Immigrant Neighborhoods
I am a part of the East Bay Landscape Painters group. We wanted to paint urban neighborhoods. If urban neighborhoods are seldom the source for landscape paintings, immigrant neighborhoods where immigrants live (particularly recent immigrants) get painted less, so it’s not a surprise they became our focus. It was definitely an exploration, as we set out to learn about some of these East Bay neighborhoods. Some of us painted the spaces where present-day immigrants live, while others painted the architecture that previous immigrants left behind. As we set out to paint what we were attracted to, we ended up with paintings of homes, streets and city parks, of landmarks and mobile homes. We were able to talk to the residents and passers-by, and they were wonderful and welcoming. This in itself was a valuable learning experience for us, and part of making art outdoors.
