Community Murals - Sowing Seeds

Although this isn't a mural, this metal silhouette employs what Joseph calls one of the most popular community mural themes, 'Sowing the Seeds of Change.'

"Facing History, Teaching Tolerance"

The flipside of the 'Tolerance' mural wall - 'Next Sun Rising' and 'There's More Than U Know in Life'

A simple plea to the rest of the community - Also part of the above two murals.

On the wall of a public school.

This mural adorns a community garden/playground and was painted by the same woman who painted an epic mural on Fulton Ave, Nafissa Camara.

My partner, Joseph, has been painting community murals in New York for the past six years, mostly with Groundswell Mural Project located in Brooklyn. Founded by Amy Sananman in 1996, Groundswell was conceived:

with the mission to bring together professional artists, grassroots organizations and communities to create high quality murals in under-represented neighborhoods and inspire youth to take active ownership of their future by equipping them with the tools necessary for social change.

Groundswell worked with youth to create a mural on the Hugh Gilroy Senior Center in Weeksville and a sculptural relief at the Weeksville Heritage Center - formerly the Society for the Preservation of Weeksville and Bedford Stuyvesant History. Weeksville, although located outside the official boundaries of Bed-Stuy, is a part of Bed-Stuy's rich cultural history and therefore considered part of our hood.

The 'Teaching Tolerance' and 'Next Sun Rising' murals pictured above, may have been the result of a grant given by Tolerance.org to Brooklyn Community Arts and Media High School:

Lavie Raven of the Brooklyn Community Arts and Media High School in Brooklyn, N.Y., received a $2,500 Teaching Tolerance grant that focuses on youth experiences relating to family and community struggles around immigration issues. The University of Hip-Hop Club will interview and write local histories, which will become a new text in murals that will serve as a celebration and educational tool for students and the community.

However, this highschool is located on Willoughby Avenue, and I'm fairly sure the murals I photographed were not. At any rate, researching it gave me the opportunity to discover this exciting new high school that was established very recently in 2006. According to Inside Schools, who gave it a glowing review, principal James O'Brien has this to say:

O'Brien, who has a PhD in urban education and who was formerly assistant principal at Vanguard High School on Manhattan's Upper East Side, said he envisions "not exactly a school without walls," but a school that would be "a hub," with students spending time in the field as well as in classrooms. Students at Brooklyn Community will explore different media including film, video, magazines, journals. O'Brien has forged a partnerships with Essence magazine to help develop a curriculum. "Instead of just being consumers, I want them [students] to be critical and to learn how to write critically and analytically," he said.

And judging by our depressing search for a good preschool nearby for Little Joe, Bed-Stuy could use a few more visionary schools like this one.

In the moving and inspiring documentary film, Kids of Survival, Tim Rollins works with Puerto Rican and Dominican teenagers in the Bronx making large scale paintings. His art/education project proves that making art in a structured setting such as a community mural can be a 'tool of survival' for many at-risk youth.