{"id":6211,"date":"2022-08-12T09:01:11","date_gmt":"2022-08-12T17:01:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/ecc\/?page_id=6211"},"modified":"2025-04-16T17:36:52","modified_gmt":"2025-04-17T01:36:52","slug":"murals","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/ecc\/murals\/","title":{"rendered":"Kelly ECC Murals"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Navigation<\/strong><\/p>\n

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  1. Black Mural<\/a><\/li>\n
  2. Asian Mural<\/a><\/li>\n
  3. Chicano Mural<\/a><\/li>\n
  4. Native Art Mural<\/a><\/li>\n
  5. Other Building Murals<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Black Mural <\/b>“Bearers of Culture\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n

    \"Picture<\/p>\n

    Artist: Eddie Walker, Founding member of University of Washington Black Student Union<\/b><\/p>\n

    Date: 1972<\/b><\/p>\n

    Location: Originally created as a wall mural in the Black Room of the original ECC building, this installation has been relocated to the ceiling of our current building<\/b><\/p>\n

    The creation of the murals for the ECC black room was inspired by the spirit, minds, and office labor of Black Women.\u00a0 The women who helped fund the first Black Student Union at the University of Washington.\u00a0 Their efforts were historically unsung, and as minister of art for the B.S.U.\u00a0 I felt it was my duty to leave a visual memorial titled, \u201cBearers of Culture\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Many males claimed early B.S.U. leadership positions, but idea administrators needed workers to do the organizing, teaching, phoning, typing, mailing, errands, and cooking.\u00a0 The women of the B.S.U. gave all their labor plus love, spirit, and courage to those radical days of the sixties and early seventies.\u00a0 Their work helped propel the formation of the E.O.P., O.M.A., and E.C.C. complex. All students owe them a debt of gratitude. They help create history with a proved legacy, past, present and future.<\/span><\/p>\n

    It was my honor to donate the talent, paints, and time to leave an image worthy of their sacrifices.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Black Women have helped nurture the dream of freedom in their children, their men, their people, and humanity.\u00a0 May they never aspire to less.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Over twenty years later this mural continues to testify to the unsung heroines of a people, still in search and still fighting for freedom, dignity, and respect.<\/span><\/p>\n

    As an Artist, 20 years older I am proudest of this mural for what it continues to inspire in all who view it.\u00a0 For me and future generations, I hope \u201cBearers of Culture\u201d inspire others to continue the dreams, continue the sacrifice, and continue the struggle, Black Women Have!<\/span><\/p>\n

    Eddie Walker<\/span><\/h3>\n
    \u00a0<\/span> Founding member of University of Washington BSU<\/span><\/h5>\n
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    Asian Mural<\/b>
    \n\"Picture<\/p>\n

    Artist: Jesse Reyes<\/b><\/p>\n

    Date: 1985<\/b><\/p>\n

    Location: Originally created as a wall mural in the Asian Room of the original ECC building, this installation has been relocated to the ceiling of our current building<\/b><\/p>\n

    The ASIAN ROOM INSTALLATION is a representation of achievement through adversity, sacrifice and determination. Typical verbiage perhaps, but nonetheless accurate. The visages of ten Asian Americans, known and unknown, of distant and recent times, tell a story if you care to listen. Whether it is the pride in being an AMERICAN, told through the eyes of three anonymous wartime relocation internees, that shows what price was paid to prove loyalty to the American dream. The defiance of Gordon Hirabayashi, unwilling, and rightfully so, to accept being treated a second class citizen by the INJUSTICE OF Executive Order 9066. The community spirit that banded together for the freedom of Chol Soo Lee, wrongly imprisoned for a crime he did not commit. The optimism of Carlos Bulosan, who believed that America was in the heart, and wrote it down for all of us to read- and to remember. The fists of Middleweight Champion of the World Ceferino Garcia, that fought their way out of those migrant fields and cannery rows. The face of a Chinese laborer, upon whose back \u201cManifest Destiny\u201d was carried and mined and hammered out of the west. \u201cManifest Destiny\u201d that HE was not allowed to share. The strength of Queen Liliuokalani, of the Hawaiian people by the United States government, in total disregard for THEIR self-like the others, to seek that promise of the \u201cpursuit of happiness\u201d, hopefully without its cruelty. Unfortunately, the murder of Vincent Chin, or the Grand Ledge case, show that there that there is a lot to learn, and much to overcome.<\/span><\/p>\n

    The ASIAN ROOM INSTALLATION is also a protest against the apathy of many young Asians today- no longer interested in community issues or the importance of the strife that came before, and of its significance TODAY. Not some young urban fantasy and a $17,000 starting aid in reminding those young Asians that awareness of our forefathers- and of ourselves- isn\u2019t just the stuff of some 60\u2019s power movement, but a concrete reality that we must deal with every day.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Special thanks to production assistant Michelle Kumata and Steve Chin, Bill Powers, Lino Espinoza and Charlie Canfield and his truck for all their help in putting this all together. Thanks also to the Ethnic Cultural Center, and the Office of Minority Affairs for their support. A very special thanks to Wes Senzaki, whose famous FREEDOM FOR CHOL SOO LEE poster was incorporated into the design, as a crucial testimony of the times.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    Jesse Reyes<\/span><\/h3>\n
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    Chicano Mural \u201cSomos Aztlan\u201d<\/b>
    \n\"Picture<\/p>\n

    Artist: Emilio Aguayo<\/b><\/p>\n

    Date: 1972<\/b><\/p>\n

    Location: Originally created as a wall mural in the Chicano Room of the original ECC building, this installation has been relocated to the ceiling of our current building<\/b><\/p>\n

    Somos Aztlan<\/b><\/p>\n

    This Mural embodies the dawning of a new era for all the Spanish-speaking people known as \u201cLA RAZA.\u201d It is a cultural blend of past and present, of Indian heritage, of man struggling alongside woman in the human conflict which is our drive for self-identity and self-determination. This painting is visual testimony that as part of this society, we are part of its past, its present and its future, something which as a people we will not be denied.<\/span><\/p>\n

    We are also a people with ideas in heart, mind, soul and spirit who have lived a history of social oppression, yet\u2026 we have hopes for our future.<\/span><\/p>\n

    We are products of mankind \u2013 a composite of all races, all colors, yet more the blend of Spaniard and Indian which forms the mestizo precursor of the American Spanish-speaking, here 1\u2014years and more before Columbus. We had a civilization which predated Christ.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Present and past symbols of our cultural history comprise this visual reality of early la raza art. Serpent and sun are symbols worshiped by our ancestors as gods of life and earth. Earth now is symbolic only of the nation within a nation we wish to build. The sun also symbolizes the dawn of our self-awareness, the revolution in the mind we so desperately need. The United Farm Workers flag is symbolic of first manifestations in 1965 of our current social movement. Man and woman symbolize the core of any society, the family unit. In this case, the raza family is what kept us together in adversity.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Society is seen as a four-headed monster of apocalypse, oppression and universal troubles of mankind. It is seen as we see it and live it. Society is thus a personification of oppressive evil now confronted by social change with is good.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Aztlan is an Indian term for the land of the southwest, land of Spanish grants, area of our first beginnings, land of our greatest population concentration in five states.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Colors of this mural represent the five human races and the colors of earth in the southwest<\/span><\/p>\n

    Emilio Aguayo<\/span><\/h3>\n
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    Native Art Mural \u201cReflections\u201d<\/b>
    \n\"Picture<\/p>\n

    Artist: Michael Lee Beasley, Tlingit<\/b><\/p>\n

    Date: 1985<\/b><\/p>\n

    Location: Originally created as a wall mural in the Native Room of the original ECC building, this installation has been relocated to the ceiling of our current building<\/b><\/p>\n

    Reflections<\/b><\/p>\n

    The Eagle was chosen as the wall theme because Native American and Alaskan students at the University of Washington relate to it \u2013 For most Native people the eagle is a symbol of honor.<\/span><\/p>\n

    In developing the design, careful consideration was given to the overall space. An atypical design seemed best suited to the irregular wall space.<\/span><\/p>\n

    The design is a symbolic reflection of students\u2019 time on campus. The great eagle represents a mature development of knowledge, skills and spirit. In the stomach of the larger eagle is an underdeveloped eagle which represents the students upon entering college. As students complete class requirements toward a diploma, they develop. When they complete their education, they are the better for it because they have developed skills and acquired knowledge that they previously might not have had. They are then in turn enabled to help others develop.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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    Michael Lee Beasley<\/span><\/h3>\n
    Tlingit<\/span><\/h5>\n
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    Other Building Murals<\/h2>\n

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    Floor 1<\/h3>\n

    \"1st<\/p>\n

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