There are always new murals popping up all over San Francisco, especially in the Mission neighborhood — and El Tecolote is trying to document as many of them as possible.

If you see an interesting mural getting created in your San Francisco neighborhood, and want to know more about it, reach out to us at erika@eltecolote.org.

For this mural roundup, we are highlighting murals recently produced by Precita Eyes Muralists that celebrate LGTBQ+ people, Native Americans and equitable access to healthcare.

18th and Mission Street | Front wall of empty building

Indigenous muralists Diego Irizarry (left), 28, and Drew Valencia (right), 43, work on a mural that celebrates Native American people in San Francisco, Calif., on June 27, 2024. Photo: Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote/CatchLight Local

A new mural celebrating Native, especially Ohlone culture is set to bring vibrancy to the empty building on Mission and 18th Street, becoming one of the few murals in the neighborhood created by and for Native Americans. The mural centers on an Ohlone woman holding a traditional basket, surrounded by eagles, fishes, tail feathers and other symbols that are deeply symbolic to indigenous communities.

“We want…indigenous people from all around Turtle Island to feel represented,” said Diego Irizarry, who is Pueblo and Taino. Irizarry brought the idea to Precita Eyes Muralists, collaborating with veteran muralists Drew Valencia and Max Marttila. The mural’s location and design were finalized after a community gathering with the American Indian Cultural District.

“When people see brown people…especially in the Mission, they just automatically think you’re Mexican, from Central America, South America,” said muralist Drew Valencia, who is Ohlone and Kashia Pomo. Valencia grew up participating in Big Head dances with his family, just like the dancer depicted in the mural.

With its earthy palette, spirited wildlife, and radial spray of Native imagery, the mural serves as a public homage to the resilience and beauty of San Francisco’s indigenous communities. The mural will be completed soon.

170 Capp Street | Inside lobby

SFCCC painters work on a mural at the San Francisco Community Clinic Consortium in San Francisco, Calif. on July 1, 2024. Photo: Bob Kinoshita

This mural in the Mission is uniquely designed to be portable. Commissioned by the San Francisco Community Clinic Consortium (SFCCC), the mural is being painted on three wooden panels, with seven colorful sections that represent various dimensions of healthcare: food access, culture, access to nature, medicine, advocacy, wellness and community. 

“There’s a big push in San Francisco … to address not just medical care and clinics, but to [also] address social determinants of health,” said Beth Rittenhouse-Dhesi, SFCCC Director of Community Services. After moving their main headquarters from the Fisherman’s Wharf neighborhood to the Mission, SFCCC decided to take part in their new neighborhood’s tradition of “social messaging” through art.  

SFCCC has 12 nonprofit health centers in San Francisco that serve people who are low income and uninsured. One of their clinics, the Mission Neighborhood Health Center, “came out of the Latinx community demanding culturally appropriate health care by and for the community,” said Rittenhouse-Dhesi.

At a meeting to decide the mural’s final design, Precita Eyes muralists and community members asked: what does healthcare mean? “It’s just nice to see how everyone interacted with the idea of, like, we are all interconnected in a big city,” said assistant artist Somer Taylor, who was joined by lead artist Gabi Moreta. “I think that’s where the rainbow idea came from,” said Taylor. “because community takes on many forms.”

Moreta and Taylor are guiding volunteers from within the community clinic consortium to paint the kaleidoscopic design, which will be completed by August.  

San Francisco International Airport (SFO) | Harvey Milk Terminal 1

A new mural titled “The only Blue is the Sky” by artist Craig Calderwood is now on display at Harvey Milk Terminal 1 at San Francisco International Airport in San Francisco, Calif. Photo: Bob Kinoshita

A new mural at San Francisco International Airport pays tribute to the experiences of LGBTQ+ people. Titled “The only Blue is the Sky,” the large artwork greets travelers arriving at Harvey Milk Terminal 1 with an array of colorful patterns, planters and smiling faces made up of flowers and fruits.

“I was trying to think about the project as being one that was making people living in otherness, or difficult situations, easier and relaxed,” said Craig Calderwood, the transgender and queer artist who’s lived in the city’s Mission District for 15 years. “I made all these figures that are made up of different queer vernacular that have moved through positive and negative spaces throughout history, like the pansy flower and stripe.”

The mural is Calderwood’s first public mural project, which received a $200,000 commission from the San Francisco Arts Commission. “The mural that surrounds the three-story atrium is unlike any other artwork in the airport,” said Susan Kelk Cervantes from Precita Eyes Muralists, who served as a project advisor. “Craig’s bold color, fine line and monumental images of boldly dressed people with heads of flowers and fruits is unique, unforgettable and reflective of the LGBTQ + experience and history.”

Calderwood said the large mural is not just exclusive to queerness, and also represents deviance and otherness in different contexts: “Sex work, criminality, etc. … take all those things and celebrate them and give them space outside of the world we are in, that is relaxed, comfortable and chill.”