Rosenberg solicited song suggestions and created a playlist to coincide with Day 7’s message, “If you are stuck…turn on the music and dance.” Listen to a selection of the tracks below.
The time-lapse camera didn’t capture every message, but you can catch a glimpse at the process of all fifty by swiping through below.
About
On August 3, 2021, Leah Rosenberg began her mural by painting the message “Breathe. Remember You Can Always Return To Your Breath” in the color orange. She then rolled the bold pigment across the entire wall, cloaking the words under a layer of color. It was day one, and the first in fifty that accumulated in the creation of her mural Getting Better Everyday a Color, commissioned for Bay Area Walls.
By the time Rosenberg applied the fiftieth and final layer on November 18, 2022, the mural had taken on an entire palette inspired by San Francisco’s Sunset District. The wall’s primary color was, at one point, saffron to match one of the neighborhood sunsets; lavender from a morning fog; light pink to match a Converse sneaker, and many more shades she saw while taking long walks in the Outer Sunset. The artist is a “collector” of colors and believes in the healing potential of seeing and processing them. “Bringing colors from the outside in encourages viewers to pay attention to colors in their everyday—to be present,” Rosenberg writes of her process.
The mural’s colors—which Rosenberg first used during an artist residency at Irving Street Projects—helped her process profound grief after the tragic passing of Bay Area artist Susan O’Malley. Each self-care message Rosenberg embedded in her mural’s painted layers is adapted from O’Malley’s compilation of healing exercises, titled Getting Better Every Day.
With her mural in Schwab Hall, Rosenberg offers up the vibrant colors and messages that helped her heal. This video recording shares just a glimpse at the ritual process of painting them.
Getting Better Everyday a Color was commissioned as part of Bay Area Walls, a series initiated in 2020.
Major support for Bay Area Walls is provided by the SFMOMA Roberta and Steve Denning Commissioning Endowed Fund.
Generous support is provided by the Mary Jane Elmore West Coast Exhibition Fund, Randi and Bob Fisher, the Patricia W. Fitzpatrick Commissioning Endowed Fund, Katie Hall and Tom Knutsen, the Elaine McKeon Endowed Exhibition Fund, the Diana Nelson and John Atwater Commissioning Fund, and the Denise Littlefield Sobel Commissioning Endowed Fund.
Additional support is provided by Alka and Ravin Agrawal, Oya and Bulent Eczacibasi, and Linda and Jon Gruber in memory of Gretchen Berggruen.
