EASTSIDE MOSIACS

EastSide Mosaics and Girl Project presents...

A Mosaic Afterschool Workshop w/ Susanne Takehara

Wednesdays

Sep 18 + 25

Oct 2 + 9

3-5pm

900 E 11th St, Oakland CA
Free workshop * Supplies and Food provided

Girl Project Afterschool Mosaic Workshop is coming up folks!! and we are very excited to be led by the wonderful Susanne Takehara.
Pass the word, we would love to fill the roster.

Susanne creates mosaic murals which reflect and celebrate the diverse cultures of our neighborhoods with beauty and depth, honoring our ancestors and imagining the future we can build together. Using the mosaic medium is also a public art land acknowledgement, and a way to honor and lift up the cultures of the indigenous people on whose land we live, work, and interact. We are honored to share the talent and ethos of Susanne's approach with the GP community.

Four Wednesdays in a row afterschool, Susanne will guide us in applying the art of mosaic to a piece to take home and a piece we will work on collectively.

Title: Weaving Past & Present
Medium: Mosaic - ceramic and porcelain tile, glass, abalone shell
Size: 13’ X 12’
Completed: January 2021
Location: Camino 23 Apartments, 23rd Avenue at International Blvd.,Oakland, CA
Artists:

Original woven basket: Linda Yamane
Mosaic design/Tile setting/Project Mgmt: Susanne Takehara
Custom tiles: Glass pendants - Mariposa Glass & Tile Works/Jesse Medina;

Stamped tiles - Carol Bevilacqua
Installation: Breandain Langlois, Chris Langlois, Jesse Medina, Susanne Takehara

Commissioned by Satellite Affordable Housing Associates
©2021 EastSide Arts Alliance, Susanne Takehara, Linda Yamane

Photos: Scott Tsuchitani

Weaving Past & Present

“In 2012, when I completed this Ohlone ceremonial basket — and another for the Oakland Museum of California — they were the first of their kind to be made in about 250 years. It was my joy and honor to bring their beauty back into the world again. This basket speaks to the creativity and skill of Ohlone artisans of the past, who transformed sticks and roots, feathers and shells, into remarkable works of art. May this stunning mosaic by Susanne Takehara remind us of Oakland’s first peoples, their resourcefulness, and their thoughtful relationship with the land.” 

– Linda Yamane, Ohlone Artist and Basketweaver

"Oakland has always been the place of the Ohlone and for thousands of years it was called Huchiun, part of a larger territory that is inclusive of six Bay Area cities. Lisjan/Ohlone continue to live, work, pray and have relationships with our lands and waterways here in one of the many traditional territories where we have an unbroken tie since the beginning of time."

– Corrina Gould, Traditional Spokesperson

Confederated Villages of Lisjan

EastSide Arts Alliance & NAKA Dance Theater present

LAIR Virtual: Weaving Past & Present – a ceremonial basket in mosaic tile.

Linda Yamane & Susanne Takehara in conversation.

TUESDAY, APRIL 27, 2021

7 p.m. PDT

Facebook Live

Join us on Facebook Live as the artists speak about the history of the ceremonial baskets and the creation of the mosaic.

STATEMENT FROM LINDA YAMANE, Ohlone Artist and Basketweaver
“In 2012, when I completed this Ohlone ceremonial basket — and another for the Oakland Museum of California — they were the first of their kind to be made in about 250 years. It was my joy and honor to bring their beauty back into the world again.
This basket speaks to the creativity and skill of Ohlone artisans of the past, who transformed sticks and roots, feathers and shells, into remarkable works of art. May this stunning mosaic by Susanne Takehara remind us of Oakland’s first peoples, their resourcefulness, and their thoughtful relationship with the land.”

Watch recording of the discussion here

Whose Land?

The land you stand upon is the traditional homeland of the Chochenyo Ohlone people. This land has been stolen from the Ohlone ancestors and descendants who today, among the concrete, asphalt and steel landscape, continue to honor their land, sacred sites, and their living culture and language.
This mosaic mural envisions a future filled with light, spirit and respect for all communities, acknowledging the legacy of the Chochenyo Ohlone people. The native plants depicted are found in the Bay Area today: Bay Laurel, California Poppy, Sedge, Goosefoot, and Coffee Berry. The water references the pre-colonial time when the Bay reached East 12th Street. The sky is filled with wind, breath, and energy and references designs from woven baskets.

The mural is dedicated to Joanette Starr Takehara (Sisseton Wahpeton/Dakota) with gratitude for her practice of honoring indigenous land, wellness and culture.

Title: Whose Land?
Completed: July 2020
Artist: Susanne Takehara, EastSide Arts Alliance / EastSide Mosaics
Medium: Ceramic and porcelain tile mosaic

Design: Susanne Takehara with Xochitl Guerrero
Tile setting: Susanne Takehara, assistants: Jesse Medina, Kaori Uyeda, Xochitl Guerrero
Custom tiles: Kiyomi Koide, Eiko Toyooka, Carol Bevilacqua
Installation: Jesse Medina, Susanne Takehara, Jose Navarrete, Sareth Moeun, Ruben Leal
Volunteers: Nao Matsuzawa, Mary Newson, Janet Perry, Karen DiFrummolo, Omar Hunter, Kitaho Kato, Nicole Hayward, Elaine Chew

Artwork commissioned in accordance with Oakland Municipal Code 15.78: Public Art for Private Development, by Satellite Affordable Housing Associates.

Photo: Scott Tsuchitani

EASTSIDE MOSAICS

a project of EastSide Arts Alliance

EastSide Mosaics is a community-based group of mosaic artists who work out of the EastSide Cultural Center. We are Oakland mosaic artists who create mosaics in and for our Oakland communities. EastSide Mosaics is a project of EastSide Arts Alliance. Project Manager and Lead Designer, Susanne Takehara, finds working with clients, community residents, and stakeholders an essential and exciting part of the art making process. Collaborations with other artists, craftspeople, clients, and community members are enthusiastically seen as a means of enhancing and deepening the creative process.

EastSide Mosaics, a project of EastSide Arts Alliance, formed in the summer of 2010 during the completion phase of their first project, the façade of the EastSide Cultural Center. Lead artists and tile setters were: Takehara and Xochitl Guerrero. Kiyomi Koide, among other community artists, assisted in the tile setting and installation process.

A second exterior mosaic project was commissioned in 2011, by Satellite Affordable Housing Associates. Takehara was the lead artist, Takehara and Kiyomi Koide executed tile setting and completed the installation. Two additional privately commisioned interior projects were completed in 2014 and 2016.

EASTSIDE ARTS ALLIANCE –

Public and Private Commissions

The EastSide Arts Alliance mission is to unite art with activism to work for community self determination and cultural development, and to build bridges between the disenfranchised, racially and ethnically divided communities that reside in the San Antonio neighborhood of Oakland, California, and in the broader East Bay.

EastSide Arts Alliance has produced over 40 public, school-based, and community (painted) murals in Oakland, Los Angeles, Mexico City, and Hawaii and six mosaic projects in Oakland, Berkeley and Los Angeles, California. EastSide Arts Alliance has also curated and produced countless art exhibits in the East Bay.

Weaving Past & Present, design by Linda Yamane, mosaic design and tile setting by Susanne Takehara, EastSide Mosaics. Photos: Scott Tsuchitani

Whose Land? Corner of International Blvd and 23rd Ave. Oakland, CA. Design by Susanne Takehara and Xochitl Guerrero, mosaic design and tile setting by Susanne Takehara and EastSide Mosaics. Photos: Scott Tsuchitani

Private residence kitchen mural, Los Angeles, CA.

EastSide Cultural Center facade, Oakland, CA.

Harmon Gardens patio, Berkeley, CA.

Photo: Misha Bruk