CHILDREN TELLING HISTORY
Have you ever wanted to paint a mural? And do so legally and with guidance by professional artists? The Culture Connects Midtown Project has a wall for you. The project, in partnership with the Santa Fe Art Institute (SFAI), hosts individualized painting sessions led by resident artists Diego Medina and Christian Gering. The sessions begin a rolling schedule on Saturday, Oct. 24, and ending on Thanksgiving at the SFAI Midtown Campus (the former site of the Santa Fe University of Art and Design). Students all of ages are invited to join the painting, and participants receive a meal from ¡YouthWorks! and a coloring book with designs by Medina and Gering.
The mural itself will depict Oga Po’geh Owingeh, which is Tewa for the “white shell water place,” Santa Fe’s pre-Spanish-contact name. As Santa Fe grows, Medina and Gering think it is important to acknowledge the town’s roots and history. Due to that growth, the campus is now located in the middle of the city, hence the call to “Re-Center Santa Fe.”
Gering, a professional runner and illustrator, partnered with Medina to create a zine-style coloring book that would provide children with a graphic representation of Santa Fe’s traditional identity. They based their art on the research of former New Mexico state historian Dr. Estevan Rael Gálvez. “We not only want to provide the context with the land acknowledgment, but we want to be able to provide this to young people to be engaged with this conversation about what land they’re on,” Gering says. “What home is to them and what home has been to many other people.” Five hundred copies of the coloring book will be printed and distributed to children at Santa Fe schools.
“For the mural event, we’re taking a couple of images from the coloring book, and we’re going to paint two walls at SFAI,” Gering says. “We’re going to provide paints and other materials to the community.” Budding artists won’t be asked to paint inside the lines but rather to visually express their feelings about their home. Gering isn’t sure what the final form of the mural will be, but he and Medina are open to exploration.
Children are able to paint privately, with social distancing and mask protocols in place. To register, go to sfai.org. When the mural is complete, SFAI will share pictures on social media and post a podcast series on the meaning of the art.
— Jason Strykowski