Mrs. McDaniels is a committed “artist and social justice activist.Founder and Director of the Sojourner Truth Art Museum (founded in 1996). McDaniels is a professional artist/teacher/muralist and community activist, she has an extensive background in art instruction and mural designs. She has studied under some of the finest professors in the Los Rios Community College network and master artists in the San Francisco Bay Area. While residing in Germany, McDaniels instructed art classes for two years on military bases as well as organizing art exhibitions and programs.
Prior to 1996, Shonna McDaniels was one of the co-founders and artist of the Visual Arts Development Project (founded in 1988), McDaniels taught art classes, conducted workshops and organized art exhibits throughout the Oak Park and Del Paso communities. She has donated art to various organizations as well as helped raise money for charitable causes throughout the Sacramento Region. She has over 25 years of community involvement, with various organizations that support the arts through exhibition, artist residences, community activism, community murals and organizing community-based festivals in South Sacramento.
Ms. McDaniels has contributed to over 150 murals to the landscape of Sacramento, Stockton, and San Francisco:
These include among others:
- The Sacramento Redevelopment Agency Downtown Mural Project
- Marian Anderson Elementary School Mural Project
- Hmong Women’s Heritage Community Mural
- Oak Dale Elementary School Mural, Totem, and Stepping Stone Project
- PS7 Elementary School Restoration Mural
- Breadfruit Tree Restaurant Mural Restoration- Stockton, Ca
- San Francisco Farmers Market Mural Project (Facilitated by Precita Eyes)
- County of Sacramento WIC Program Floor Mural and two wall murals
- Magic Johnson Center (5 community murals)
- Florin Business Arts Complex/Sojourner Truth Murals Project
- South Gate Baskin Robins Ice Cream Community Mural Project
- The Greater Sacramento Urban League Tobacco Education Program (3 murals in conjunction with the Sacramento Metropolitan Art Commission Neighborhood Arts Program
- Franklin Villa Resource Center—Franklin Resource Center Para-Transit Shuttle Bus Project (8 murals)
- The “Green Dream” mural, commissioned for Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s 2007 Inaugural, for example, depicts images of a healthy California.
As an Artist-in-Residence at Marian Anderson Elementary School (Sacramento, CA), McDaniels designed a mural framing contralto opera singer Marian Anderson in various stages of her life and career. She also conducted after-school and weekend art workshops.
Ms. McDaniels believes that the desire to experience and participate in creativity is essential to optimum human expression and development. Her artistic legacy within the community is renowned to grassroots, professional artists, politicians and the business community. Her contributions have been recognized by Council members: Lauren Hammond, Bonnie Pannell, Larry Carr, Mayor Kevin Johnson, Congress Doris Matsui, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Entertainer Russell Simmons.
Mrs. McDaniels is a committed “social artist-activist.” Her work is dedicated to creativity and social change within the context of an evolving, healthy community.
Personal Statement: My purpose as an artist is to leave a legacy for future artists. I want young black girls and boys to look at my art and experience something of worth, pride, and value. For this reason, I strive to have the essence of my work reflect dignity, strength and the beauty of each subject that I present. The education of youth for me is very important and I have spent a large part of my career as an artist educating youth.
I feel today, more than ever, that art is needed by young people as a forum for safe expression, communication, exploration, imagination, cultural and historical understanding. Art is an essential, encompassing life element that has the ability to produce an environment with a productive, cultural exchange of ideas. In addition, art promotes the acquisition of intellectual skills in literature, science, and math. Indeed, art should be a priority in human development. Art has the ability to inspire youth to be creative, think outside the box and use their skills to beautify their environment.
