The Mission School (sometimes called "New Folk" or "Urban Rustic") is an

art movement An art movement is a tendency or style in art with a specific common philosophy or goal, followed by a group of artists during a specific period of time, (usually a few months, years or decades) or, at least, with the heyday of the movement defin ...

of the 1990s and 2000s, centered in the

Mission District, San Francisco, California The Mission District ( Spanish: ''Distrito de la Misión''), commonly known as The Mission ( Spanish: ''La Misión''), is a neighborhood in San Francisco, California. One of the oldest neighborhoods in San Francisco, the Mission District's name i ...

History and characteristics

This movement is generally considered to have emerged in the early 1990s around a core group of artists who attended (or were associated with)

San Francisco Art Institute San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) was a private college of contemporary art in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1871, SFAI was one of the oldest art schools in the United States and the oldest west of the Mississippi River. Approximately ...

. The term "Mission School", however, was not coined until 2002, in a ''

San Francisco Bay Guardian The ''San Francisco Bay Guardian'' was a free alternative newspaper published weekly in San Francisco, California. It was founded in 1966 by Bruce B. Brugmann and his wife, Jean Dibble. The paper was shut down on October 14, 2014. It was relaun ...

'' article by Glen Helfand.Helfand, Glen
"The Mission school"
''

'', October 28, 2002. The Mission School is closely aligned with the larger lowbrow art movement, and can be considered to be a regional expression of that movement. Artists of the Mission School take their inspiration from the urban,

bohemian Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to: *Anything of or relating to Bohemia Beer * National Bohemian, a brand brewed by Pabst * Bohemian, a brand of beer brewed by Molson Coors Culture and arts * Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, origin ...

, "street" culture of the Mission District and are strongly influenced by

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 Spanis ...

and

graffiti Graffiti (plural; singular ''graffiti'' or ''graffito'', the latter rarely used except in archeology) is art that is written, painted or drawn on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from s ...

art,

comic a medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, captions, and onomatopoeia can indicate ...

and

cartoon A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently animated, in an unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved over time, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or series of imag ...

art, and

folk art Folk art covers all forms of visual art made in the context of folk culture. Definitions vary, but generally the objects have practical utility of some kind, rather than being exclusively decorative. The makers of folk art are typically tr ...

forms such as

sign painting Sign painting is the craft of painting lettered signs on buildings, billboards or signboards, for promoting, announcing, or identifying products, services and events. Sign painting artisans are signwriters. History Signwriters often learned th ...

and hobo art.Modigliani, Leah
"Marketing the Mission: Commodifying San Francisco’s Art, the 'Mission School', and the Problem of Regionalism"
''Stretcher.org'', September 17, 2004. These artists are also noted for use of non-traditional artistic materials, such as house paint,

spray paint Aerosol paint (commonly spray paint) is paint that comes in a sealed, pressurized container and is released in an aerosol spray when a valve button is depressed. Aerosol painting is one form of spray painting; it leaves a smooth, even coat, unli ...

correction fluid A correction fluid is an opaque, usually white fluid applied to paper to mask errors in text. Once dried, it can be handwritten or typed upon. It is typically packaged in small bottles, lids attached to brushes (or triangular pieces of foam) th ...

ballpoint pens A ballpoint pen, also known as a biro (British English), ball pen ( Hong Kong, Indian and Philippine English), or dot pen (Nepali) is a pen that dispenses ink (usually in paste form) over a metal ball at its point, i.e. over a "ball point" ...

, scrapboard, and found objects."The New 'Mission School'"
(panel), ''

Commonwealth Club of California The Commonwealth Club of California is a non-profit, non-partisan educational organization based in Northern California. Founded in 1903, it is the oldest and largest public affairs forum in the United States. Membership is open to everyone. Act ...

'', June 4, 2003. (link to

RealAudio RealAudio, or also spelled as Real Audio is a proprietary audio format developed by RealNetworks and first released in April 1995. It uses a variety of audio codecs, ranging from low-bitrate formats that can be used over dialup modems, to high-fi ...

file) Gallery work by these artists is often displayed using the "cluster method", in which a number of individual works (sometimes by different artists) are clustered closely together on a gallery wall, rather than the traditional gallery display method of widely separating individual works.

Street art Street art is visual art created in public locations for public visibility. It has been associated with the terms "independent art", "post-graffiti", "neo-graffiti" and guerrilla art. Street art has evolved from the early forms of defiant graf ...

has always been an important part of the Mission School aesthetic. Several Mission School artists crossed over into San Francisco's burgeoning graffiti art scene of the 1990s, notably Barry McGee (who wrote under the name "Twist"), Ruby Neri (a.k.a. " Reminisce"), Dan "Plasma" Rauch, and

Margaret Kilgallen Margaret Leisha Kilgallen (October 28, 1967 – June 26, 2001) was a San Francisco Bay Area artist who combined graffiti art, painting, and installation art. Though a contemporary artist, her work showed a strong influence from folk art. She was ...

(a.k.a. "Meta").

Artists

Artists considered to be part of the Mission School (past or present) have included:Reader responses to "Marketing the Mission"
Dan Plasma ''Stretcher.org'', January 17, 2005. * Barry McGee *

Chris Johanson Chris Johanson is an American painter and street artist. He is a member of San Francisco's Mission School art movement. Biography Johanson was born in suburban San Jose, California in 1968. He grew up skateboarding, attending punk rock show ...

* Alicia McCarthy * Ruby Neri *

Rigo 23 Rigo 23 (born Ricardo Gouveia, 1966) is a Portuguese-born American muralist, painter, and political artist. He is known in the San Francisco community for having painted a number of large, graphic "sign" murals including: ''One Tree'' next to the ...

* Clare Rojas *

Thomas Campbell Thomas Campbell may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Thomas Campbell (poet) (1777–1844), Scottish poet * Thomas Campbell (sculptor) (1790–1858), Scottish sculptor * Thomas Campbell (visual artist) (born 1969), California-based visual artist ...

* Scott Williams * Bill Daniel The profiles of these artists were raised by the inclusion of the work of Barry McGee in the 2001

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...

and the works of Chris Johanson and Margaret Kilgallen in the 2002

Whitney Biennial The Whitney Biennial is a biennial exhibition of contemporary American art, typically by young and lesser known artists, on display at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City, United States. The event began as an annual exhibition ...

New Mission School

In 2003, not long after the term "Mission School" was coined, a panel at the

named several emerging San Francisco artists as constituting a "New Mission School". These artists included Andrew Schoultz, Dave Warnke,

Sirron Norris Sirron Norris is an American illustrator, muralist, and arts educator. He is known for his work on the FOX animated television show ''Bob's Burgers'' and for numerous cartoon-style public murals, including ones at Balmy Alley, Clarion Alley, and ...

, Neonski, Ricardo, Damon Soule, Misk, and NoMe, though many of these artists do not embrace the "Mission School" label.

Criticism

The term ''Mission School'' has been criticized for being too geographically specific (many artists outside of San Francisco share this aesthetic, while others living in the Mission District do not), while at the same time being a vague catch-all, with many artists who are referred to as ''Mission School'' having a hard time seeing how they are part of this "school".Noble, Aaron. "The So Called Mission School" in ''Street Art San Francisco: Mission Muralismo'', Jacoby, Annice, ed. NY: Abrams, 2009.

Galleries and other venues

Galleries, museums, and sites closely associated with the Mission School include: * Adobe Books * Southern Exposure Gallery *

New Langton Arts New Langton Arts (active 1975 – 2009) was a not-for-profit arts organization focusing on contemporary art founded in 1975 and located the South of Market neighborhood in San Francisco, California. Part of the first wave of alternative art space ...

Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA) is a multi-disciplinary contemporary arts center in San Francisco, California, United States. Located in Yerba Buena Gardens, YBCA features visual art, performance, and film/video that celebrates local, nati ...

Deitch Projects Jeffrey Deitch (pronounced ''DIE-tch'';Mike Boehm (January 12, 2010)L.A.'s MOCA picks art dealer Jeffrey Deitch as director''Los Angeles Times''. born 1952) is an American art dealer and curator. He is best known for his gallery Deitch Projects ...

Luggage Store Gallery The Luggage Store Gallery, also known as 509 Cultural Center, is a non-profit, multi-disciplinary arts organization founded in 1987, and has two venues located in the Tenderloin neighborhood of San Francisco, California. The organization has spon ...

* Jack Hanley Gallery

References

External links

"ENERGY THAT IS ALL AROUND" exhibition

* Jackson, Stephanie Lee
"Stories – Opinions"
2001-2005. Includes biographical and anecdotal sketches of Barry McGee, Margaret Kilgallen, and Alicia McCarthy
"Spray Can Writers Erupt"
by Timothy W Drescher, ''Shaping San Francisco Digital Library''. * Bonetti, David
"The young at art"
''

San Francisco Examiner The ''San Francisco Examiner'' is a newspaper distributed in and around San Francisco, California, and published since 1863. Once self-dubbed the "Monarch of the Dailies" by then-owner William Randolph Hearst, and flagship of the Hearst Corporat ...

'', June 18, 1997. * Smith, Roberta
"Art in Review: 'Widely Unknown'"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', December 14, 2001. * Drescher, Timothy W
"Clarion Alley and Post-modernism"
''Shaping San Francisco Digital Library''. * Rapoport, Lynn

''San Francisco Bay Guardian'', October 23, 2002. * Pollack, Barbara
"The New Visionaries"
''

ARTnews ''ARTnews'' is an American visual-arts magazine, based in New York City. It covers art from ancient to contemporary times. ARTnews is the oldest and most widely distributed art magazine in the world. It has a readership of 180,000 in 124 countr ...

'', December 2003. * Chennault, Sam
"Graffiti to Gallery"
''

SF Weekly ''SF Weekly'' was a free alternative weekly newspaper founded in the 1970s in San Francisco, California. It was distributed every Thursday, and was published by the San Francisco Print Media Company. The paper has won national journalism awards, ...

'', September 1, 2004.
transit gallery
- gallery of Mission street art
Fecal Face Dot Com
– Bay Area arts website focusing on the current generation of Mission School artists {{Authority control Contemporary art movements Culture of San Francisco Artists from California Artists from the San Francisco Bay Area American muralists Mission District, San Francisco Graffiti in the United States