Edythe (Edy) Boone, born in 1938, is an African-American artist and activist. She has worked as a muralist, counselor, and art teacher in an under-served area of California throughout her life.
She is the aunt of Eric Garner, an African-American man who was choked to death by New York Police Department officers. His death, along with the death of Michael Brown, led to protests and helped start the Black Lives Matter movement.
Career
Boone is well known for the many murals she has painted. She began by painting murals on each floor of a building in Harlem, New York, and later worked on a major project, designing and painting the Women's Building mural in San Francisco, California. She first learned about art when she visited her grandmother, who was a seamstress. Boone was surrounded by colors, fabrics, and textures during these visits. While living in Harlem, crack cocaine was a widespread problem that greatly influenced her art. During this time, she painted secret murals to show her opposition to the issue. She believes that art should be available to everyone, not only professionals, and uses it to help people and communities feel stronger.
Boone’s reputation for caring about social issues comes from her experiences and her influence from groups like the Black Panthers and other civil rights movements. She is most famous for her street murals in the San Francisco Bay Area, which focus on important community and activist topics. Her work has covered issues such as the 1980s crack epidemic in America, AIDS, poverty, racial discrimination, and gender inequality.
Works
Boone is best known for helping create the famous MaestraPeace mural on the Women's Building in San Francisco, California. The mural was painted in 1994 by a group of seven female artists, including Boone, Juana Alicia, Miranda Bergman, Susan Kelk Cervantes, Meera Desai, Yvonne Littleton, and Irene Perez. The mural covers two walls and is five stories tall. It includes images of many important women, such as the Aztec Goddess of the Moon Coyolxauhqui, Palestinian legislator and activist Hanan Ashrawi, poet and activist Audre Lorde, painter Georgia O'Keeffe, Puerto Rican revolutionary Lolita Lebrón, and Guatemalan Nobel Peace Prize winner Rigoberta Menchú. The mural is a popular attraction in San Francisco's Mission District. It was restored in 2012, and Boone helped with the restoration. The building where the mural is painted is special because it is the first community building in the United States owned and operated entirely by women. The mural shows the challenges and struggles women have faced throughout history.
MaestraPeace is well-known not only for its large size and the many famous or mythical women it includes but also for showing respect for different cultures and opposing colonialism. The artwork connects African and indigenous cultures from the Americas across time and places. Its focus on multicultural feminism matches the Women's Building's purpose and the area's diverse population.
The group of artists who created the mural includes people from many backgrounds. Among them are two Latinas, two African Americans, one East Asian, two Caucasians, and one Jewish lesbian, straight, and bisexual artist. The mural's design is symmetrical, with figures representing African and Native American cultures on either side.
Boone painted another mural called Those We Love, We Remember in Balmy Alley, San Francisco, California. This mural honors people who have passed away.
In the 1980s, Boone and a group of "guerrilla" muralists worked with residents of a local housing project in Oakland to create the Oakland Wall Speaks mural. The artwork shows the effects of crack cocaine on people who use it.
Near Berkeley's People's Park, Boone helped create the mural Let a Thousand Parks Bloom. This mural is a reference to peaceful protests that happened in the park in 1969 against the Vietnam War.
In Berkeley, California, Boone oversaw the creation of a 100-foot mural on Ashby Avenue between Harper and Ellis Streets, completed in 2018. The mural includes images of people, places, and events that show the history of South Berkeley, from the time of the Ohlone people to the present day.
Documentary
"A New Color" is Marlene “Mo” Morris' first time directing a film. Morris explains that the movie highlights Edythe Boone's long and successful career, noting that Edythe has a way of encouraging others and supporting many different causes. The film premiered at the Mill Valley Film Festival on October 10, 2015.
In 2011, Morris received a grant from the Berkeley Film Foundation for "A New Color," which helped cover the cost of filming half of the movie. In 2012, Morris started a Kickstarter campaign to raise more money for the film, which collected $7,951. The East Bay Community Foundation promised to match any money raised during this campaign.