Arts Alive San Antonio

By JASMINA WELLINGHOFF, Editor

Millions of Americans have already been vaccinated against COVID-19 but there’s still some distance to go to get to that herd immunity level that would help us return to normal life. Here in San Antonio, 1,028,077 people or 61.9 % are fully vaccinated, according to Metro Health data. If the individuals who have received only one dose are counted, the number becomes 1,241,765 or 74.7%. Not bad but we can do better.

To entice more people to get vaccinated, the City of San Antonio and Metro Health have teamed up with the arts nonprofit, Supporting Multiple Art Resources (SMART), to harness the power of art to get folks to the vaccination sites. They were eventually joined by PR pros of the Giant Noise agency and MM Creative who came up with the idea to hire artists to create neighborhood murals in a number of city districts.

“We loved that idea,” said Laura Mayes, the assistant director of Government and Public Sffairs with the city. “We knew that the community was feeling a sense of fatigue from constantly hearing ‘Wear your mask!’ ‘Get vaccinated!’ But we also knew that our local artists have been severely impacted by the pandemic in both their personal and professional lives. So, when we heard the idea of doing murals, we loved it. The art really conveys a sense of hope while also sharing a really important message.”

The murals are part of the city’s What Will It Take COVID-19 prevention campaign.

The finalized murals are painted on six buildings belonging to cooperative businesses, and can be found in six city districts:

District 1: Marriage and Family Institute of San Antonio, 1528 N. Main; District 2: First Stop, 2553 East Houston; District 3: Highland Food Mart, 2402 Hicks Ave.; District 4: Fiesta Grocery, 7208 Brook Valley; District 5: Neighborhood Store, 2202 South Flores, and District 7: Jefferson Bodega. 1005 Donaldson.

The participating artists are respectively: James “Supa” Medrano; Kaldrick Dow; Ana Hernandez; Gerry Garcia; Rubio, and Kim Bishop.

Mayes and others are hopeful that the murals will have an impact because “they are right in the neighborhood, on the ground, and the artists are trusted voices in those neighborhoods,” The neighborhoods that the organizers of this effort would like to reach the most at the moment are the ones that have been most affected by the pandemic.

“Residents living on the South, West and East sides of San Antonio were impacted by COVID more than in other areas of the community,” said City Manager Erik Walsh in a statement. “It’s my hope that these murals bring a message of hope to these communities, while also serving as an important reminder that the vaccine will protect you and your loved ones from COVID-19.”

The message of hope and brighter days ahead is probably most clearly expressed in James Medrano’s mural that depict a family with a blue sky and a rainbow behind them. “I painted them without a mask to show that if people get a vaccine, we can get back to normal and not have to wear masks,” stated the artist.

Artist Kaldrick Dow’s mural features his father, Ronald Owens, with a “Do It For SA” message, a clear invitation to think about the health of the entire community. And Ana Hernandez’s image depicts her father-in-law, Gerry Burnell, wearing a cowboy hat, and proudly showing his arm with a small bandage on his arm, where he received his shot.

San Antonians are encouraged to visit the murals, take photos and share on social media using the hashtag #DoItForSA.