---
title: "Art out of turmoil: Mission care center converts plywood into community murals | Sutter Health"
description: "Local artists transformed plywood at Sutter Pacific Medical Foundation's Mission clinic into murals honoring essential workers and equality."
url: "https://vitals.sutterhealth.org/community-impact/art-out-of-turmoil-mission-care-center-converts-plywood-into-community-murals"
---

1.  [Home](https://vitals.sutterhealth.org/) /
2.  [Community impact](https://vitals.sutterhealth.org/community-impact) /
3.  Art Out Of Turmoil Mission Care Center Converts Plywood Into Community Murals

# Art out of turmoil: Mission Care Center converts plywood into community murals

Local artists transformed plywood at Sutter Pacific Medical Foundation's Mission clinic into murals honoring essential workers and equality.

June 17, 2020 by Ashley Boarman

![Child painting a wall outsite](https://edge.sitecorecloud.io/sutterhealt962c-sutterhealt8fce-production57cc-4860/media/Project/SutterHealth/Vitals/community-impact/DSC09341-1024x683-b442b066.jpeg?h=683&iar=0&w=1024 "Art Out of Turmoil: Mission Care Center Converts Plywood into Community Murals")

**SAN FRANCISCO** – Sutter Pacific Medical Foundation (SPMF) invited a dozen local artists along with employees and their family and friends to craft murals on its temporarily boarded-up windows at [899 Valencia Street Care Center](https://www.sutterhealth.org/find-location/facility/899-valencia-street-care-center), a group of family and internal medicine clinicians who see children and adults.

In response to recent racial justice protests in the Mission District, the primary care clinic, which sits at the corner of Valencia Street and 20th Street in the heart of the Mission, erected plywood boards to protect the facility and ensure it would remain open and able to provide healthcare for patients.

The clinic provides routine health care services, including preventive care, women’s health, chronic condition management, and treatment for acute illnesses for this diverse community, and has remained open during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The project’s goal has been to create a safe space for artists to express themselves in support of recent urgent civil issues, which directly impact this community,” said SPMF Care Center Manager **Andrea Contreras**.

Local artists painted colorful murals on 16 large floor-to-ceiling wooden panels. Themes focused on essential workers, Black Lives Matter and health in the community. Mediums ranged from graffiti to paint to vinyl wall wraps with messages like “Essential Workers for President!” and “We are with you 899.”

“Our center understands there are many challenges in the struggle for equality and firmly believes that well-being, safety and quality-of-life must include quality health care,” said **Robert Nordgren**, **M.D.**, CEO of the Sutter Bay Medical Foundation, who attended the painting.

The Mission District has a proud tradition of creating murals to reflect the current culture and changing times. As onlookers passed by the artworks in progress, many stopped to praise the bold emerging themes and to share their happiness over the new colorful—and powerful—displays.

“While these boards are temporary, we hope this gesture will be a long-lasting force for bringing the community together to heal,” said Dr. Nordgren.

## Family medicine

Having a trusted doctor who knows your family makes all the difference in staying well. If you're dealing with everyday illnesses or ongoing conditions, our family medicine providers can offer care for every age.

[Learn more about Family medicine](https://www.sutterhealth.org/services/family-medicine)

## Related articles

### [The Lessons Medical Students Don’t Expect to Learn](https://vitals.sutterhealth.org/community-impact/the-lessons-that-medical-students-dont-expect-to-learn)

### [New Care Center Expands Access in Santa Teresa](https://vitals.sutterhealth.org/community-impact/new-care-center-expands-access-in-santa-teresa)

### [New Lease Brings Sutter Health to Morgan Hill This Winter](https://vitals.sutterhealth.org/media-resources/press-releases/new-lease-brings-sutter-health-to-morgan-hill-this-winter)

### [Sutter Memorial Medical Center Receives Accreditation for Two New Physician Residency Programs](https://vitals.sutterhealth.org/media-resources/press-releases/sutter-memorial-medical-center-receives-accreditation-for-two-new-physician-residency-programs)

[See all from Community impact](https://vitals.sutterhealth.org/community-impact)

## Check your Vitals

Get the latest in health innovation, community impact and patient care from Sutter Health — delivered straight to your inbox.

[Subscribe to Vitals](https://vitals.sutterhealth.org/subscribe)

```json
{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"MedicalOrganization","name":"Sutter Health","@id":"https://www.sutterhealth.org/#medicalorganization","url":"https://www.sutterhealth.org","logo":"https://www.sutterhealth.org/static/images/sutter-health-logo.svg","address":{"@type":"PostalAddress","streetAddress":"2200 River Plaza Drive","addressLocality":"Sacramento","addressRegion":"CA","postalCode":"95833","addressCountry":"US"},"areaServed":{"@type":"AdministrativeArea","name":"California"},"sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/SutterHealth","https://www.instagram.com/sutterhealth/","https://x.com/SutterHealth","https://www.youtube.com/sutterhealth","https://www.linkedin.com/company/sutter-health","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sutter_Health"]}
```

```json
{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"WebPage","name":"Art out of turmoil: Mission care center converts plywood into community murals","description":"Local artists transformed plywood at Sutter Pacific Medical Foundation's Mission clinic into murals honoring essential workers and equality.","url":"https://vitals.sutterhealth.org/community-impact/art-out-of-turmoil-mission-care-center-converts-plywood-into-community-murals","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https://vitals.sutterhealth.org/community-impact/art-out-of-turmoil-mission-care-center-converts-plywood-into-community-murals#breadcrumblist"}}
```

```json
{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://vitals.sutterhealth.org/community-impact/art-out-of-turmoil-mission-care-center-converts-plywood-into-community-murals#article","url":"https://vitals.sutterhealth.org/community-impact/art-out-of-turmoil-mission-care-center-converts-plywood-into-community-murals","headline":"Art out of turmoil: Mission care center converts plywood into community murals","description":"Local artists transformed plywood at Sutter Pacific Medical Foundation's Mission clinic into murals honoring essential workers and equality.","articleSection":"Community impact","inLanguage":"en-US","datePublished":"2020-06-17T00:07:39-07:00","dateModified":"2026-11-05T09:28:19-08:00","author":[{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Person","name":"Ashley Boarman"}],"publisher":{"@type":"MedicalOrganization","name":"Sutter Health","@id":"https://www.sutterhealth.org/#medicalorganization","url":"https://www.sutterhealth.org"},"abstract":"Local artists transformed plywood at Sutter Pacific Medical Foundation's Mission clinic into murals honoring essential workers and equality.","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://edge.sitecorecloud.io/sutterhealt962c-sutterhealt8fce-production57cc-4860/media/Project/SutterHealth/Vitals/community-impact/DSC09341-1024x683-b442b066.jpeg?h=683&iar=0&w=1024","width":"1024","height":"683","caption":"Child painting a wall outsite"},"thumbnailUrl":"https://edge.sitecorecloud.io/sutterhealt962c-sutterhealt8fce-production57cc-4860/media/Project/SutterHealth/Vitals/community-impact/DSC09341-1024x683-b442b066.jpeg?h=683&iar=0&w=1024","isPartOf":{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://vitals.sutterhealth.org/#website","name":"Vitals - Sutter Health","url":"https://vitals.sutterhealth.org"},"mainEntityOfPage":"https://vitals.sutterhealth.org/community-impact/art-out-of-turmoil-mission-care-center-converts-plywood-into-community-murals","about":[{"@type":"Thing","name":"Family medicine"},{"@type":"Thing","name":"Internal medicine"}]}
```

```json
{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https://vitals.sutterhealth.org/community-impact/art-out-of-turmoil-mission-care-center-converts-plywood-into-community-murals#breadcrumblist","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://vitals.sutterhealth.org/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Community impact","item":"https://vitals.sutterhealth.org/community-impact"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Art Out Of Turmoil Mission Care Center Converts Plywood Into Community Murals"}]}
```