Windows Into the Tenderloin - Seeds of Dreams

To the left of the tall windows, a curtain opens to reveal a meadow with its grass roots exposed. Underground, there are sprouting seeds. These seeds are made of tile, and each was created by a different community member in the immediate vicinity of the mural.

At the Boys and Girls Club across the street from the mural, children were invited to decorate tile seeds with a picture of what they wish for in their future. 

At Hospitality House Community Art Center nearby, people were invited to create tiles containing symbols or words that uplift them, that give them strength and hope. Each seed would be their personal touchstone, which may bring them back to encouraging thoughts whenever they come across it in the street, on the mural.

Some of the tile seeds grow into flowers that were specifically requested and personally meaningful to some of the artists and community members. 

A few small dandelion-like seed puffs drift from this panel over into the utopian vision of the neighborhood, to the right. This connects the idea of the grassroots of society overcoming hardship through both personal healing and mutual help, with the sowing of seeds for a better world. The grassroots creates a better future as it grows and blossoms. 

The tiles were created for the mural at the Central City Hospitality House Community Arts Program, and The Boys & Girls Clubs of San Francisco Tenderloin Clubhouse Art Program, with the help of Kay Weber with coordinating the kids, and Lisa Ruth Elliott fro the tile installation expertise.