous words.

Muphoric Sounds 29-Talia Taylor

I met Ms Talia Taylor as a teacher and was blown away by her rhyme skills consequently when sitting in the audience of a Real nerds Mixtape party by CocoPelia. I was shocked and pleasantly surprised when i saw her up there rocking, and even further pleased when I heard her on Rocky Rivera's swagger Jackin and the Real Nerds mix. Wrote up a lil sumn on her. Keep an ear out for her.... LINK

Doris

Today, nearly seven years ago my grandma Doris passed away. She was a classy lady with a whole lot of love, a sense of humor, a fighting spirit, and an unbelievable spirit. That spirit lives on today in me and all of her grandchildren.I painted this piece when my son was only two years old and when TYS had its first show in Oakland for All City Sacred. The fact that I had my first date with my lady on this day rings especially beautiful and meant to be.

Bambu + Karman

You know Bam is bringing it as usual, and Karman? Well damn, this youngster got heat!

Muphoric Sounds 28- George Duke

If you know Bay Area hip hop, you know this song has been played in old schools all over the bay since the late 80s. Another IN THE TRUNK piece for you funk lovers on George Duke and "The Dukey Stick" LISTEN

Jazz Portrait 28- Donald Byrd (Trumpet)

I can't believe I have not done a new Jazz Portrait since October. A compilation poster of all the portraits and the typography thus far will be ready soon for your viewing and purchasing enjoyment. In the meantime, this one is available as an 11" x 17" digital print.

 The design stems from blah blah blah. Nada, it was fun to create,punto. And the words are of some of my favorite Donald Byrd songs. Please support his music.

I think the first time I was introduced to Byrd (Rest In Peace) was through Black Moon out of Brooklyn. Like many hip hoppers of the time I was eager to find out where the hell these sounds they were using came from. I found that other groups such as Digable Planets, Gangstarr, Dilla, and more were sampling his work and it opened my mind to his music. I wont do a whole bio but he played traditional and fusion, and he's one of the few Jazz musicians like Ron Carter who played WITH hip hop groups instead of complaining about how they didnt get this or that. Don Was (Blue Note) wrote a nice piece about him. And peep this concert of him performing with The Blackbyrds( I think), a group of young musicians from Morehosue college who he took under his wing.Annnd the Mizell Brothers!

If anyone has connects to his family, let me know. I would love to work with them to work towards his memory. RIP.

Dig this? Check out this one of Bobbi Humphrey

Also, peep this 2009 collab w/Joy Liu and Sake 1

Children's Painting 1-Joaquin

This cute little boy is Joaquin. He's about 7 i think. Hes one of my sons classmates at school and his parents won this painting in an auction last spring. Its taken me forever to finish, but the design and it's contents are mostly his ideas. He writes and draw cool little stories about legos and wanted something related to flying or aeronautics. So, I made him look a bit older and put a space suit on him.
Hopefully this will be the first of many large paintings/and/or mini murals. The portraits have been fun! Especially for the little ones, now if you know someone who wants a small mural or large painting like this for their child's bedroom, a local library, school, daycare, playground, hospital, museum, etc. You get the point.
 

Akonadi Poster: Ethnic Studies Now

I was super duper blessed to be commissioned to create the artwork for this poster for this years Akonadi "Racial Justice" poster by the Akonadi foundation. The foundation does some important and vital work to push racial justice to the forefront of organizing and activist discussions here in the Bay Area and nationally. Without folks like them, we would not be forced to ask hard questions until another tragic event happens or another Ethnic Studies program is banned.

Download this poster at The Akonadi Foundation

I first applied to compete among some great artists in this competition back in 2010 I think. I did not win, but i think showing up and fighting means something because they commissioned me to create this years poster which will be seen by many I hope. More importantly though, I hope people will think about the fight going on to maintain, introduce, and expand ethnic studies programs here in the US, in so called progressive cities, and all across the US. Not just in universities, but in public schools because that is where it is needed the most.

One of the biggest ways you can bring a people down, treat them like shit, ignore them, render them invisible, and oppress them is by convincing them that they have no history (that they don't exist). And with people of color here in the US that is especially important because our ancestors built this country with their blood and their backs. I get so frustrated when people try to squash race or pretend that its not an issue when you look at who's story is being told in depth, with honesty, humility, intelligence, love, and passion it is not always ours.

The issue of ethnic studies is very personal to me because I come from a family of many diverse backgrounds. Asian, African, Latino, Indigenous, and i'm sure European somewhere in there too. My son comes from even more! My grandparents combined spoke 4 languages. Growing up I overstood the differences and similarities between my cultures and my families, but there were also times when i didn't know who I was. And when i saw some people suffer or some people treated unjustly, I wondered what i could do. Fast forward, I'm doing something. Not just highlighting the negative but giving a voice to my story, one which i hope more children and adults like me can relate to.

Anyways, check out some process shots and share the theme. The faces you see are African American, East African ( Massai), Ecuadorian American and Ecuadorian, Korean American and Korean. Each one of the young people on the right are wearing something from their culture that represents  a right of passage or a symbol for young adulthood from the jewelry, the hat, etc. These are symbols of attire that i researched. i wanted to show North American children of color with a cultural reflection that they could be proud of. 

Dig this? Check out this illustration I did for the Facing Race conference

The Awesome Foundation

The Awesome Foundation talk by Christina Xu. She's funny, i like a sense of humor when talking about problem solving.

Character 42- Space Herder