The Fab Juanita More! Kicks off Pride Month With 3 New Murals in SF

Three new murals have popped up in the Castro, SoMa, and Polk Gulch nabes courtesy of drag queen extraordinaire Juanita MORE!

As part of the month-long celebration of Pride, MORE! commissioned three artists—Elliott C. Nathan, J. Manuel Carmona, and Serge Gay, Jr.—to design Pride-themed works and paint them around the city. You can find them on 18th Street side of Unionmade in the Castro; on the western wall of Lush Lounge in Polk Gulch; and on the Folsom Street–facing wall of the Powerhouse. Cliff's Variety in the Castro underwrote the cost of materials for the artists.

The murals serve many purposes: to celebrate Pride in specific locations in SF important to LGBT persons; to beautify the walls with murals (a long stroytelling tradition here); and to raise awareness for MORE!'s annual Pride Party, which raises much-needed dollars for charitable organizations that have strong ties to the gay community. This year's recipients are The Q Foundation (formerly the AIDS Housing Alliance) and the LGBT Asylum Project.

// For more information on the mural project and Juanita's Pride party, visit juanitamore.com. Plus, join 7x7 and Juanita MORE! to celebrate The Art of Pride at a special event at Blackbird on June 21st; RSVP at eventbrite.com.

"Juanita invited me to come up with a mural design around her signature line 'loads of love.''" recalls Elliott C. Nathan, pictured here. You can see Nathan at work in this short video.

"Loads of Love" by Elliott C. Nathan @ Power House

"It was awesome getting the opportunity to paint a historic gay bar in San Francisco. Years ago, when I went to the Powerhouse for tequila shots to kick off my first Folsom Street Fair, I would never have imagined I'd one day get to paint a giant mural on the front of the building. I met a lot of interesting people that wanted to help or would just come and start telling me things. There was one person who walked up and started talking to me in a sort of monologue while I painted. It felt surreal. He spoke about the importance of art on the soul, following passions as a means to a fulfilled life. It was very uplifting, and then he just wandered away," said Nathan.