Cultivating Culture with Muralist Yermo Aranda

With over half a century of experience painting murals, artist Yermo Aranda is committed to sharing with youth multiple forms of artistic expression. He’s currently painting a peace mural on the Middlebury Institute campus in downtown Monterey (learn more at go.miis.edu/mural).

Originally from San Diego, California, Yermo comes from a family of musicians, painters and craftsman. Yermo studied art at San Diego City College (1967), San Diego State (1968) and Cabrillo Community college (1986-89). Completed his B.A. at C.S.U.M.B., 2010, he majored in Integrated Studies with a Focus on Fine Arts and Communication Design. Co-founder of Toltecas en Aztlan (1969), and El Centro Cultural de La Raza (1970). As the director of the Centro, and Chairman of Toltecas en Aztlan, Yermo was very instrumental in initiating the murals of Chicano Park in April of 1973. Yermo is a gifted and prolific artist, well known and celebrated in his community for his enormous contributions to mural painting.