DAVID BURKE

Parkmerced Mural Artist Profile: David Burke

If Parkmerced’s mural project had a wizard hiding behind the curtain, it would be instructor David Burke from the Academy of Art University (AAU). When the community approached AAU about doing a series of murals, it fell to David to work behind the scenes, helping students define the work, assemble a team, select the walls and bring the mural to life in a splash of bold inspiration and color.

“This is a commitment that will go on for a few years – working on different murals in different neighborhoods at Parkmerced,” says David. “Right now, we’re planning and identifying a wall in a different part of the community for the spring.”

David has been teaching on and off for the last 15 to 20 years at different levels. His current class gives students the chance to take skills learned in the studio and apply them to a real-world project. “For many, it’s their first experience doing it – working with a client, creating proposals and collaborating – getting to see an evolution in themselves and excitement that they are working on a project the public will see. Murals are about collaboration and trust; it’s different from working on a painting by yourself.”

 David’s own journey into the arts started in Oakland in the early 80s. “There were only a few muralists in the Bay Area back then. One day I broke my wrist playing basketball and my mom drove me to the hospital. When we got off the freeway we drove past a mural of a giant giraffe under the freeway.  

As an eight-year-old, it was magic to see this giraffe under the freeway and for a moment I forgot about the pain and stopped crying. This is where the seed was planted to make large scale paintings.” To this day I paint for that kid who longs to be transported somewhere by a large than life image.  

In school, David considered biology with a minor in art but he found himself spending more time on art than biology so he switched. His first paid gig after college was painting murals for a non-profit in LA. That led to other projects, working with students and community members on large-scale murals. The rest, as they say, is history.

With the initial project at Parkmerced, the PM team worked closely with the students to turn the space in the Village into reality. It was a highly collaborative effort with the Parkmerced team giving feedback to the students so they could refine their design concepts. The winner was Odelia Sadrach, a graduate student. Her team was a small group of 10 students – graduate students, undergrads with many different disciplines; illustrators, printmakers, and painters, “a nice mix of skillsets they all brought to the project,” says David. 

“Eleven of us showed up in the morning and set up. Each student had a different area of the mural to work on, taking the design and bringing it to life, and when they finished, they moved to the next,” he says. “There’s a lot of trust in the process – giving lots of freedom in how they want to work independently while being part of a larger group.

“What is unique about the project is that during the pandemic most students spent the last two years virtually in isolation. To have a course in person with classmates and collaboration was a powerful experience for them. They missed being in community with one another.”

As for the new mural, David hopes it activates the space, brings positive energy to the neighborhood, and gives something for residents to look at that makes them happy. “I am thankful that the Parkmerced team was so engaged and committed to the process and excited to start the next project in the spring. They are truly committed to creating an experience for residents that improve their daily lives.”