Windows Into the Tenderloin—Seeds of Dreams
"I was there..."
text and photos by Mona Caron
To the left of the tall windows, a curtain opens to reveal a meadow with its grass roots exposed. Underground, there are sprouting seeds. These seeds are made of tile, and each was created by a different community member in the immediate vicinity of the mural.
At the Boys and Girls Club across the street from the mural, children were invited to decorate tile seeds with a picture of what they wish for in their future.
At Hospitality House Community Art Center nearby, people were invited to create tiles containing symbols or words that uplift them, that give them strength and hope. Each seed would be their personal touchstone, which may bring them back to encouraging thoughts whenever they come across it in the street, on the mural.
Some of the tile seeds grow into flowers that were specifically requested and personally meaningful to some of the artists and community members.
A few small dandelion-like seed puffs drift from this panel over into the utopian vision of the neighborhood, to the right. This connects the idea of the grassroots of society overcoming hardship through both personal healing and mutual help, with the sowing of seeds for a better world. The grassroots creates a better future as it grows and blossoms.
The tiles were created for the mural at the Central City Hospitality House Community Arts Program, and The Boys & Girls Clubs of San Francisco Tenderloin Clubhouse Art Program, with the help of Kay Weber with coordinating the kids, and Lisa Ruth Elliott for the tile installation expertise.
A project spearheaded by The North of Market/Tenderloin Community Benefit District
Funded by San Francisco’s Community Challenge Grant Program, and The Mayor's Office of Economic and Workforce Development.
Design and Painting by Mona Caron
Project manager: Lisa Ruth Elliott.
Special thanks to Elaine Zamora & Joseph Leon, The NOM/TL CBC District Identity Streetscape Improvements Committee, Peter Field, Mark Ellinger, Dina Hilliard, Eric and Nikki Gunn Rodenbeck, Nick Kasimatis, Joel Pomerantz, The Kenneth Rainin Foundation The San Francisco Arts Commission, The Jack Sen Benevolent Association
Tiles created for the mural at the Central City Hospitality House Community Arts Program, and The Boys & Girls Clubs of San Francisco Tenderloin Clubhouse Art Program.