Susan Kelk Cervantes

Susan Kelk Cervantes (born 1944) is a painter, muralist, educator, and founding director of Precita Eyes Muralists Association. She was born in Dallas, Texas, and later moved to California to pursue her arts education at the California School of Fine Arts (later renamed the San Francisco Art Institute, SFAI). She graduated in 1965 with her bachelor’s degree and in 1968 received her MFA at SFAI. There she met her life partner and cofounder of Precita Eyes Muralists, artist Luis Cervantes, who passed away in 2005. Precita Eyes Muralists Association was established in 1977 and is the leading community mural arts center in Northern California. Precita Eyes Muralists continues to produce community-based murals, restoration projects, and educate about mural making. Cervantes produced murals at local schools and businesses, and she collaborated with Mujeres Muralistas to complete Para el Mercado in 1974. According to a 2020 SFMOMA interview, she worked with San Francisco’s Comprehensive Employment Training Act program and Neighborhood Arts Program to create community-based murals and workshops at Precita Valley Community Center from 1975 to 1979. Cervantes and seven other women artists designed and painted Maestrapeace on the San Francisco Women’s Building, completed in 1994. She has also created collaborative murals in Russia and China. In addition, she has taught workshops on mural making at several public universities, high schools, and community centers. Her art and leadership as an educator, director, and activist for Precita Eyes Muralists and community murals reflects her commitment to the Mission District and communities served throughout the Bay Area.

Gabriela Rodriguez-Gomez