Young people with Youth Spirt Artworks painted the mural designed by Pancho Pescador in Jeronimus Alley. Photos courtesy of Pancho Pescador.

By Tamara Gurin

A colorful new mural greets visitors to Jeronimus Alley, a walkway/alley at 5 1/2 Street in West Berkeley between Cedar and Camelia streets. The new mural is between Cedar and Jones streets, but there are other murals all along the 4 blocks of Jeronimus Alley.

Commotion West Berkeley awarded Berkeley Path Wanderers Association a $3,000 grant in January 2022 for the project, and we partnered with Youth Spirit Artworks. Representatives from the three organizations worked together to develop concepts for the arts. Through surveys and focus groups with West Berkeyelans, the project team (Tamara Gurin of BPWA, Lawrence Grown of Commotion West Berkeley, and Sally Hindman of Youth Spirit Artworks) identified two central topics of interest for the art work: nature and history.

YSA brought in local artist and muralist Pancho Pescador to work with YSA participants to create the beautiful, block-long mural, which was completed in late December. It includes depictions of Indigenous people, and a coyote, quail, great egret, hummingbird, crow, blue jay, and deer.

The new mural on Jeronimus Alley, by Pancho Pescador. Photo courtesy of Pancho Pescador.

In the coming weeks we will invite participating artists to co-lead a walk through the alley to discuss the mural and explore art in the surrounding neighborhood. We hope you can join us!

About the organizations:
Commotion West Berkeley is a nonprofit committed to bringing art and culture to the local community.
Youth Spirit Artworks is a nonprofit that provides training in art and basic business skills for local youth.
Pancho Pescador is a local artist and muralist.