CORNBREAD

Darryl “Cornbread” McCray is a former Philadelphia graffiti artist who gained notoriety for spraying his logo across the city from the late 1960s to early 1970s. Now a mild-mannered arts advocate, McCray is appalled by the evolution of graffiti as an art to a form of vandalism. It was in the 1980s when McCray realized how spray paint and vandalism left Philadelphia a mess. McCray helped clean-up his city by becoming a member of Mayor Wilson Goode’s former Anti-Graffiti Network. Since this time, McCray has become an avid supporter of the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program, and works as a public speaker for this cause.

Jon E. Bekken, chairman of Albright College’s communications department realized McCray’s value as a knowledgeable expert in street art and invited the artist to speak at the school. “I’m interested in a wide range of communications, in particular in ways in which people who don’t have access to media outlets try to get a voice,” Bekken said. McCray gave some pointers to prospective taggers of the college: “If you’ve got the talent to do graffiti, you can get paid for it. But don’t go out and vandalize.”

[“Cornbread” in the 1960s]

SOURCES:

http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=79200

http://wallstreetmeeting.de/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/cornbread.jpg

http://www.egodesign.ca/_files/articles/blocks/2649_cornbread.jpg

JOSE CLEMENTE OROZCO by Jay Burnham

Jose Clemente Orozco (1883-1949) was a well-known Mexican muralist and political cartoonist of the first half of the 20^th century. As he grew up in Mexico City, Orozco discovered his passion for art. From 1910-1916, Orozco worked as a cartoonist for the magazine El Hijo de Ahuizote where he expressed a great deal of social commentary regarding the Mexican Revolution. By the 1920s, Orozco had found his preferred medium in murals. Though, his commentary was still abundant. His political commentary expanded from the Revolution to his concerns about dehumanization through technology and the changing of morals Orozco witnessed.

HISPANO-AMERICA (1934) is one of Orozco’s murals which frames a Latin-American peasent using his (human) rights to protest imperialist oppression.

SOURCES:

http://www.dartmouth.edu/~library/Orozco/part2.html

http://www.mexconnect.com/articles/305-tragedy-and-triumph-the-drama-of-jose-clemente-orozco-1883–1949

Orozco, Jose Clemente: An Autobiography

Art Education Research

So how do they fund their program?
And I had no idea what an amazing and extensive program they have. Collaboration with them, when a more cohesive program is set up would be very beneficial.

I found a link were you can donate to the sight and I also emailed the head of the Art Education Program's at Mural Arts and asked her a few questions about how they got started and how they were funded etc.. so we'll see if I get an email back. 

http://www.muralarts.org/getinvolved/gift.php

Art Education Research

The Mural Arts Program of Philadelphia

In Philadelphia opportunities for young people to participate in the arts have steadily diminished in recent years. Renewed focus on core curriculum, the pressures of high-stakes testing, and other funding priorities have left arts programs in public schools vulnerable. As a result, hundreds of schools in Philadelphia have no full-time art teacher and many of Philadelphia's youth are without positive and structured after-school activities.

The Mural Arts Program is filling this void through a variety of targeted art education programs including Big Picture, Mural Corps and ArtWorks!. These programs not only teach mural-making and other fundamental art skills, but inspire students to become artists, organizers, and leaders in their communities. Through these programs, we serve close to 2,000 youth at over 50 neighborhood sites in Philadelphia.

http://www.muralarts.org/whatwedo/arted/

Mural Arts Program

Philadelphia's Mural Arts Program came about in 1984 in an effort to eliminate the graffiti that plagued the city. Muralist Jane Golden was hired to seek local graffiti artists and channel their skills from making detrimental graffiti to creating murals that glorify the city. In addition to creating more than two thousand murals, the Mural Arts Program directly assisted in supplying unity and love throughout the streets of Philadelphia through art.

Sources:

http://www.muralarts.org/

http://www.muralfarm.org/Muralfarm/Home.aspx

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/entertainment/20090910_Artist_brings_power_of_love_to_Phila__streets.html