By CHRISTINA
GUERRERO, STAFF WRITER (Daily Bulletin)
Thursday,
September 25, 2003 - Mural project honors farm labor leader's legacy, service to community
Vina Danks
Middle School students learned a lesson about Cesar Chavez that can't be
erased.
The students
recently completed a mural on their Ontario campus with the help of world renowned
muralist Paul Botello and students from Pitzer College in Claremont.
The project
was funded by a Governor's Office On Service and Volunteerism grant that was
awarded to the school on behalf of the 2003 Cesar Chavez Day of Service and
Learning.
"The
whole idea of the grant was to advance the partnership between the community,
the school Vina Danks, and Pitzer College in the context of doing service in
the community and learning from the experience by practicing the ethos of Cesar
Chavez," said Jose Calderon, a professor at Pitzer college who applied for
the grant on behalf of the middle school.
GO SERV, California's
national service commission, has worked with schools, colleges, universities,
labor unions, churches, civic groups, libraries, community centers and nonprofit
organizations to engage hundreds of thousands of K-12 students in service
activities across California that honor the life and work of Cesar Chavez,
according to the Web site, www.goserv.ca.gov/index.asp.
The $20,000
grant also funded other activities that promoted the legacy of Chavez,
including a school garden, a field trip to La Paz where Chavez was born, and a
preThanksgiving dinner that Vina Danks students will serve to laborers of the
Pomona Day Labor Center, said Marc Lim, outreach consultant for the school.
Before
beginning the mural students were invited to an assembly with guest speaker
Julie Chavez Rodriguez, granddaughter of Cesar Chavez, Lim said.
"All
students had an opportunity in their social studies classes to submit ideas and
drawing of what they thought the mural should be about," Lim said.
"There are at least 35 Vina Danks students, who have been a part of this
mural. About 25 of them have painted and about 10 of them were not able to paint,
but they provided ideas and drawings to Paul."
More than 250
students submitted their ideas to Botello, who incorporated the ideas of 15 to
20 students to design the mural, Lim said. Some students assisted in painting
the mural as part of the four hours of community service that is required of
each student through their social studies class.
"A lot of
our kids have artistic talents, but for them to actually meet and work with a
famous artist is very inspiring," Lim said.
Eighth-grader
Patrick Fonseca, 13, who worked on the mural for five days, will be one of the
students represented on the mural, said Botello, 41, of East Los Angeles.
Fonseca said
that working on the mural has been a good experience for him.
"I've
learned lots of things because he told me imagination is good, and a lot of
people don't admire my imagination, but Paul does," he said.
Botello used a
grid to chart the mural, which was completed in two weeks, on a wall at the
school. The four focus areas of the mural are promoting the legacy of Chavez,
the importance of service learning, the importance of receiving a good
education that will enable one to become a contributing member of society, and
the importance of diversity and tolerance for multiculturalism, Lim said.
"Our idea
is that this mural will continue to give back to the community and our
schools," Calderon said. "This art reflects the reality of what's
going on. The mural reflects people working together from all socioeconomic
backgrounds."
Botello, who
considers himself a public artist, has been painting murals for over 20 years,
and has painted over 34 murals throughout the world, including California,
France and Germany.
"Paul
Botello already had done a series of murals here at Pitzer (College) so it was
natural that he be the artist that would work on this because he's working at
Pomona (College)," Calderon said.
Students from
Pitzer assisted Paul in painting the mural, Calderon said.
"For some
there has been a class project," he said. "For other students like
Felipe Beltran it was just wanting to do the project. It's been a conscious
commitment."
Beltran, 28,
of Baldwin Park said that art has always been a love of his.
"It's
important for me to participate in this project because when I was in third
grade my teacher invited an artist to paint a mural that set off inspiration,
and I'd like to see one of these kids flourish in the art field," Beltran
said.
Christina
Guerrero can
be reached by e-mail at christina.guerrero@dailybulletin.com or by phone at
(909) 483-8541.