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Rachel Wolfe-Goldsmith (born January 13, 1991) is an American artist based in Oakland, California. She is known for her large-scale
During the spring and summer of 2020, following the
Artist website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wolfe-Goldsmith, Rachel 1991 births Living people 21st-century African-American people 21st-century African-American women 21st-century American women artists American contemporary painters African-American contemporary artists American contemporary artists American muralists African-American women artists Artists from Oakland, California African-American painters
mural
A mural is any piece of graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage.
Word mural in art
The word ''mural'' is a Spani ...
s, and she is also the creative director of the Bay Area Mural Program.
Works
During the spring and summer of 2020, following the murder of George Floyd
On , George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, was murdered in the U.S. city of Minneapolis by Derek Chauvin, a 44-year-old white police officer. Floyd had been arrested on suspicion of using a counterfeit $20 bill. Chauvin knelt on Floyd's n ...
, Wolfe-Goldsmith was among the many artists who painted murals in response to the killing on pieces of plywood covering storefronts in downtown Oakland
Downtown Oakland is the central business district of Oakland, California, United States; roughly bounded by both the Oakland Estuary and Interstate 880 on the southwest, Interstate 980 on the northwest, Grand Avenue on the northeast, and Lake ...
. Her piece on 15th St. is called ''We Can Breathe''. During this time, the Bay Area Mural Program, with Wolfe-Goldsmith as creative director, and African American Arts & Culture Complex organized the Black Lives Matter
Black Lives Matter (abbreviated BLM) is a decentralized political and social movement that seeks to highlight racism, discrimination, and racial inequality experienced by black people. Its primary concerns are incidents of police bruta ...
mural in San Francisco, which ran for three city blocks.
The group She Will Rise, which is working to get a Black woman on the United States Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
, commissioned Wolfe-Goldsmith to paint a mural in Washington, DC
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan ...
. Completed in October 2020, the work features Black women judges and activists.
In November 2020, it was announced that Wolfe-Goldsmith would be painting a mural focusing on social justice with fellow muralist Joshua Mays
Joshua Mays (born c.1976) is an American painter, illustrator, and muralist. His work, which typically features black subjects in fantastical settings, is considered by many to be an example of Afrofuturism, although he does not use the label to ...
. The mural was commissioned by Kaiser Permanente
Kaiser Permanente (; KP), commonly known simply as Kaiser, is an American integrated managed care consortium, based in Oakland, California, United States, founded in 1945 by industrialist Henry J. Kaiser and physician Sidney Garfield. Kaiser P ...
and ABG Art Group, and was displayed outside of Kaiser's offices in downtown Oakland before a planned move to Liberation Park. Also in downtown Oakland, Wolfe-Goldsmith has painted a 3-story mural of artist Stoney Creation and model Yanni Brump.
In February 2021, West Oakland
West Oakland is a neighborhood situated in the northwestern corner of Oakland, California, United States, situated west of Downtown Oakland, south of Emeryville, and north of Alameda. The neighborhood is located along the waterfront at the Po ...
homeowner and curator Jilchristina Vest commissioned Wolfe-Goldsmith to paint a mural of women in the Black Panther Party
The Black Panther Party (BPP), originally the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, was a Marxist-Leninist and black power political organization founded by college students Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton in October 1966 in Oakland, Califo ...
on the side of her house at Center and 9th Streets. The 30-foot mural is based on several photographs taken by Stephen Shames
Stephen Shames (born 1947, in Cambridge, Massachusetts) is an American photojournalist who for over 50 years has used his photography to raise awareness of social issues, with a particular focus on child poverty, solutions to child poverty, and rac ...
and portrays Delores Henderson, Angie Johnson, Lauren Williams, and Williams's daughter Mary. The mural currently features the names of over 300 women, and is planned to be 2,000 square feet when completed. Black Panther leader Ericka Huggins
Ericka Huggins ( Jenkins; born January 5, 1948) is an American activist, writer, and educator. She is a former leading member of the political organization, Black Panther Party (BPP). She was married to fellow BPP member John Huggins in 1968. In ...
was consulted on the project.
References
External links
Artist website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wolfe-Goldsmith, Rachel 1991 births Living people 21st-century African-American people 21st-century African-American women 21st-century American women artists American contemporary painters African-American contemporary artists American contemporary artists American muralists African-American women artists Artists from Oakland, California African-American painters