In the early hours of June 30, Patricia Rodriguez, a trailblazing Chicana muralist, artist, curator and educator, died in her sleep at the University of California, San Francisco Medical Center.
Rodriguez co-founded the 1972 Bay Area art collective Las Mujeres Muralistas, the first women-centered muralist collective in the United States, with Graciella Carrillo, a fellow graduate of the San Francisco Art Institute. They painted their first mural in Balmy Alley, across the street from their apartment in the Mission.
Precita Eyes co-founder Susan Cervantes remembers going to Balmy to watch the two work after meeting them at Galeria de la Raza.
“I would go almost every day to watch them paint, to see women up on the scaffolding. Just to give them snacks and moral support,” said Cervantes.
Rodriguez was, said Brooke Oliver, an attorney and then-resident of Balmy Alley, nothing less than “pura corazon” (pure heart).
Rodriguez was born in 1944 to a single mother in Marfa, Texas. She moved to Oxnard, California, when she was 11, and later began her higher education at Ventura College before transferring to the San Francisco Art Institute in 1970.
It was at SFAI where she met her lifelong friends and co-collaborators: Graciella Carrillo, Consuelo Mendez and Irene Pérez. The group were avid supporters of each other’s work, but tended to lead their own projects.
All four only shared the same project once, in 1974 for the massive mural “Latino America,” which once stood at 2920 Mission St. between 25th and 26th.
“She had such a good character, so strong-willed,” said former muralista Mendez, who returned to her home country of Venezuela in 1976.
“Patricia, in that sense, was the drive. She put us together, and she stayed to make sure the history was known.”
Rodriguez went on to get master’s degree in fine art from California State University, Sacramento, in 1975, and was an advocate for women pursuing higher education all her life, according to her longtime friend Janice Vela.
In 1977, she became the first female professor in the Chicano Studies program at the University of California, Berkeley, also becoming the first professor to teach Chicano Art History at the university.
She also had a stint in the ’90s teaching in New Mexico before returning to California in 1998 to teach at various state and community colleges.
Throughout her years as an educator, Rodriguez, who lived first in San Francisco and later in Oakland, maintained her passion for mentoring young artists.
“She was one of our heroes growing up in the Mission District,” said artist and curator Rio Yañez. “She left such a profound footprint on the Mission District; it spans so many generations.”
Rodriguez has been known throughout the neighborhood by her decades of work: “Kool Blue” (1975) at Cesar Chavez and Harrison streets, “Women’s Contribution” (1983) on the front-facing side of the Women’s Building, and the only one still standing, “Fantasy World for Children” at 24th and York streets at in the York Mini Park.
“Patricia was someone who always made herself available to artists. She was so hands-on. She was a cornerstone of the arts community, and you can still see that history and her legacy in the murals,” said Yañez.
Rodriguez became the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts’ curator in 2001, a position she held until 2009. This past August through October, the center held a retrospective exhibition, “ARTEria del Corazon de Patricia Rodriguez,” on her life’s work and artistic vision.
Rodriguez is preceded in death by her two younger brothers, William and Benjamin Montgomery, whose loss inspired more spiritual work from Rodriguez in her later years, according to her friend Vela.
She is survived by partner Roberto Correa, her longtime friends, extended family in California and Texas, and the community of young artists she taught and mentored throughout her lifetime.
Rodriguez’s memorial service will be held Friday, July 25 at the Victoria Theatre at 2961 16th St. Doors will open at 6 p.m. and the program will be held from 7 to 9 p.m.