Corpus Christi Caller Times Caller.com - Mural project fosters change in perspective

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Sunday, July 4, 1999

Mural project fosters change in perspective
KEYS Academy art students learn skills, build self-esteem, pride in Hispanic culture
By Mary Lee Grant
Caller-Times

KINGSVILLE - Cynthia Rodriguez, 15, had never painted until she started painting walls as a mural artist.
   Now, she thinks she wants to be an artist when she grows up.
   "If I'm not an artist, at least I know that there are more things that I can do,'' Cynthia said. "I have learned a lot of pride in my Hispanic heritage. Now I think that anybody can do anything as long as they put their minds to it.''
   The change in perspective is exactly what Mary Ann Colin, principal of Kingsville's alternative high school, the KEYS Academy, was hoping to bring about by involving her students in a mural project with the art department at Texas A&M University-Kingsville.

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   "I think it is an important way for them to get self-respect and self-esteem,'' Colin said. "It teaches them teamwork and lets them know they are capable.''
   The students have been identified as at-risk, and all come from low-income families, Colin said. The students in the program painted indoor murals at the KEYS Academy and at Ballet Folklorico in downtown Kingsville, earning money provided through the federal Job Training Partnership Act. Twenty students worked morning or afternoon shifts painting the murals - an 8-by-16 foot painting of fishing and kite flying at KEYS Academy and dancers at Ballet Folklorico in an 8-by-20 foot mural - finishing their work Friday.
   During the five-week project, the students each worked a total of about 50 hours, earning minimum wage. The students, along with stretching canvas or sanding the walls at the mural sites, also learned about art history and did most of the drawings themselves, Colin said.
   Santa Barraza, chairman of A&M-Kingsville's art department, said the summer project is important "because it allows them to make a selection as to who they want to be and what they want to do,''.
   Barraza taught the students about Mexican muralists like Diego Rivera, who believed that art should be in mural form so the public could see it, not on canvasses that could only be viewed by the elite.
   She took students on field trips to San Antonio to show them the new Latin American wing at the San Antonio Museum of Art, and showed them her own murals in San Antonio.
   "In some ways, Chicanos have had the same experience as artists in Mexico, and through murals have gained a sense of our identity and pride,'' Barraza said.
   The federal Job Training Partnership Act provided a $20,000 grant and the Workforce Development Council of Corpus Christi provided $30,000 for the mural project and for 30 other students to participate in other summer projects, Colin said.



Staff Writer Mary Lee Grant can be reached at 886-3752 or by e-mail at grantm@caller.com

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