We are delighted to announce that Collective Action Studio's program, Heroes of Unity, has made the FLAX Building their home base. Their goal is to use the silk screen art they create in collaboration with the public as the basis for a new large public artwork in Oakland.

Heroes of Unity uses a fleet of custom designed mobile print-making units built on industrial cargo bicycles and travels to different Oakland destinations, and then engages and empowers the public to tell the story of an evolving city through participatory printmaking. They establish pop-up and public-art workstations to investigate and visually record the history of and contemporary face of the diverse city. They question the way that the race-line in America has shifted over the years, focusing both on the stories and faces of immigrants, new and old, as well as on the stories of citizens who experience race and immigration in meaningful ways.

The bikes are operated by professional artists and young adult apprentices ages 14-18. The mobile art labs go to special events held at the multiple branches of the Oakland Public Library, at the Unity Council’s Dia de los Muertos festival, Oakland Art Murmur, and at other pop-up locations. In addition, work sessions and instruction with a lead artist and apprentices occurs in the studio at the Flax Building.

Through Unity of Heroes, the Collective Actions Studio's mission is to create a self-directed and self-propagating network of professional artists and young adult apprentices, utilizing the project’s platform and resources, to create and archive stories and artwork about the struggles relating to race, identity, immigration, nationalism, and acculturation in the Bay Area over time and today.

Participating artists include Sergio De La Torre, Gonzalo Hildago, Justin Hoover, Favianna Rodriguez, and Chris Treggiari, and the project also employs 12 young adult mentees. The program is supported in partnership with The Unity Council, the Oakland Public Library and The Kenneth Rainin Foundation.

For more information, click here.