Personal Art Work

Personal Art Work

2020-Present

HOME SWEET HOME
By Susan Kelk Cervantes

A series of paintings inspired by personal photographs and other images.
All paintings are on TYVEK paper , 5’x 5’ painted with acrylic colors.

HOME SWEET HOME #12: STAIRWAY TO THE DIVINE ©July 2023

Narrative

Stairway to the Divine” is inspired by an encounter with a gopher snake on Bernal Heights (San Francisco, Mission District) after a meditation in the tall grass on the south side. Coming down the hill to the road along the edge of the hill I almost stepped on this large snake curled up emanating a bright light with black diamond patterns that was so breath taking. The snake seemed elevated for a moment.
I did not know at the time what kind of snake it was. It looked at me and I looked at this beautiful creature not knowing anything. I was motionless and after a few moments the snake moved upward disappearing into the high grass and I continued my way down the hill. The experience was unforgettable light coming from the snake. I was inspired to paint this snake with gold leaf which is the closest color to the kind of radiance I saw.

The stairway on the left and right of the painting is the stairs from a trail on the north side of Bernal Hill that I climb to reach the top to start my hike up and around to the south side where it is quiet and the grass is tall in the spring time. I stop at a couple of large fir trees along the way, one that stands out alone with many roots coming out of the side of the hill and onto the path. This tree is represented in the center of the painting and has a couple of natural places in the roots to sit and view the city and people going by. In the boughs of the tree is the path to the stairway on the hill where I come from and the cityscape from that view point. The illuminated divine gopher snake is above the city in the sky that I see when looking up through the tall grass. Poppy flowers along the stairs frame the painting, a symbol of spring on Bernal Hill.

HOME SWEET HOME #11: WAITING FOR THE MIRACLE TO COME ©October 2022

Narrative

“Waiting for the Miracle to Come” is inspired by the ancient Indian form of “yantra” (energy field). This form represents the four directions of the universe but specifically of the war in Ukraine, thus the color scheme symbolic of the Ukrainian flag of blue(protection) and yellow(activation). The energies are used to accomplish peace in this dire time.
Green field symbolizes access to the doorways to peace. Lotus petals around the edge symbolize purity and transcendence, uneven to represent the existing chaos of the war with the possibility of connecting our humanity.

Across the center of the “yantra” on top and bottom are rows of birds roosting on a power line, like all of us in the world, “waiting for the miracle to come” (for the next breeze, movement, change, situation). This image is from a photograph I took of the birds on a line over Harrison Street in the Mission District of SF.

In the center of the “yantra” is the original International Banner of Peace, World Peace (symbol of our one blood)e Flag designed by the Russian artist and mystic, Nicolas Roerich who proposed a red outer circle with three red dots inside (symbolizing the color of our one blood) inside a white background was a Peace Pact signed in Washington in 1935 by the US, India and 20 Latin American countries. Other countries, including the Soviet Union, added their signatures in 1959. The flag became a symbol of commitment to the universal protection of historical, cultural and scientifically significant heritage sites.

“Where there is peace, there is culture. Where there is culture, there is peace.”—Nicolas Roerich, 1874-1947

HOME SWEET HOME #10: VENUS RISING
©March 2022

Narrative

“Venus Rising” is the center of the painting born rising up from a saguaro cactus growing out of the sea shell with life giving energy, waves of music, movement and space. The saguaro grows into an emerald crystal at the top reflecting the sunset cascading down amongst the ancestors embracing each other around the sacred hawk feathers that fan the energy through the cosmos. The universe of stars shine behind Venus in view of the Pleiades constellation (7 sisters). Comets are moving in the upper left and right of the sky.

Inspiration
The Venus figure is inspired by a photo I took of the 1936 sculpture “The Spirit of the Centennial” made for the 100th centennial of Texas in front of the Women’s Museum I was visiting at the time in the Dallas state fairgrounds.

The ancestors and hawk feathers are part of my altar.

The shell is inspired by its physical harmonics. “physical material is music solidified” by Pathagoras.

The emerald crystal and comets are night photos taken of the Dallas skyline.

HOME SWEET HOME #9: BRINGING IT HOME
©August 2021

NArrative

BRINGING IT HOME starts in the center with a very old pruned and knotty sycamore tree. These trees which line the Harrison Street side of Garfield Park always look very figurative and this one has a face with raised arms. Down the trunk of the tree is the trumpet flower with a henna painted hand coming out bringing home the essence of life represented by the bunch of sweet flowers below with the phrase “home sweet home” .
On the left and right of the flowers is the happy home of a squirrel who brings its life sustenance home every day to survive. This squirrel home was photographed at Stow Lake in SF.
Behind the tree is a labyrinth that represents the path of life. The labyrinth was painted in the middle of an intersection at SF Civic Center for a climate demonstration.
The sky is a Bernal Heights sunset and the two very white cloud shapes are from Precita Park.
The border of the painting is the front door of the former Cervantes home on Precita Park where the family lived for 35 years before they were evicted. The building and home is still boarded up after 16 years.

HOME SWEET HOME #8: STOP THE VIOLENCE
©April 2021

NArrative

STOP THE VIOLENCE is inspired by Mahatma Ghandi, the man who brought the concept of nonviolence to liberate India over 70 years ago, that changed the world to a more democratic world furthering human consciousness. He is at the center of the painting walking toward us through an ancient willow tree trunk and grafted sycamore tree branches, in shades of red symbolizing the blood of all those who suffered the cause and continue to feel the pain of injustice . Ghandi’s being is illuminated by the moving cosmos and yellow mandala in the background. At the base of the tree are lotus like petals with the word HOME superimposed. On each side of the lotus petals are hands gesturing to stop the violence. The frame of the picture is inspired by the painted curtains on the front door of our original home at Precita Parkwhere the Cervantes family lived for over 35 years.

Notes
This image of Ghandi is from a photo I took of the bronze statue located behind the Ferry Building in SF. It was in a barren place and very small. I thought it should have been at least 20 to 30 feet tall.

HOME SWEET HOME #7: RESILIENCE
©April 2021

Narrative

RESILIENCE is inspired by the front door of our original home at Precita Park, where the Cervantes family lived for 35 years before they were evicted in 2005. The building and home is still boarded up after 15 years. Still preserved and visible today this door was painted (approx. 2001) by a student named Lola B. who participated in the Precita Eyes Urban Youth Arts Program. In the center is a dark rose like flower growing out of a flower pot climbing around a silver sword that supports its growth. Around the base is the element of fire and above the dark clouds shooting lightening bolts. The door was recently uncovered protected by a sheet of veneer that was painted with drapery and the sign HOME SWEET HOME SINCE 1970 during the eviction two months after Luis Cervantes passed in 2005. I identify with the symbols on the door now even more seeing them representing male and female resistance to the forces of life.

At the top of the painting is a bursting sunset from the top of Bernal Heights. The door is framed by a manzanita tree trunk with eyes and features of a deer, spirit animal of the Cervantes family. The mouth of the tree forms a pink anthurium, representing compassion.

The curtains framing the outside edge are from the original Home Sweet Home door panel and HOME is painted in remembrance at the bottom of the door.

HOME SWEET HOME #6: LA FAMILIA
©November 2020

Narrative

LA FAMILIA is inspired by the original poster for the Cervantes Family Exhibit at the Mission Cultural Center in 1979. The design is an Aztec figurative motif representing the Cervantes family tree, from left to right Lorna Dee, the poet, Stephen, the musician, Luis, the father, visionary artist and story teller, Susan, mother, artist, Luz de Verano, and his brothers, Suaro who was born1979 and Monte who came to us in 1981 were added to this new version of the original poster. The figures at the bottom represent our ancestors. The circle symbolizes the creative force and portal. In the background is a detail of the front door of our original home at Precita Park, where Cervantes family lived for 35 years before they were evicted in 2005. The building and home is still boarded up after 15 years and the door is still visible with the sign HOME SWEET HOME SINCE 1970. A graffiti artist left his mark on the door which identified the space as a home that had been taken away.

On the top right and left side are the moon and the sun, life giving forces. At the corners of the painting are deer spirits inspired by Huichol yarn paintings. The deer are the Cervantes family spirit animal.

HOME SWEET HOME #5: VISION FOR CHANGE
©August 2020

NArrative

VISION FOR CHANGE starts in the center with a Star Gazer Lily flower. Coming through the flower is a representation of a Tibetan Eye Chart of the color
spectrum with a radiant eye that emanates from the center with Yellow Feather, a canary that. flew into the Precita Eyes center one day and stayed. Her beautiful, joyful songs changed our lives. This symbolizes our hope for change and a better world in the future. At the top of the eye chart yellow for sun and cosmos that is constantly influencing our harmony and balance or ignorance and chaos

The background of the painting is the front door of the former Cervantes home on Precita Park where the family lived for 35 years before they were evicted. The building and home is still boarded up after 15 years and the door is still visible with the sign HOME SWEET HOME SINCE 1970. The black is the paint used to remove graffiti becoming the night sky with the constellation Pliedes at right center representing my 7 sisters in paint.

On the top right and left side are birds inspired by Mexican folk art. At the bottom are “Pride of Madeira”, a Bernal Heights wildflower found on the north slope, framing the city of San Francisco.

HOME SWEET HOME #4: BE KIND, STAY SAFE
©May 2020

NArrative

BE KIND, STAY SAFE starts in the upper left corner with a cluster of balloons in the form of the coronavirus. This was inspired by an installation I came across while hiking up Bernal Heights during the height of the pandemic. The sky is made of clouds with a sky hole and one that appeared to be pointing, making me take notice.
The sky separates revealing the cosmos including the alignment of planets, Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars with the moon on April 20th. On the far right is the Pleiades constellation to honor my seven soul sisters in paint.

The JAGUAR in the center with mouth wide open above the door is combined with elements of a supporting spirit creature behind. To the right an AFRICAN sculpture with nail piercings. These two symbols representing the pain, suffering and hope for peace and justice for the African American and Latinx people who have been disproportionately impacted by the virus and systemic injustice.

The voice of a red trumpet flower next to a photo mosaic capturing the essence of the moment raising our voices and hands to bring change.

In the center of the painting is the front door of the former Cervantes home on Precita Park where the family lived for 35 years before they were evicted. The building and home is still boarded up after 15 years and the door is still visible with the sign HOME SWEET HOME SINCE 1970. In this version I captured a whimsical and relevant graffiti drawing that was added to it the door over the year but later painted out leaving the home sweet home intact.

To the right of the door is a protective tree trunk spirit with an eye. The orange color originates from the bark of a Manzanita tree. This piece of tree trunk resembles the face of a deer spirit, a symbol of the Cervantes family.

The two red hearts are inspired by Bernal rocks arranged to form the heart shape. It is a metaphor for broken hearts from the current situation. Above each heart is a little figure imagined from the extremely pruned sycamore trees that line Garfield Park.

Below the hearts are the patterns of my singing bowl representing the natural elements that we are all a part of which brings us many blessings.

Between the two singing bowl patterns is the Bernal Rock with a bleeding heart symbol of all the suffering from the pandemic and now includes the protests for Black Lives Matter.

Out of the mosaic and mouth of the spirit tree are two LUNA MOTHS, representing transformation that we are living at this moment.

Back stories:

The African sculpture power figure lived in our house for many years belonging to our son who acquired it from a trade of his artwork. We are not sure of its origins but research explains that the sculpture originated from the Congo. Each nail is a communal hope or wish put in place during a ceremony.
Luna moth. My friend Yuka Ezoe was going cross country to Virginia during the height of the pandemic to stay with her sister and then settle in New York to start a new life. Her sister told her that she and her husband Naoki should go visit a labyrinth outside of the city before they end their journey. Kind of a healing and purification ritual. They found the labyrinth and when leaving by a trail she found a dead Luna moth. They are very rare to find or even see when alive. She saved it and preserved it. When she told me this experience? I identified with her story. I had just finished painting a labyrinth and wanted to share the new painting. At the same time, I asked if I could paint a Luna moth in my new painting. I had painted a Luna moth in a mural about thirty years ago and was familiar with this moth from my childhood in Texas. It is the largest moth in North America and has a life span of only 10 days. Native people believe the Luna moth is a symbol of transformation because of the struggle it has to endure for over nine months to become an adult moth.

HOME SWEET HOME: #3 DRAGON GODDESS
March/April 2020

Narrative

The Dragon Goddess dominates the center of the painting. She is inspired vt composite of photos, her face from a dead tree that looked like a dragon from Golden Gate Park, her lower body made up of the Bernal labyrinth and a super imposed photo of my hands overlaid with a drawing of multi colored energy lines. Where new life forms emerge. This goddess is one of the guardians of the home in the center at the front door of the former Cervantes home on Precita Park where the family lived for 35 years before they were evicted. The building and home is still boarded up after 15 years and the door is still visible with the sign HOME SWEET HOME SINCE 1970.

To the right of the door is a protective tree spirit. The orange color originates from the bark of a Manzanita tree. This piece of tree trunk resembles the face of a deer spirit, a symbol of the Cervantes family. The tree trunk continues down and connects with the Dragon Goddess in a spiral of unity. In its mouth is the reflection of the broken American flag infected with the coronavirus on the bottom far left enclosed by a metal shield to protect the people impacted by the virus.

On the bottom right is a lion guardian, calm and wise, surrounded by flora and fauna Above the lion is one of the doors to the sky, the other left of center. Above this door is a fountain of water to bridge sky, cosmos and water elements with croi fish floating in the sky inspired by a photo of a reflection in the tea garden where there was no separation between the sky above and the water. The sky is made up of two sky holes and a cloud with a sky hole where our ancestors live.

Above the door are antler like tree branches with colorful winged birds flying toward each other.

HOME SWEET HOME #2: INFINITY POOL
February/March l 2020

Narrative

The Infinity Pool, inspired by the same name of an installation in the Dallas arboretum, starts at the bottom of the painting with two sunspots, one with a bronze bather and the other a lotus like flower. In the horizon are the Mission Rock dry docks where water and sky move upward, continues to a lake and finally through a passage between two Yosemite Half Domes and Sierra landscape to infinity where sky and water are one.

On the bottom level is a temple sculpture reflected in the pool of water from the Japanese Tea Garden, like tiny homes stacked on top of each other.

Starting in the center is the front door of the former Cervantes home on Precita Park where the family lived for 35 years before they were evicted. The building and home is still boarded up after 15 years and the door is still visible with the sign (HOME) SWEET HOME SIN(CE) 1970.

The door is opened leading out to the sidewalk on Precita Avenue. A young fawn is coning out of the door onto a rainbow path leading into a protective tree spirit with an eye. The orange color originates from the bark of a Manzanita tree. This piece of tree trunk resembles the face of a deer spirit, a symbol of the Cervantes family. The tree trunk continues down into roots made of people in the infinity pool of water that nourishes the tree spirit. The people are inspired by performers of Cirque de Soleil.

On the left of the boarded up façade and door is a colorful energy pattern coming from inside of the home where the creative spirit still lives. The city is rising in the distance.

In the center above the door is a great white blossom from a San Pedro cactus that only blooms at night and mostly during the full moon. The blossom is lifted by multiple colored wings up toward the cloud with a sky hole in the center where our ancestors live.

The large hand is a tracing of my own hand with the cosmos inside of it, with a full moon and the Pleiades constellation, representing my seven soul sisters in paint.
Below the hand is a very small impression of the famous H.L. Hunt mansion that is seen from across Whit Rock Lake and the road from the Infinity Pool becoming all one. As children growing up in Dallas our family took Sunday drives around the lake just to see these huge homes always wondering what it would be like to live in one of them. To the right of the flower below Half Dome I am sitting on a huge dead tree trunk on the edge of the Panoramic Trail reflecting on the events all around me.

HOME SWEET HOME #1: LABYRINTH
January/February 2020

Narrative

Starting in the center is the front door of the former Cervantes home on Precita Park where the family lived for 35 years before they were evicted. The building and home is still boarded up after 15 years and the door is still visible with the sign HOME SWEET HOME SINCE 1970.

To the left of the door is a piece of a tree trunk with an eye in it with the orangish color that comes from a Manzanita tree. This piece of tree trunk reminds me of the face of a deer which is the Cervantes family symbol.

On the left and right side of the door is the Bernal Hill rock quarry labyrinth detail painted in rainbow colors representing precious gemstone crystals. The spirit of the labyrinth rises up on the far right.

Above the door is a very red flower that is in bloom during the winter all over the city which reflects the love coming from inside with colorful birds on each side (derived from Mexican folk art) flying toward each other representing the spirit of the occupants. The sky is made of a cloud formation photographed from Mission Bay that created a sky hole in the center where our ancestors live. Two other sky hole circles make up the rest of the sky. The cosmos is behind the sky and clouds with the appearance of the Pliedes, the seven sisters constellation representing my seven sisters in paint.

The layer below the door in the center is the Bernal Hill Rock that was vandalized with the image of the American Flag. This was a beautiful rock that jutted out of the side of the hill. It was a shame to see it violated. It represents the violation of our natural surroundings and the gentrification of our community.

Another labyrinth forms in the foreground expressing hope, resilience and new life.

In the background of the rock is the city that is growing denser and denser and further away from our reality.

On the bottom left is a fallen dead tree from Golden Gate Park. Kneeling Inside the dead tree covering is Don Quixote and Sancho Panza looking into a hopeful but uncertain future, taken from the famous Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes statue in Golden Gate Park near the De Young Museum.