Artist/muralist

Juana Alicia

Artist Biography

Juana Alicia has been creating murals and working as a printmaker, sculptor, illustrator, and studio painter for over thirty years. Her style, akin to genres of contemporary Latin American literary movements, can be characterized as magical and social realism, and her work addresses issues of social justice, gender equality, environmental crisis and the power of resistance and revolution.

Juana Alicia es muralista, grabadora, maestra, activista y pintora Chicana, a la cual le encanta el dibujo. Nació en los Estados Unidos y actualmente reside en las ciudades de Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico y Berkeley, California.  Laboró como maestra por más de cuarenta años y se jubiló de la docencia en 2016. Durante su larga carrera pedagógica impartio clases en varias universidades, entre ellas: La Universidad de Stanford, La Universidad Estatal de San Francisco, La Universidad de California en Davis y La Universidad Municipal de Berkeley. Ahora se dedica exclusivamente a la producción del taller y del mural.

The artist has been the recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship, a Windcall Residency, Master Muralist Award (Precita Eyes), Woman of Fire Award, among other recognitions, and her sculptural and painted public commissions (individual and collaborative) can be seen in Nicaragua, Mexico, Pennsylvania and in many parts of California, most notably in San Francisco. They include SANARTE at U.C.S.F. Medical Center, SANTUARIO at the San Francisco International Airport, LA LLORONA’S SACRED WATERS at 24th and York Streets in the Mission of San Francisco, the MAESTRAPEACE mural of the San Francisco Women’s Building, and GEMELOS at the Metropolitan Technical University in Mérida, Mexico. In 2021, she was awarded a Eureka Fellowship, and in 2022, a California Arts Council Legacy Award.

 

La artista ha sido recipiente de diversos honores y becas, incluyendo una beca Fulbright Garcia-Robles, una residencia “Windcall”, Maestra Muralista, Premio Mujer de Fuego (Women of Color Resource Center, Oakland) y Premio Legado Educativo (Fundación Chicana/Latina), entre otros. Últimamente ha recibido la Beca Eureka de la Fundación Fleishhacker  y el reconocimiento “Artista de Legado” del Concilio Estatal de California.

Su obra pública, individual y colectiva se encuentra en Nicaragua, México, Pennsylvania y muchas partes del norte de California, principalmente en la ciudad de San Francisco. Entre sus murales públicos cuentan SANARTE (Centro Médico de la Universidad de San Francisco), SANTUARIO (Aeropuerto Internacional de San Francisco), LAS AGUAS SAGRADAS DE LA LLORONA (Barrio de la Misión de San Francisco), el mural de MAESTRAPEACE (Edificio de la mujer, San Francisco), y GEMELOS (Universidad Tecnológica Metropolitana de Mérida, Yucatán).

In 2019, Juana Alicia, in collaboration with her sister muralists, published MAESTRAPEACE: San Francisco’s Monumental Feminist Mural, with Heyday Books, and has recently collaborated with Tirso G. Araiza on a graphic novel, La X’Tabay. The book has recently enjoyed three major exhibitions: at the San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery, at the Museum of Anthropology and History, Palacio Cantón, in Mérida, Yucatan (2023-24) and at the Sonoma Valley Arts Commission (2024). This summer, Juana Alicia will be fabricating a fused glass window for the San Francisco Public Library’s Mission Branch.

En el año 2019, Juana Alicia, en colaboración con sus hermanas muralistas, ha publicado el libro MAESTRAPEACE: El mural monumental feminista de San Francisco, con la editorial Heyday Books de Berkeley, California. Su proyecto actual es una colaboración con Tirso G. Araiza: una novela gráfica basado en una leyenda tradicional Maya Yucateco, La X’Tabay. El libro, en conjunto con sus dibujos originales e impresiones gráficas, se ha exhibido en el Museo de Antropología e Historia Palacio Cantón en Mérida, Yucatán (2023-24) en la galería principal de La Comisión de Artes de San Francisco ( 2023) y en el Museo de Arte del Valle de Sonoma (2024). Durante el verano de este año, la artista creará un vitral de vidrio fusionado para la Biblioteca Pública de San Francisco, Sucursal de La Misión.

Las próximas exposiciones se anunciarán en esta página.

Juana Alicia w sketchbook at Mime Troupe

Credentials and Degrees

  • Master of Fine Arts, Drawing and Painting, San Francisco Art Institute, 1990
  • B.A. in Teaching Aesthetic Awareness from a Cultural Perspective, University of California at Santa Cruz, 1979
  • Single Subjects Credential in Art Education, 1980
  • Bilingual Cross-Cultural Emphasis Credential, U.C.S.C., 1979
  • Fifth Year Certificate in Bilingual Education, 1983

Recongition

  • California Arts Council, Legacy Fellowship, 2021.
  • Eureka Fellowship, Fleishhaker Foundation, 2020-21.
  • Golden Capricorn Award from the San Francisco Arts Commission (2020), which included solo exhibition at the SFAC Main Gallery in 2023.
  • Alliance for California Traditional Arts, Grants for the Apprenticeship Program (with Cece Carpio) and the Living Cultures Grant, 2014.
  • City of Berkeley, Juana Alicia Day, June 4, 2013, Proclamation by Mayor Tom Bates in honor of cultural and educational contributions.
  • Fulbright Fellowship, Garcia Robles, Escuela Superior de Arte de Yucatán (ESAY), Visiting Professor in Mural Arts/Painting, 2006-2007.
  • Outstanding Contributions as an Oakland Arts Educator, California State Senate 2004.
  • Woman of Fire Award, Presented by Angela Davis for the Women of Color Resource Center, Berkeley, California, 2000.
  • Residency at Windcall Ranch, Belgrade. Montana, 1999
  • Outstanding Contributions to the Arts, Academia and Our Communities, NACS (National Association of Chicano Studies), for 1993.
  • Master Muralist Award, Precita Eyes Mural Arts Center, 1992.
  • National Endowment for the Humanities, BIRTH MURAL Best Visual Art Work with a Chicano/Mexicano Theme, through the University of California, Santa Cruz, 1982.

Select Publications

  • Diego Rivera’s America by James Oles (Editor), July 2022. This catalog/book on the exhibit of Rivera includes Juana Alicia’s mural work. Published by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art with University of California Press.
  • Advancing Folkloristics: Yemayá’s Fury: Residual Flows, Ecological Disaster, and Folklore Futures (chapter), Solimar Otero, 2021.
  • Theorizing Folklore from the Margins: Critical and Ethical Approaches, Solimar Otero, Indiana University Press, 2020. Cover image and subject of historical documentation in the text.
  • Maestrapeace: San Francisco’s Monumental Feminist Mural, Juana Alicia, Miranda Bergman, Edythe Boone,Susan Kelk Cervantes,  Meera Desai, Yvonne Littleton and Irene Perez, 2019, Heyday Books, Berkeley, CA
  • Chiricú Journal, Vol. 2, No. 1, Fall 2017 of Chiricú Journal: Latina/o Literatures, Arts, Poder y cultura: Latinx Folklore and Popular Culture.
  • Ero-ideologies: Writings on Art, Spirituality and the Decolonial, Dr. Laura Pérez, Duke University Press, 2016.
  • Ecological Borderlands: Body, Nature and Spirit in Chicana Feminism, Christina Holmes, University of Illinois Press, 2016.
  • Mission, Photographs by Dick Evans, Foreward by Juan Felipe Herrera, Heyday Press and Precita Eyes Muralists, 2017.
  • Roots and Offshoots: Silicon Valley’s Arts Community. Jan Rindfleishc, Ginger Press, 2017
  • Yemoja: Gender, Sexuality, and Creativity in the Latina/o and Afro-Atlantic, Diasporas Paperback, by Solimar Otero (Editor),‎ Toyin Falola (Editor), July 2, 2014.
  • Street Art San Francisco: Mission Muralismo, Precita Eyes Mural Art Center, Harry Abrams, 2009.
    Mujeres de Conciencia/Women of Conscience, Victoria Alvarado, Floricanto Press, 2007.
  • Mural Art: Murals on Huge Public Surfaces Around the World, Kiriakos, Iosifidis, Publikat, 2008.
    Walls of Empowerment: Chican/o Indigenist Murals of California, Guisela Latorre, University of Texas Press, Austin 2008
  • Chicana Art: The Politics of Spiritual and Aesthetic Altarities, Laura Perez, Duke University Press, 2007
  • Stop the Next War Now: Effective Responses to Violence and Terrorism, Co-Authors: Medea Benjamin and Jodie Evans, Chapter 10: Celebrate Joyful Revolution, Picture Peace, Juana Alicia, 2007, Published by Code Pink.
  • Triumph of Our Communities, Gary D. Keller et al, Bilingual Press/Editoria Bilingue, Tempe, Arizona, 2005.
  • “Other Landscapes”, Angela Y. Davis, from Art/Women/California, Parallels and Intersections: 1950-2000, 2002
  • Imagine: International Chicano Poetry Journal, Volume 3, 1986, Imagine Publishers
    The Murals of Revolutionary Nicaragua, 1979-1992, David Kunzle, Foreword by Miguel D’Escoto, University of California Press.
  • Feminist Geographies: Explorations in Diversity and Difference, Women and Geography Study Group of the Royal Geographical Society with the Institute of British Geographers, Addison Wesley Limited, 1987
  • Yesterday and Tomorrow, California Women Artists, Edited by Sylvia Moore, Midmarch Press,1989
    Signs from the Heart: California Chicano Murals, Cover Image, SPARC, The Social and Public Arts Resource Center. 1990
  • Paper Angels and Bitter Cane, Two Plays by Genny Lim, Kalamaku Press, 1991, cover artwork.
  • Chicano Art: Resistance and Affirmation, 1965-1985, Wight Art Gallery, UCLA, 1991
  • Homeless Not Helpless, An Anthology Edited by Barbara Paschke and David Volpendesta, 1991
  • Reconceptualizing the Peasantry: Anthropology in Global Perspective, by Michael Kearny, Westview Press, a division of Harper-Collins, 1996.
  • Border Matters: Remapping American Cultural Studies, by Jose David Saldivar, University of California Press, 1997, cover artwork.
  • Feminist Geographies: Explorations in Diversity and Difference, Women and Geography Study Group, Addison Wesley Longman Limited 1997, cover artwork.
  • San Francisco Murals, by Timothy W. Drescher, Pogo Press, 1998
  • Painting the Towns, by Jim Prigoff and Robin Dunnitz, RJD Enterprises, 1999, back cover image,
    We Are the Ones We’ve Been Waiting For, Women of Color Organizing, front cover, edited by Rinku Sen, U.S. Urban Rural Mission, 1999.

Muralist

  • 2021-2025 NOPAL DE LA MISION, fused glass window, San Francisco Mission Branch Library, commission in progress.
  • 2024 NOT IN OUR NAME/NO EN NUESTRO NOMBRE, monumental, printed mural, Clarion Alley, San Francisco.
  • 2021-2022 PARA LAS ROSAS RESTORATION PROJECT, complete restoration of 1985 mural, with updates.
  • 2016-7 SPILL/DERRAME, mural at Adeline and Emerson, across from the Ashby BART Station, Berkeley, California, 12’ x 30’, acrylic on stucco, ©2017.
  • 2014  West Oakland Youth Center Murals, 9 Ceramic Tile Walls, Market & Brockhurst Streets, with Trust Your Struggle Collective and True Colors Mural Project
  • 2012 STANFORD MURALS: THE SPIRAL VOICE, a suite on four walls at Stanford’s Centro Chicano. Acrylic on canvas, watercolor and mixed media on paper, 2012.
  • 2006-7 GEMELOS, mural, cement and steel, with Tirso F. Gonzalez Araiza, Universidad Tecnológica Metropolitana/ UTM (Metropolitan Technical University), Mérida, Yucatán
  • CENOTE DE SUENOS mural at ESAY (Escuela Superior de Arte de Yucatán, Mérida
  • 2006-7 HUEHUETLATOLLI: WISDOM OF THE ELDERS, tile mural for senior housing development, Satellite Housing Corporation, Berkeley, California.
  • 2005 SANARTE: DIVERSITY’S PATHWAY Suite of four murals and the double helix and cementitious tile walkway at UCSF Medical Center, 400 Parnassus Avenue, San Francisco.
  • 2004 LA LLORONA’S SACRED WATERS Acrylic mural on stucco, 30’ 60’, San Francisco Mission District.
  • 2001 LA VIRGEN DE LA LIBERTAD, ceramic handmade tile mural, 6’ x 9 feet, San Francisco.
  • ALL LIFE IS INTERRELATED, portable acrylic mural for Destiny Arts Center in Oakland, CA.
  • 2000 A WOMAN’S PLACE/EL LUGAR DE LA MUJER, acrylic mural on panels (installed), 54’ x 10’, at the United Electrical and Machine Workers Union Hall, Local 506, Erie, Pennsylvania. ©2000.
  • 1999 SANCTUARY/SANTUARIO, fresco painting and sculptures for San Francisco International Airport, with Emmanuel Catarino Montoya, 19’ x 23’.
  • 1994 MAESTRAPEACE, mural on the San Francisco Bay Area Women’s Building, front (north) and side (east) facades, each 150′ x 60′. Acrylic on stucco. A collaboration with Miranda Bergman, Edythe Boone, Susan Cervantes, Meera Desai, Yvonne Littleton, and Irene Perez. San Francisco Mission District, 18th Street @ Valencia
  • 1992 LA PROMESA DE LOMA PRIETA: QUE NO SE REPITA LA HISTORIA (THE PROMISE OF LOMA PRIETA: THAT HISTORY NOT REPEAT ITSELF), at the University of California at Santa Cruz, Oakes College. 21′ x 21′ acrylic interior mural, commissioned as part of a “Visiting Distinguished Professor”.
  • 1991 REGENERATION/REGENERACIÓN, portable mural on panel, 12′ x 24”, for MACLA (Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latinoamericana),San Jose, California.
  • 1990 THE SILENT LANGUAGE OF THE SOUL/EL LENGUAJE MUDO DEL ALMA, exterior acrylic mural,Cesar Chavez Elementary School, San Francisco, 32’ x 350’, with Susan Cervantes.
  • MISSION STREET MANIFESTO/MANIFIESTO DE LA CALLE MISIÓN, acrylic mural on panels, 16’ x 25’, San Francisco State University Student Union Building.
  • 1988 CEASE FIRE/ALTO AL FUEGO, Politec and Novacolor acrylic mural on cement wall, 9’ x 13′, Mission Street at 21st, San Francisco. Renovated in 2002. Destroyed 2013.
  • CULTURA SIN FRONTERAS/CULTURE WITHOUT BORDERS, Politec and Novacolor acrylic mural on stucco. Hispanic Cultural Center of Novato
  • PUENTE DE LA PAZ/BRIDGE OF PEACE, interior acrylic mural on sheetrock, World College West, Petaluma, Ca.
  • MUJERES DE FUEGO (WOMEN OF FIRE), Politec acrylic mural, Stanford University, 9′ x 10′.
  • EARTH BOOK, Politec and Nova Color acrylic mural, 10′ 6″ x 16′, entrance to library, Skyline College, San Bruno, California. Student Apprentices: Barry McGee and Sia Yang.
  • 1986 EL AMANECER, with Miranda Bergman, Hector Noel Méndez, Ariella Seidenberg and Arch Williams. 700 square foot acrylic mural on the facade of ANDEN (National Teachers Association of Nicaragua), Managua, Nicaragua.
  • 1985 FOR THE ROSES/PARA LAS ROSAS, San Francisco Mime Troupe Building mural, solo project. 930 square foot Politec acrylic mural, at 855 Treat Street, Mission District, San Francisco.
  • TE OÍMOS GUATEMALA (WE HEAR YOU, GUATEMALA), 80 square foot Politec acrylic mural for PLACA Mural Collective in solidarity with the people of Central America. Balmy Alley, San Francisco Mission District.
  • 1983 LAS LECHUGUERAS (THE WOMEN LETTTUCE WORKERS) 1500 square  foot Politec acrylic mural, at York and 24th Streets, San Francisco Mission District.
  • 1982 BIRTH MURAL, National Endowment for the Humanities Award for Best Visual Art Work with a Chicano/Mexicano Theme, through the University of California, Santa Cruz.

ILLUSTRATOR

  • La X’tabay, graphic novel in collaboration with Tirso González Araiza. Hand-printed artist’s book.
  • Mother’s Day/El día de las madres, illustrated by Juana Alicia, written by Ana Matiella, published by the Children’s Museum of Boston and Modern Curriculum Press
  • Women’s Lives: Multicultural Perspectives, Second Edition, by Gwyn Kirk and Margo Okazawa-Rey, 2001, Mayfield Publishing, 2001, front cover image.
  • Migratory Birds: New and Noted Poems, a collection of poetry by Odilia Galvan Rodriguez, Prickly Pear Publishing, Oakland, CA, 2002.
  • Paper Angels and Bitter Cane, 2 Plays by Genny Lim, 1991

Select Exhibitions

  • 2024 CENOTE DE SUEÑOS: THE ART OF JUANA ALICIA, Sonoma Valley Museum of Art, Sonoma, California, curated by Marco Antonio Flores.
  • 2023 THE X’TABAY, THE BOOK OF BOOKS • LA X’TABAY, EL LIBRO DE LOS LIBROS, Museum of Anthropology, Palacio Cantón, Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico. Juana Alicia and Tirso González Araiza.
  • ME LLAMAN CALLE: THE MONUMENTAL ART OF JUANA ALICIA, San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery, curated by Marco Antonio Flores.
  • 2017 JUANA ALICIA SACRED WATERS, CITY STREETS: THE ART OF JUANA ALICIA, Acción Latina, Juan R. Fuentes Gallery, San Francisco, CA.
  • POETIC JUSTICE: THE ART OF JUANA ALICIA, University of California, Berkeley, Center for Latino Policy Research
  • 2016  JUANA ALICIA: SACRED WATERS, CITY STREETS: THE ART OF JUANA ALICIA, Georgia College, Art Exhibition February 29-April 1 Ennis Hall Art Gallery
  • 2014/2015 5TH CHICANA/O BIENNIAL, 2015, MACLA, San Jose, California
  • 2007  INTERACTIVE BIENNIAL, Galeria Peon Contreras, Mérida, Yucatán, Raul Ferrera Balanquet, Curator, Catalogue.
  • 2006 JUANA ALICIA, Encantada Gallery, San Francisco, CA
  • 2005 CHICANA/O BIENNIAL, MACLA Center for Latino Arts, San Jose, CA
  • 2000 JUANA ALICIA: PRESENCIA MONUMENTAL, Coyote Gallery, Butte College, Oroville, CA.
  • HECHO EN CALIFAS: THE LAST DECADE, curated by Richard Lou.
  • EL PAPEL DEL PAPEL, THE ROLE OF PAPER, AFFIRMATION AND IDENTITY IN CHICANO AND BORICUA ART, Guadalupe Art Center of San Antonio, Texas.
  • 1995 10 X 10: TEN WOMEN, TEN PRINTS, The Berkeley Art Center, Berkeley, CA.
  • 1992 WOMEN OF THE FOUR DIRECTIONS: NATIVE AMERICAN LAND ISSUES EXHIBIT, Pro Arts Gallery, Oakland, CA
  • THE FOURTH R: ART AND THE NEEDS OF CHILDREN, The Euphrat Gallery, De Anza College, Cupertino, CA.
  • 1991 WAR•PEACE•ART, organized by the Mexican Museum of San Francisco, international exhibition schedule.
  • CHICANOS, Moss Gallery, San Francisco.
  • CHICANO ART: RESISTANCE AND AFFIRMATION (CARA) 1965-1985, Wight Art Gallery, U.C.L.A., national and international tour, 1990-1994, catalogue.
  • SAN FRANCISCO ART INSTITUTE MASTERS IN FINE ARTS EXHIBITION, Fort Mason, San Francisco, catalogue.1989
  • LA PISTOLA Y EL CORAZON: PAINTINGS BY JUANA ALICIA, Galería Posada, Sacramento, CA.
  • DIA DE LOS MUERTOS EXHIBITION, Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum, Chicago.
  • LA MUJER EN LA RAZA, Museo de la Estampa, Mexico City, group exhibit, catalogue.
  • 1987 LATINA ART: SHOWCASE “87, Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum, Chicago, Illinois. Group show. Artist’s work used for cover of catalogue, posters, cards. Curator: Juana Guzman.
  • MEXICAN – AMERICAN SHOW, Lotería Nacional, Mexico City, Mexico. Group show sponsored by Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes, INBA (National Institute of Fine Arts). Catalogue.
  • 1985 WOMEN X WOMEN, group exhibit at La Galería de la Raza, San Francisco, CA.

Educator

  • 2008-2017 Berkeley City College, Full-time Tenured Instructor, Visual Art. Director, True Colors Mural Project
  • 2006-7 Escuela Superior de Arte de Yucatán (ESAY), Visiting Fulbright Fellowship.
      1. University of California, Davis, Chicano Studies, Visiting Lecturer
      2. San Francisco State University, College of Ethnic Studies and Women’s Studies,
  • 2000 Stanford University, Visiting Professor, Department of Spanish and Portuguese
  • 1995-99 Co-Founder and Co-Director, The East Bay Institute for Urban Arts, Oakland, CA.
  • 1990-5 Core faculty, New College of California, graduate and undergraduate Visual Arts.
  • 1992 Distinguished Visiting Professor, Oakes College, University of California, Santa Cruz.
  • 1990-93 California College of Arts and Crafts, lecturer in visual arts and art history.
  • 1987 California Arts Council, Artist in Communities Grant