Mobile Mural Project

This project was funded by a grant from Central Valley Community Foundation and sponsored by Creative Fresno. For this series, Teresa Flores collaborated with artist Raul Baltazar to complete a series of 8’ x 8’ panels that were transported to locations around the Fresno area.  The public marked their memories of each site in its present date, time, and place and the panels created moments to teach on-the-fly drawing and painting lessons to kids and adults.

 

The first mural was based on Frida Kahlo’s “Self-Portrait on the Borderline Between the United States and Mexico” and showed Flores wearing Kahlo’s pink dress as she stood on the border between rural Fresno County and urban Fresno. The mural was completed outdoors in 110 degree heat on the Fulton Mall where visitors celebrated Fiestas Patrias. It was important to note that this was the final Fiestas Patrias celebrated on the mall, a historical gathering place for the gentrifying Latino community before its demolition into a street.

 

Two subsequent murals at the Big Fresno Fair depicted the fair’s featured entertainers, Gabriel “Fluffy” Iglesias, Snoop Dogg, and Diana Ross. Fairgoers marked their memories of the mural by painting their favorite rides, foods, and activities into the scenery. Another mural painted on the Fulton Mall commemorated the memories of people visiting the outdoor ice skating rink during winter. Other murals were painted on the campus of Fresno State and at the farmers market at Manchester Mall.