Willow Glen Resident

Cover Story

Photograph by Daniel Sato

Interpretation: Mathson Middle School student Jessica Martinez works on one of the 10 panels that line a wall at the Mexican Heritage Plaza. The project, 'Artistic Mestizaje,' was created by students who incorporated their own interpretations into famous paintings by Hispanic artists.

Brushing Up

Carlos Perez creates 10-panel mural for Mexican Heritage Plaza, which was unveiled on April 26

By Mayra Flores De Marcotte

A group of eighth-graders huddled around a stainless-steel aluminum sheet, while paint brushes, cloths and gloves were stacked at the end of the table.

They waited anxiously to begin a community art project that took three months to complete. The 20-foot project is now displayed in the Mexican Heritage Plaza. It was designed to promote Hispanic artists from the 1920s through the present.

The group, seven girls and one boy, listened as Willow Glen resident and artist Carlos Perez explained techniques on blending color and attaining a brighter result using less water and more paint.

"Don't be afraid of moving the paint around," Perez says to the students.

One student applied thick black paint to an area of the aluminum sheet. Another filled in a portion of the drawing with a pale gray.

On this Saturday the group met to help create a 10-panel mural with the help and guidance of Perez for the Mexican Heritage Plaza in East San Jose. The completed work was unveiled April 26.

The Matheson Middle School students from the Mayfield District in San Jose spent their spring break and many weekends afterward working on the mural. The completed work focuses on the theme "The Artistic Legacy and Contributions of Hispanic Artists."

Perez was commissioned by the Mexican Heritage Plaza to create a mural that would visually depict famous works by well-known Hispanic artists. Each of the 10 panels will be dedicated to a single artist, including Mexican artists Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, San Francisco artist Yolanda Lopez and Spanish artist Pablo Picasso.

Famous paintings by each artist, such as Kahlo's self-portrait "Diego On My Mind" will incorporate self-portraits and the students' personalities. Each student added a personal interpretation into the painting. For instance, in the self-portrait of Kahlo, her eyes reflect the images of Rivera. Students reinterpreted the painting by inserting images of themselves.

The mural is the first in a series of artworks that was completed in collaboration with the community.

"There are very few opportunities like this one," Perez says. "We want to develop a series of workshops with the community to develop works of arts to display throughout the plaza."

This project was created through a relationship between the Mayfield district and the Mexican Heritage Plaza. Perez says it helped bring people together.

"The relationship's goal is to provide change and opportunities for the community to engage young people in a positive way in order to counter the negatives on the streets," Perez says.

In addition, individuals involved in the collaborative process hope to teach people about cultural history and help build youth self-esteem.

"We are building confidence and awareness," Perez says.

The students don't have to learn to paint or draw to be involved with this project, Perez says.

"We hope they will expand their abilities as young artists," Perez says. "The key is to give the kids a variety of skills to make them comfortable with the project."

The mural project was also an opportunity for the students to be part of something that will leave a lasting impression on them and the community.

Along with painting the different scenes on the mural, the students will also include themselves into the paintings.

Eighth-grader Rodolfo Fuentes is one of the seven students involved in the project. He is the social vice president of his school's student council and was interested in community projects.

"Carlos came to our school and wanted the community to be involved," Rodolfo says. "Our student council wanted to be involved, so I volunteered."

Rodolfo was looking forward to the project because of its artistic and social aspects and thought it would be a simple community project.

"I thought it was going to be easy at first," Rodolfo says.

But when the students sat down for the first time with Perez, they realized the mural would consist of more than just painting pictures.

Perez told them designs and ideas for the mural panels had to stem from the actual paintings that were chosen for the project. In addition, students also had to consider what materials would work best with the elements, since the mural would be installed outside. These extra considerations were unexpected, Rodolfo says, but he was ready for the challenge.

Rodolfo hopes people who go to the plaza and see the mural will appreciate and understand the work done by students.

"Maybe a little kid will see it and somehow become inspired by it," Rodolfo says.

Fellow eighth-grader Jessica Martinez was also involved in the project.

"My friends told me about the project, and our vice principal asked us to join the group," Jessica says. "I like to draw, so I did."

Jessica's favorite piece, "Guernica" by Pablo Picasso, was painted in protest of World War II.

"I hope people will see these paintings and learn something," Jessica says. "Sometimes history can be forgotten."

She hopes that the paintings will serve to tell each artist's story to everyone who comes by them.

"Some people learn by reading," Jessica says, "but by seeing the stories, you could imagine what happened. People can learn the stories without reading them."

Of the 10 panels, Perez painted four in his home studio. The students, with his guidance, did the remaining six.

Eight panels are painted flat and two-dimensional. The last two are three-dimensional.

"As you walk by it, it will move," Perez says. "The painting is a mechanical metaphor of two cultures through conquest."

The mural is made up of stainless steel aluminum sheets that are mounted on a track system.

"We are doing something different besides painting on a wall," Perez says. "We are challenging the students in the format and materials of the mural, not just the image."

The finished mural is 20 feet long and 48 inches tall. The base of the mural was done with oil paint. The actual artwork was done on top of this base, then coated with a sealer. The last step makes the piece of art graffiti-proof.

The mural is installed inside the plaza but outside the building. This placement keeps the mural from getting any direct sunlight.

The artists chosen for the mural were done so for specific reasons.

"We chose these artists because of their contributions, both to the art world as well as to society," Perez says.

The mural is on permanent display at the Mexican Heritage Plaza, 1700 Alum Rock Ave.