Step One

 Status: Complete

Photo taken by Todd Waters

I am in the process of organizing a community mural project in Orcasitas, the neighborhood I teach in. It is primarily a low-income, immigrant and gypsy neighborhood that struggles with drugs, crime and hopelessness.   I am coordinating a mural project in an attempt to bring life, vitality and beauty to this neighborhood.  This project aims at giving a group of students studying graffiti in their free time the opportunity to express both their identity and that of their neighborhood in a public space.  The mural itself will be a fusion of both urban graffiti art and classical artistic technique.

This post outlines the many facets of step one: The Proposal. It is both the birth of an idea and its articulation.

Step 1.1: Early September 2010

Long, long ago after one too many glasses of wine and tasty appetizers at a Fulbright reception, I met Janel Torkington, a funky fulbrighter with sassy hair and shiny eyes.  The question of the evening was “What are you planning on doing for your side project?” and she had by far the most ambitious dream yet: a mural project.

Step 1.2: Mid-February 2011

One day in class, 6 months after my initial conversation with Janel, a particularly sharp and outspoken student began complaining about the neighborhood.  “It’s so ugly, I hate living here. Do you see what we walk through to get to school?  It’s a piece of shit.” And she’s right. Outside the layered iron gates of the school is a gypsy squatter’s residence.  It is a collection of windowless, door-less and roofless homes surrounded by brush, forgotten lawn furniture, a scavenged mirror, broken toys and an assortment of unwanted trash.  Surrounding these occupied residents are vacant lots.  Some are covered in knee high weeds and thorns, however the one I cross to enter the school gates is just a square patch of dirt, some days mud, littered with things like cigarette butts and the occasional condom.  Leaving school that day, I looked around and saw not only the mundane ugliness, but also a previously missed potential for beauty.  On a nearby wall, there is a faded mural that peaks through the cracked foundation.  Weathered images of a pregnant woman and a crawling baby can barely be made out from the wall that begs to fade to its original whiteness.  That may be the solution: A mural!

One of the walls just outside my school

Step 1.3: Late February 2011

How in the world could I get a mural project off the ground?  I would need students, resources, support, permission, paint, scaffolding, a theme, money...  the list is endless!  In brainstorming through possibilities, my faithful co-worker Kelly Moore recommended I talk to “the graffiti man”. Graffiti man?! Kelly later connected me with Juan, the community outreach coordinator from an after school program in the area called Tiempo Joven.  One of the classes offered on Monday nights is Graffiti.  He told me that he would connect me with Gustavo, the graffiti teacher to see if he would like to collaborate on a mural project.

Step 1.4: Early March 2011

Well, after both Gustavo and I each healed from a bout of winter sickness, we finally met at Tiempo Joven’s headquarters in Orcasitas. While white washing an interior wall with his students for a future graffiti project, I soon learned that Gustavo goes more commonly by his nickname Kaos (Chaos).  He loved the mural idea and we set a date to meet.

Step 1.5: Mid March 2011

During a Fulbright professional development day, I re-connected with Janel about the possibility of doing a mural project.  As it was her original plan, I invited her to join in and she was all for it!

Step 1.6: March 21, 2011

Last week the three musketeers met to plan their attack.  Over a beer at a nearby café, Kaos, Janel and I talked about the feasibility and logistics of the project.  We decided to use the graffiti students to create a mural that combines both the traditions of urban graffiti art and classical techniques.  We will collaborate with the Tiempo Joven program and use Juan, the community organizer, to ask permission for a wall and Teresa, the director, to find the money. 

Step 1.7: March 28, 2011

Janel and I attended our first graffiti class and learned the true difficulties of this art form with a futile attempt to fill in an outline of a tree.  Brown paint spurted from the top of our spray cans as two drops of yellow slowly crawled down the surface of the wall. It is seriously way harder than it looks!  It’s a good thing we have talented kids on this project.

Step 1.8: March 29- April 1, 2011

At another Madrid café, with Kaos and Janel both speaking faster than I could click on a computer, we scratched out a proposal for our project.  After a few more late-night revisions the proposal was perfected and our dream articulated.  The fate of our project now rests in the hands of our tireless supporters at Tiempo Joven and the generosity of the community to provide.

The abstract:

Después de escuchar a unos jóvenes quejar de la estética de su barrio, vimos una oportunidad de organizar un proyecto que combina nuestros intereses artísticos con el talento del barrio para mejorar la imagen de Orcasitas. Proponemos hacer un mural fusionando el arte urbano y la tradición clásica con un grupo de chicos de Tiempo Joven que dedican su tiempo libre y su energía a desarrollar sus talentos artísticos.  El tema del mural tratará de la identidad del barrio y los habitantes según la perspectiva de los artistas jóvenes del barrio.

Here are a few photos of inspirational murals that combine both urban and classical artistic techniques.  [Photographs thanks to Todd Waters]

Way better than my attempt at a tree!