If it's true that the
purring of cats lowers your cortisol while raising serotonin and
oxytocin levels, then I'm now as relaxed as one can physically be.
Two days in a cat shelter does that to you, especially while doing
what I love most: painting murals.
After a seven month pause
(due to my move to Spain), it was great to pick up a brush again and
even more so doing it at one of my favourite spots in Antigua
Guatemala, Unidos para los Animales' rescue.
In 2018 I painted a
tropical garden at the cats´ home while new walls were erected on
both sides of the garden. Now those walls were ready, as smooth and
white as can be. An 18 meter long canvas waiting to be transformed.
The request was to paint
trees, birds, nature. Since the tropical garden with its kittens is
pretty wild, colour-wise, I opted for a more subdued design this
time. Soft pastels in the background with trees in shades of a
greenish blue. The result? You decide for your self.
Besides the constant
back-rubs and occasional affectionate nibbles by the cats, it was
also great to see my human friends at the rescue and to work again
with my assistant Henry Navarijo Calel. He has painted a few murals
himself in my absence and he is getting really good!
Henry and Macey
So, one mural down! More
to come in the next few weeks!
My trip to Guatemala is
coming closer and I'm very excited about the two projects on my
agenda! One is painting a mural in the two dorms of a brand new
clinic for children with cleft lip and palate, currently under
construction, by Tess Unlimited. This project is sponsored by the
Dutch foundation Colour 4 Kids.
The other project is a
mural with the students (age 9-17) of Alotenango´s municipal art
course. I'll be teaching the kids over the course of two weeks about
the history of muralism, how to create one from scratch, how to pick
a theme etc. This project is generously sponsored by Dr. Jim Bader.
While I was working on my
lesson plans, the worksheets were getting more and more elaborate and
I figured it would be pretty cool to actually turn them into a a real
book. And so the Manual for Making Murals
was born!
It's
43 pages long and includes:
A short history of muralism through the centuries (prehistoric art, ancient Maya culture, Roman murals, medieval art, Renaissance, Mexican muralism, street art and graffiti)
Colour (colour theory, colour psychology)
Why painting community murals (impact, audience, how to get involved)
Picking a theme (exercise to collaboratively pick a theme)
Making a design (composition, background, symbolism, scale, enlarging through grid)
Preparing the work (prepping the wall, getting materials ready, how to take care of equipment)
Painting the mural (how to divide the work, mix paints, cleanup)
The aftermath... (inauguration, press release, credits, thanks, report etc.)
The
manual is written in Spanish and include a lot of activities for kids
to do. The graphic design is in black and white, to make reproduction
cheap and easy. (The coloured cover is optional). Right now I'm the
process of finishing editing (many thanks to Neyla González for her
corrections) and then the mural is ready for print! The students in
Alotenango will of course each receive a copy, thanks to the Colour 4
Kids Foundation.
For
the near future, the idea is to offer the manual in PDF format to
whomever plans to create a community mural, in exchange for a $25
donation towards MuralArte's
projects.
About a year ago I worked with some of the coolest kids in
Guatemala. I met them through my contact at the townhall in Alotenango, the
town that was recovering from the deadly volcano eruption in June. I was about
to paint a mural in the townhall and was offered assistance by the students of
the Municipal Art Academy which turned out to be an art course for children and
adolescents. The Municipality of Alotenango provides a teacher and classroom, the
15-20 participants bring their own materials.
I can always use some help, so, yes! And help they did! Although it was the
first mural they ever painted, it was clear that they had both talent and some experience
painting. They were eager to learn and we had a lot of fun. We finished the
mural way too soon to their liking, the kids wanted more! So I decided to offer
a few workshops and although the course had officially already stopped for the
holidays, the kids were eager to assist.
Since children in Guatemala don’t have regular access to
museums or art galleries, I decided to do workshops on some famous and inspiring
artists. The first one was Henri Matisse. We started the class hands-on,
painting large sheets of paper with different techniques. The goal was to cover
up the paper, not painting something recognizable, so the kids had a lot of fun
experimenting with new techniques without the pressure of achieving a neat result.
Afterwards we explored the life and work of Matisse, which fascinated the participants.
By the time the presentation was done, the sheets of paper had dried. We discussed what we were going to create and
decided on a volcano erupting butterflies, each one a symbol for the deceased
after the eruption of the Fuego Volcano six months earlier. The kids starting
cutting and pasting and soon the volcano took shape. It turned out quite
beautiful and the concept was used again for a mural at the shelter in Alotenango,
a few months later.
The Frida Kahlo workshop was also a success, this time
resulting in beautiful self-portraits in soft pastels. Saying goodbye to those
kids was tough, but I promised I’d try to come back…
By now I have changed the volcanoes of Guatemala for the north
coast of Spain. But I haven’t forgotten about Guatemala and can’t wait to go
back and paint some more…
I’m planning a trip in February of 2020. I already have a mural in a clinic
lined up and hope to find financing for another project with those fantastic
kids in Alotenango. This time the theme will be Diego Rivera and the project
will take a full two weeks. We’ll of course explore the life and work of Rivera
as well as the history of murals in general, in its socio-historical context. We’ll
also study myths and legends of Guatemala. And then, like Rivera painted the
history of Mexico on public walls, we’ll depict local legends on our own mural.
It will be painted on a wall (approximately 3 x 5.5meters) in their own classroom
of the municipal building, so they’ll be able to enjoy it themselves (as well
as other people who make use of that space).
The kids and teacher are already very excited about this project, as am I! The
only thing is… the financing I hoped to get fell through (the institution that offered
to sponsor this project won’t decide till March and that will be too late) and
actually also puts my whole trip in jeopardy, because I need at least two mural
projects to make my trip worthwhile. So I’m desperately looking for sponsors!!!
The whole project (two weeks of classes and painting) costs USD 950, including
all materials and expenses. I hope to raise that amount, of course, but could
adapt the project a little if necessary. Anyway, I hope there are some sponsors
out there who are willing to make this happen! If so, thanks in advance for
making this world a bit more beautiful!
You can donate using the button on this page or through PayPal
(carinsteen at yahoo.com). For bank transfer (in Spain or Holland), please
contact me.
Hopefully I'll be able to report soon on some new community murals in Spain! My new location in Asturias, Spain, is quite nice, but I haven't forgotten on Central America! I'm planning a trip in January of 2020, mainly to paint some murals at schools and a clinic. But MuraleArte is now expanding and thus in need of an addition to its name. So from now on, it's Mural Arte Guate/Int! may there be many new community murals in the future, internationally!
I
didn’t realise how hard it would be to write this out loud, but darn, I just
finished my LAST MURAL IN GUATEMALA!
Well,
for this year at least.
In
a matter of weeks I’ll be moving to Spain, but the plan is definitely
to come back next year and add some more colour to this part of the world.
I
was glad that my last mural happened to be this one, at the school in San
Bartolomé Becerra, for several reasons. For one, because I promised so about
two years ago and I always try to keep my promises. But also because this wall
is very visible from the street and the highway to Ciudad Vieja. And maybe most
importantly, because San Bartolomé Becerra, or San Bartolo, as we call it, has
been my home for the last five years. I have grown very fond of this community
just outside of Antigua Guatemala
and I’m glad I could leave something behind. It’s isn’t my fist mural in San
Bartolo, but by far the most public one.
This
was also the last time (for now!) I worked with my wonderful assistant Henry
Calel Navarijo. He helped me paint for the first time in 2016 and since then he
has grown a lot, in many ways. I’ll surely miss him!
I’d
been a few times to the school to discuss the design and take pictures (I
needed kids for modelling, no shortness of those at the school!), so the kids
knew I was coming and most of me knew me anyway, living in the same
neighbourhood. One kid came up to me and said:
“I
know you”.
No
big surprise, after all I have been living there for five years and painted two
murals.
“Yes.
You give hot-dog to the dogs.”
Well,
yes, that’s me too. I think I would have cared more for a reputation as a
renowned mural painter. But being known as the woman who feeds hot-dog to dogs is
a pretty good second.
Anyway,
off to work. The theme wasn’t my favourite of all time; the teacher insisted
I’d include the school’s crest in the mural. A pretty ugly crest, I must add. I
suggested camouflaging it a bit, maybe put it on a kid’s shirt? No, it had to
be there and right in the centre. That took some thinking on my part but I
finally came up with a design I’m okay with and that does include the schools
emblem. So, ready to rock and roll.
The
weather forecast couldn’t be worse. Somewhere off the coast of Guatemala a hurricane
is brewing and it was indeed windy and drizzling. Drizzle is okay. Wind is doable.
A tropical storm is not, for mural painting. But we were extremely lucky and
didn’t get more than a few drops.
While
we painted, yesterday, classed were interrupted for a celebration Día del Árbol, Tree Day. In familiar
fashion, the activity included the national anthem, a prayer, a few speeches
and a mini-parade of kids dressed in folklore outfits. Each class had made a
huge tree which they presented to their peers. Ironically made out of paper. Even
more irony: the background noise was provided by some handymen cutting down a
tree at the schoolyard. But let’s not get me started on the educational system
here…
So,
besides a few wind gusts and thick fat raindrops, (oh, and the promised ladder
that never arrived), the work went well and the mural is finished. Whether the
result is better than before is for you to decide…
A
BIG thank you to Henry, not just for helping with this mural but many before
and hopefully more to come.
And
of course also a HUGE thank you to veterinarian Dr. Jim Bader who besides
coming down at least twice a year to voluntarily sterilize dogs and cats for 14
years in a row now, he has also generously been donating towards my community
murals! Thanks so much Jim!!!
For a while now the people in the small mountainous village of San
Cristobal el Alto have been trying to attract tourists by offering hikes on
nature trails and by selling food and homemade products. Volunteer Miki
Iwatsuki (JICA) has been involved in the project and has set up a mural project
to beautify this charming village. And yesterday we painted the first one!
While Miki arranged everything with the owners of the wall, Laurel
Jacobson (Mesón Panza Verde) had the wall plastered. She also sponsored the
materials and organized all the logistics (paint, brushes, transportation and
lunch for the painters). Laurel
teaches art to the scholarship students at CasaSito and it was her idea to get
the kids involved.
I came in to teach the students how to copy and enlarge a design and to
prep them for the hard work. I also made the design with nature as an overall
theme and more specifically apiculture since the family that owns the wall has
beehives.
All nine of CasaSito’s art students joined us, as well as three of the
students that participated in my mural project that we finished last week. CasaSito’s
founder Alice Lee So Fong joined us too and off we went!
It was hot and humid but that didn’t stop us, not for a minute! The
family of beekeepers helped us paint, as well as passersby and friends. The
students did an awesome job and by the end of the afternoon the mural was on
the wall, varnished and all.
What was incredible was that INMEDIATELY after finishing it, tourists
started to pose in front of the wall to take pictures. People actually stopped
their cars to get out and take pictures, causing a traffic jam in the narrow
street. And the owner of the house already sold a bottle of honey because of
the mural! I’d say, mission more than accomplished!
So all in all we had a great day. Lunch at Doña Angela’s (across the
street from the mural) was delicious, as was the cinnamon bread with honey the
family treated us to celebrate the completion of the mural. The only one not
quite satisfied was the little boy of the house who was slightly disappointed that
we didn’t paint Spiderman on the wall. Other than that, it was one of those
days with a golden edge…
Please do go visit San Cristobal el Alto, it’s worth it!
Four adolescents and now four painted walls. Check!
For weeks now I’ve been working every Saturday with Joshua, Isa, Eduardo
and Leonardo (all CasaSito scholarship students) on how to make a mural. They
started from scratch learning about the history of muralism and the differences
between murals, street art and graffiti. We did a class on colour theory and of
course the students learned how to copy and enlarge a design.
Little by little we came up with ideas for the mural. We took in account
the space with all its possibilities and limitations as well as its purpose (a
waiting area or space for workshops and relaxation). The students were very
much into murals with optical illusions, although we agreed that a design with
giant 3D creepy insects might not be the best of ideas.
In the end we came up with this design, which is tied to the mural
downstairs.
So here we are!
The hole in the wall makes the space look bigger, the view is that of
the Fuego and Acatenango volcanoes. The butterflies can represent the metamorphosis
students undergo during their time at CasaSito. Also, they won’t be stopped by
a wall, there’s always a way to fly even higher!
The umbrella is a bit of a joke, inspired by street art. The handle of
the umbrella is an actual tube with actual faucet that “can regulate the rain”.
The mandala is a spiritual symbol that represents the universe.
This was a fun project which will hopefully inspire the participants to
make many more murals! Many thanks to Dr. Jim Bader who sponsored this mural!
And of course to CasaSito and participants:
Carlos Joahua Gutiérrez Paredes (16)
Isa Gabriela Samayoa Gómez (16)
Gabriel Eduardo Samayoa Gómez (18)
Edgar Leonardo ”Da Vinci” Orellana Santos (17)
And a big thank you to my talented assistant Henry Navarijo for helping
paint!
