SF Glass Canvas – “Winter Bouquet”

A simple bouquet of South African Protea and Magnolia Tree buds, I was eager to capture the earliest showings of spring’s promise, while we were still in the heart of San Francisco’s winter. Winter is a gorgeous time of year in our beloved city. A season of days of rain alternating with deep and bright blue oceans and skies.

Delicate lines, edges of petals, and bold colors and shape; all the details that I love about my paintings, enlarged beautifully. I was thrilled that the airiness of the painting could be felt.

The actual bouquet was a studio gift for the start of 2024, coinciding with an invitation to create a piece for NOPA’s Glass Canvas project – a rotating showcase of artist’s work and an extension to the restaurant’s visual dialogue with the neighborhood.

“Winter Bouquet” captures the winter vibe of San Francisco and NOPA: open and welcoming. Both the city and the restaurant take full advantage of the inherent gorgeous natural beauty and seasonal bounty. It was truly a privilege to have this painting incorporated as one of the many visual details of this fabulous restaurant. All in the name of ART.

Gather & Bloom

An Environmental Justice Mural

Inspired by our Interconnectedness film about the GND mural, EARTHX invited me back to Dallas in April 2023 for the EARTHX Expo. They were screening the film again, and in conjunction, they commissioned me to create a mural for them.

The EARTHX Organization focuses on bringing highly influential industry and commerce together to foster solutions to the climate crisis. They wanted a mural that spoke to the theme of Environmental Justice. The highlight of the Expo was an interview with political commentator and author, Van Jones, who got very real about the power of understanding another perspective as away of coming together. He spoke precisely to what this mural is about.

Initially, I wanted to showcase the Oil Industry’s misleading tactics about greed. I loved the concept of gathering flowers in a bouquet, it signifies a gift, a celebration, but a bouquet is short-lived, short-sighted, if the blooms are cut.

In the first iteration, I created a color key that connected words or phrases about environmental justice with each other in the mural. A QR code gave access to the color key. I could be discrete and convoluted about the oil industries injustices in the heart of Oil Country, with a bouquet of flowers.

But Dallas is not San Francisco.

“Folks at the Dallas Farmers Market are not going to check the QR code for ART”, I was advised. My idea was annoying and overlooking the point.

Environmental Justice is defined as fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people, regardless of race, color, national origin or income with respect to the development, implementation and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations and policies.

I thought more about the diversity and interdependency of Texas wildflowers in their natural habitat, uncut, thriving as a healthy ecosystem. In the final design, I reference Texas Bluebonnet, Texas Poppy Mallow, Red Texas Yucca, Butterfly Milkweed, Blue Mist Flower, and Star Cactus. Locals recognized them! Texans have a real love for the outdoors.

It also become clear that I needed to integrate the slogan into the beauty of the painting, the beauty of the natural work. The letters had to be distinct and included if this was a mural about inclusion.

As Ashley Hernandez, a youth organizer for Communities for a Better Environment in LA, says, “Advocacy is Healing”.

When we GATHER together and embrace the intersectionality of different perspectives and the interconnections we all share, we will BLOOM as a community, we will bloom with ideas, we will bloom with solutions, TOGETHER.

And, its a process.

A Georgia Hodges Mural Project

#GREENNEWDEAL
#CLIMATEACTION

The Interconnectedness of All Living Things, a short documentary by Jeff den Broeder

The Green New Deal drives the most ambitious and comprehensive climate policy. It proposes massive economic mobilization necessary to transition away from fossil fuels in 10 years in order to achieve net-zero emissions, and incorporates social justice as integral to this process.

President Biden’s infrastructure plan is the beginning.

The Green New Deal can be read in its entirety here.

Short Documentary Film by Jeff den Broeder of Everywhen Creative.

In October, 2020, I took advantage of an opportunity to make change. With the help of artist and sign painter David Benzler, I painted a mural in San Francisco’s Outer Sunset District. The mural, titled “The Interconnectedness of All Living Things,” pays homage to life on our planet and to H.R. 109, the Green New Deal Resolution. 

The short documentary, by filmmaker Jeff den Broeder, also titled “The Interconnectedness of all Living Things,” is about the making of the mural and why I chose to incorporate excerpts of the Green New Deal into the mural.

Most people I know understand and believe the science around our warming planet, and agree that the future of humanity is in serious peril. It’s time to hop off the fence, hop out of our armchairs of the status quo, and make a serious move. What can we do?We can commit, whole heartedly, to supporting the Green New Deal.

The Green New Deal may feel politically obsolete, and overly ambitious by many in both political parties, but it is absolutely still relevant. This mural (and this film) is an effort to step away from the politics for a moment by making the actual language not only meaningful, but visually beautiful. It reminds us to feel with our hearts and heed the call to put people and the planet first. Many people and many politicians still don’t know what the Green New Deal says. Read H.R.109 here.

The intent of this mural project is to spark courage to stand behind bold legislation about saving our planet and to understand that real solutions have been thoroughly researched, details have been thoughtfully considered, and that US governmental policy is essential to successfully heading off environmental disaster.

The more biologically diverse a natural ecosystem, the stronger and more resilient it is. Complex, biodiverse ecosystems function in harmony, and we can do the same. We Are Better Together! is one of my favorite slogans from the Black Lives Matter marches. The Green New Deal is inclusive in its principles, and working together is key. Viewing ourselves as interconnected, as integral to a larger ecosystem, helps us imagine real solutions to climate change.


With a Green New Deal, I can visualize the thriving societal ecosystem of our future. We must stand squarely behind the Green New Deal and demand that our political leaders put in the work to create effective climate policy.

“The Interconnectedness of All Living Things”

To share the short film trailer go here.
To share the full length short film go here.  

The mural is located on Judah St., between 43rd & 44th Ave., San Francisco, CA, 94122

The Green New Deal was written by Rhianna Gunn-Wright and the New Consensus

Good Reads:

All We Can Save, Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis, Edited by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson & Katherine K. Wilkinson

Falter, by Bill McKibbin

Braiding Sweetgrass, by Robin Wall Kimmerer

On Fire: The Burning Case for a Green New Deal, by Naomi Klein

The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together, by Heather McGhee

Important Links:

The New Consensus
350.org
The Sunrise Movement
The NewYorker Climate Crisis Newsletter