Guests frequenting festivals, concerts, museums or parades in San Francisco have most likely admired artist Ernest Rivera’s work, however a Google search proves him to be a talented, yet elusive artist in the community.
“I don’t regard myself as an artist that goes to galleries and hangs my art,” Rivera said with a shrug. “I just do it. I’ll make photographs and prints but I don’t show them to anybody.”
In fact, Rivera, who was recently honored by the mayor’s office for over 40 years of service to the San Francisco arts community, built much of his career on using his creativity to help other artists’ dreams become possible.
As the technical director of South of Market Arts and Cultural Center (SOMArts) since its inception in 1979, he puts his craftsmanship forward with stages, backdrops and lighting for numerous performances and festivals.
The ideas of San Francisco-based artist Micheal Rios, became a possibility through Rivera’s creativity and helpfulness as a mentor. In the early ‘90s, Carlos Santana asked Rios to make a 20 feet by 40 feet backdrop for a performance in San Francisco, but Rios had no way of making an installation of that magnitude.
“The first person I thought of was Ernie [Rivera],” said Rios. “SOMArts didn’t have a wall so he created a wall for me. He put up 30 feet of scaffolding and paneled the whole thing with plywood.”
Rivera’s creativity and generosity was the crucial building block for SOMArts, thus allowing artists to share their talents that may not have otherwise been seen.
“Sometimes I’ll do an event and I’ll feel proud because I see people in the streets smiling and conversing with each other,” Rivera said.
Whether the project was setting up bleachers at the SF Blues Festival, a banner at the Juneteenth Festival or stages at this year’s
Veterans’ Day Parade, Rivera is glad to lend a hand to help artists and community members enjoy themselves.
Before graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Printmaking from the San Francisco Art Institute, Rivera traveled to the1960s art mecca known as Woodstock, New York.
“I was there with my wife and we thought we’d only be there for the summer. We lived in a tent at my friends property at first. It was the time of the beginning of the Woodstock festival. You’d see Bob Dylan or Jimi Hendrix in town and at the local cafes,” Rivera said about the music legends he saw during his time in New York.
After three years of living in Woodstock, Rivera returned to San Francisco and was greeted by another uncanny life-changing event. Rivera met Buddhist meditation master Chögyam Trungpa in 1970 and later lived at a meditation center with his family for five years.
Through practicing Buddhism, Rivera’s work strives to share his talents for creating peace over attracting attention to himself. After helping set up stages at City Hall for the Veteran’s Day parade, he pushed to make the event more inclusive than just with the U.S. military.
“Anyone that has been in a war is a veteran; it’s not just victors but those vanquished as well. It would be nice to have a contingent of Native Americans in the veteran’s parade in honor of wars and against the U.S., ” mused Rivera. “Through art, people with contrasting views can relate to each other on a level that’s not hostile.”