Course Offerings

Under the guidance of Professor John Jota Leaños and the collaborative support of visiting muralists Irene Juarez-O’Connell and Victor Cervantes, students will explore the transformative power of public art as a vehicle for community expression, memory, resistance, and identity. Rooted in the history of muralism, the course places a special focus on Chicanx/a/o muralism, contextualizing it within broader movements of social and political art across the Americas. Through a combination of lectures, hands-on workshops, field trips, and collaborative projects, students will deepen their understanding of muralism’s cultural significance while engaging in a reflective practice of art-making.

In this course, students are not only expected to develop technical skills in painting and design but also to cultivate a spirit of empathy, collaboration, community engagement, convivencia, and deep listening. We aim to create a space where all voices are valued, and diverse perspectives come together to shape a collective work of art that embodies shared histories and aspirations. The course also encourages critical reflection on how public art can disrupt, challenge, or reaffirm cultural narratives and how murals serve as vital, living documents of social struggle, cultural resilience, and collective political empowerment.

A highlight of the course is a field trip to the Santa Cruz Beach Flats and the San Francisco Mission District, where students will experience firsthand the energy of mural arts in one of the most historically significant Chicanx and Latinx cultural spaces in the U.S. The class will culminate in the production of a large-scale mural that honors and reflects multifaceted ways in which Black, Indigenous, and Latinx communities have demonstrated resilience in the face of systemic challenges, not just through active resistance, but through creativity, cultural adaptation, mutual support, and healing providing a pedagogical tool for future generations.