SAN FRANCISCO ARTS COMMISSION PRESENTS

The Fire Next Time II by Dewey Crumpler

Joseph P. Lee Recreation Center
1395 Mendell Street, between Newcomb & Oakdale Streets

Mural Rededication Celebration

Thursday, August 14, 2008 from 11:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

Dewey Crumpler's mural, “The Fire Next Time II,” 2008

Luis R. Cancel, Director of Cultural Affairs for the San Francisco Arts Commission is pleased to announce the completion of The Fire Next Time II mural conservation project on the exterior walls of the Joseph P. Lee Recreation Center. In 1984, Dewey Crumpler, now an Associate Professor at the San Francisco Art Institute, completed the mural which pictorially illustrates the relationship between African and African American cultures.

What: The Fire Next Time II, Mural Rededication Program Honoring Professor Dewey Crumpler

Where: Joseph P. Lee Recreation Center, 1395 Mendell Street between Newcomb & Oakdale Streets
The formal program will be held outside on the Newcomb Street sidewalk. Light refreshments, mural seminar, and the youth program will be held inside the Recreation Center.

When: Thursday, August 14, 2008 from 11:30 am to 3:00 pm

• 11:30 am: Mural Rededication Ceremony
• 12:00 pm: Light Lunch
  Mural Seminar Reframing the Context of Mural Art for the 21st Century
  Closing Summer Youth Cultural Explorer Program Presentations

The Conservation Treatment

In 2007, the San Francisco Arts Commission contracted with ARG Conservation Services (ARG/CS) to restore and stabilize the mural. The main objective of the treatment was to prevent further deterioration of the mural and achieve an overall integrated visual restoration.

The Artist

Dewey Crumpler painted over 15 murals throughout the Bay Area. His large-scale San Francisco projects include: A Celebration of African and African American Artists, 1984, at the African American Art and Culture Complex, formerly the Western Addition Cultural Center; The Children of San Francisco, 1986; and Knowledge, 1988. Crumpler now focuses his art practice on studio work. Dewey Crumpler received a BFA from the San Francisco Art Institute, an MA from San Francisco State University, and an MFA from Mills College in Oakland, CA. He resides in Berkeley, CA, with his wife Sandra and their two sons Saeed and Malik.

The Seminar Panelists

• Tim Drescher, PhD assisted Dewey Crumpler in painting The Fire Next Time I, between 1976 and 1977. Dr. Drescher is an independent scholar from Berkeley, CA, who has been studying, documenting, and photographing community murals since 1972.
• Katharine Untch served as project manager on The Fire Next Time II conservation project. She has 24 years experience in the conservation of cultural heritage.
• Malik Seneferu is a self-taught painter, draughtsman, muralist, and illustrator. Seneferu is the founder of “Aesthetic Ascension,” an art social network.

The Cultural Explorers

Sparked by interest in the mural restoration project, the staff at the Recreation Center tried something new this summer. Ms. Jackie Battle, Recreation and Park Assistant Supervisor, identified a group of girls between 9 and 13 years old whom she wanted to expose to public art throughout San Francisco. Using Crumpler’s work as focal points, the youth traveled throughout the City with Recreation Director Daisy Austin, and recorded, in journals they made, their impressions of murals encountered on public and private buildings.

The San Francisco Arts Commission

Established by charter in 1932, the San Francisco Arts Commission is the City agency that champions the arts in San Francisco. Led by the belief that a creative cultural environment is essential to the City’s well-being, the Arts Commission programs permeate all aspects of city life from the murals and monuments under the care of the Civic Art Collection to the dance and theatre productions funded by Cultural Equity Grants, to the new generation of teen poets cultivated by the Writer’s Corp program.

One of the first of its kind in the country, San Francisco’s Public Art Program was established by City ordinance in 1969. The Public Art Program seeks to promote a diverse and stimulating cultural environment to enrich the lives of the city’s residents, visitors and employees. The Program encourages the creative interaction of artists, designers, city staff, officials and community members during the design of City projects in order to develop public art that is specific to the site and meaningful to the community. The acquisitions made by the Commission’s Public Art Program reflect the city’s ongoing commitment to the cultural enrichment and beautification of civic spaces.