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Thoughts For Navigators
Martin Webb designed this mural specifically for the College of Alameda, contemplating it's location on an island in San Francisco Bay. In developing his composition, the artist considered the College’s mission of filling a diverse community of students with wisdom and learning, then sending them out into the world. A stylized visual language is used to depict a bay with islands glimpsed through trees and foliage. The bay's islands suggest possible destinations, and the origami boats in the painting represent the student's hopes and aspirations launching into the world. The title, Thoughts for Navigators, refers to the universal human challenge of navigating life’s journeys. “I thought about how education is ultimately about developing minds and ideas, and about sending those minds and ideas out into the world to evolve and find their own empowered futures.” The artist chose colors to complement the building’s interior, and describes “a color palette that is quite rich and quite intense without being overly bright or primary.” |
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Ideas carried onward by the students are represented with fragments of text on the paper boats. Each of these are teachings by artists and thinkers from different backgrounds and times in history, many reflecting the teaching disciplines located in the Liberal Arts Building:
“Art is doing. Art deals directly with life.” - Ruth Asawa (1926-2013) World-renowned Japanese-American Artist and Educator from the Bay Area
“The world is a sphere. There is no East or West.”- Ai Weiwei (b. 1957) Chinese Contemporary artist and dissident activist.
“Where there is creativity, there is hope.” - Donna Karan (b. 1948) American Fashion Designer
“You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.” - Maya Angelou (1928-2014) Black American poet, writer, and civil rights activist .
“s = c + 2v 2 /d” - Shen Kuo (1031-1095) Chinese polymath and scientist who discovered magnetic navigation and the compass. This equation describes the arc of a circle and is used in both math and engineering.
“Art is knowledge at the service of emotion.” - Jose Clemente Orozco (1883-1949), Mexican artist, muralist, and compatriot to Diego Rivera.
“Design is intelligence made visible.” - Alina Wheeler (b. 1948) American Graphic Designer.
This project was developed in partnership with SLATE Art Consulting, Oakland, and painted by Martin Webb in 2022.
“Art is doing. Art deals directly with life.” - Ruth Asawa (1926-2013) World-renowned Japanese-American Artist and Educator from the Bay Area
“The world is a sphere. There is no East or West.”- Ai Weiwei (b. 1957) Chinese Contemporary artist and dissident activist.
“Where there is creativity, there is hope.” - Donna Karan (b. 1948) American Fashion Designer
“You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.” - Maya Angelou (1928-2014) Black American poet, writer, and civil rights activist .
“s = c + 2v 2 /d” - Shen Kuo (1031-1095) Chinese polymath and scientist who discovered magnetic navigation and the compass. This equation describes the arc of a circle and is used in both math and engineering.
“Art is knowledge at the service of emotion.” - Jose Clemente Orozco (1883-1949), Mexican artist, muralist, and compatriot to Diego Rivera.
“Design is intelligence made visible.” - Alina Wheeler (b. 1948) American Graphic Designer.
This project was developed in partnership with SLATE Art Consulting, Oakland, and painted by Martin Webb in 2022.
