Oakland Artists Selected for Phoenix Public Art Project

EBALDC is pleased to announce the selection of designs by Oakland artists Zoë Boston and Timothy B. for the Phoenix Public Art Project, a collaboration between EBALDC and Bay Area Mural Program (BAMP). This project prioritized emerging and local Oakland artists to design and create large-scale community-engaged art at The Phoenix, a new affordable, permanent supportive housing development coming to West Oakland’s Prescott neighborhood.

After several phases of selection, including the community-engaged creation of an RFQ, artist outreach, and RFP process, a group of community members and stakeholders met on an early December 2023 evening to hear artist presentations.

The finalists selected for the RFP (a sixth dropped out of contention) gave presentations on their proposed designs and engaged in Q and A with the selection committee of stakeholders about the aesthetic of the designs, how each design aligned with the theme and the place, and potential modifications that might be needed.

Artist Zoë Boston presents her proposal to community stakeholders.

Oakland artist Zoë Boston wowed the Project Team and community stakeholders in the room with her vision of a vibrant phoenix rising, with feathers “embody[ing] the spirit of a community’s resurgence, mirroring the area’s own renewal.” Her design, she explained, told a story weaving the past and present of West Oakland’s Prescott neighborhood where the project will be built.

Timothy B.’s winning concept was fueled by personal family history and larger historic backdrop of the Great Migration, in which millions of African Americans migrated from the post- Civil War South to the Northeast, Midwest, and Western regions of the United States. Inspired by Oakland’s critical role as a hub for the Pullman Company and the role that Pullman porters played in the Great Migration, Timothy’s proposal incorporated Black Pullman porters, West Oakland structures, and California’s state flower.

Members of the stakeholder committee at the meeting (in person or virtually) included: San Pablo Ave Community News Lead Graphic Designer / West Oakland resident Jesse Williams, West Oakland resident (across the street from the Phoenix site) Matt Meadors, artist advisor Langstyn Avery (Negas in Nature), artist advisor Sorell Raino-Tsui (Athen B. Gallery), Walter Wallace (Black Film Guild), and Yvonne Evans, West Oakland EBALDC resident. Also present were Ashley Cousin and Andre Jones of BAMP.

A modular housing project, the Phoenix is currently in progress. Once completed— modular-stacking is anticipated in spring 2024—installation of the public art will move forward.

EBALDC staff Annie Ledbury, David Chen, & neighborhood stakeholders Yvonne Evans, Jesse Williams & Matt Meadors

EBALDC is grateful for the time, energy, and thoughtfulness of the stakeholder committee members, our Project Team members and partners, and everyone in the community that has contributed their care, knowledge, and resources to this project.

For more information about the earlier stages of the EBALDC and BAMP Phoenix project, read more here and here.

Creative Community Development (CCD) informs EBALDC’s Healthy Neighborhoods approach and our participation in Oakland-based multi-stakeholder collaboratives in East Oakland, West Oakland, and Chinatown. Our CCD team has extensive experience convening local communities and diverse stakeholders such as residents, businesses, community partners, and public/government agencies in community engagement projects. We know from working in these communities the deep impact that art and creative programs have in uplifting and empowering community members (youth, adults, residents and staff) to engage with and improve their neighborhoods.