Precita Eyes - History

History

Precita Eyes Muralists Association was founded in 1977 by Susan and Luis Cervantes who had come to the Bay Area several years before and started a family. Susan Cervantes herself had been inspired by “Las Mujeres Muralistas,” the first all-women group of collaborative muralists from which she applies her strategy of collaborative, accessible, community art.

The organization evolved from a community mural workshop in which the participants designed and painted the portable mural “Masks of God, Soul of Man” for the Bernal Heights Library. The group signed the piece as Precita Eyes Muralists because the project was a collaborative effort. The name of the organization comes from the fact that most of the muralists were from Precita Valley. Precita is a diminutive form of the Spanish word ‘presa,’ which means dam; the word ‘Precita’ means little dam. The ‘Eyes’ in the name are what we perceive the visual world with, our own eyes.

After the first mural, the group of artists continued to be interested in creating murals. They completed two major mural commissions and several more portable murals. Two years later, the group applied for non-profit status in 1979. In 1998 Precita Eyes was able to expand its operations with the purchase of the building at 2981 24th Street, near the well-known Balmy Alley

Recently Precita Eyes celebrated its 30th anniversary and continues to conduct several mural projects each year. Recent projects include two international projects, one to Beijing, China and the other to parts of Palestine and Lebanon. Other recent local projects involved the restoration of two San Francisco Parks, Excelsior Playground and Crocker-Amazon Playground