From One Home to Another/
De un Hogar A Otro, 2018
"In 2017, the Hispanic Heritage Council of WNY and the Buffalo Public Schools Art Education Department with support from the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo and the Buffalo City School District, began to plan for a community public arts project as an extension to the latest developments transforming the Niagara Corridor's Hispanic Heritage District, which runs along Niagara Street, often referred to as “La Avenida San Juan.”
As this community evolves, it is essential to involve the people who have helped with its growth, preserving their stories and securing their place in the economic and social development of the Niagara Corridor's Hispanic Heritage District. Students in four Buffalo Public Schools (BPS) located in the heart of Buffalo's Latino community— D’Youville Porter Campus School #3, Frank A. Sedita Academy School #30, Herman Badillo Bilingual Academy School #76, and International Preparatory School 198—participated in supplementary art enrichment classes after normal school hours. Students and their families were asked to reflect on their own personal journeys in order to create stories and imagery with these experiences in mind.
Local Puerto Rican artists Aileen Gonzalez-Marti, Wilbert Ramos, and William Rodriguez, collaborated with BPS art teachers to support and nurture these young artists creative translation from memory to art. Many of the student images included in From One Home To Another/De Un Hogar A Otro are meaningful remembrances of the home they left behind, as well as a visual ode to the place they call home today: the City of Buffalo.
There are symbols of importance throughout From One Home To Another/De Un Hogar A Otro. On the bottom left is the coqui, a small tree frog and an important cultural and historical symbol of Puerto Rico. It sits on a large colorful flower called the Flor de Maga, Puerto Rico's national flower, which resembles a large hibiscus that grows on trees on the island. To the top left, you will find an elephant walking long the base of Mount Everest and young kite flyers along a waterfront. These are symbolic of the area's newest African and Asian neighbors, and were included as a gesture of love and appreciation for those moving into La Avenida San Juan’s historically Hispanic community.
Moving to the right along this scene, one visually crosses the oceans into the Great Lakes. A majestic sun embraces the mural, its rays filled with Taino petroglyph icons, revealing the deep roots Puerto Ricans maintain with the island's indigenous inhabitants.
Moving left to right across the image, a plane flies over Western New York into the City of Buffalo, passing over Niagara Falls buttressed by the Peace Bridge, a gateway into Buffalo through Porter Avenue and Niagara Street. These international markers give way to local symbols such as the colorful buffalo statues placed throughout the city, Millard's Shark Girl, and the welcoming La Avenida San Juan gateway signs.
The images described above, as well as many more student-produced artworks, were incorporated into a large mural designed by Buffalo artists Patrick Foran and Tricia Butski during a 6-week BPS summer arts enrichment camp for young muralists called Mural Mania! Foran and Butski worked with students to prepare the panels, enlarge and draw the design, and paint the mural. Their efforts in depicting the unique experiences and personal stories of our BPS students, while highlighting the commonalities of this community's diverse, multi ethnic and multilingual populations, was masterfully done.
Foran's and Butski's dedication and belief in this community mural project catapulted From One Home To Another/De Un Hogar Otro from brainstorming and sketching sessions with those artists and teachers involved in the developmental and conceptual part of this process to a fully realized mural that spans 44 feet in width along a prominent stretch of La Avenida San Juan.
Ultimately, over 200 Buffalo Public School students and their families and dozens of community stakeholders, were involved in some capacity in the development and creation of this mural, a work of public art that the entire community can be proud of.
The Hispanic Heritage Council of WNY and the Buffalo Public Schools Art Education Department would like to thank Dr. Tamara Alsace for her dedication to this project, and local proprietor Thomas Mangione for providing us the space required to display this historic public art work."
Statement by Michele Agosto
"In 2017, the Hispanic Heritage Council of WNY and the Buffalo Public Schools Art Education Department with support from the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo and the Buffalo City School District, began to plan for a community public arts project as an extension to the latest developments transforming the Niagara Corridor's Hispanic Heritage District, which runs along Niagara Street, often referred to as “La Avenida San Juan.”
As this community evolves, it is essential to involve the people who have helped with its growth, preserving their stories and securing their place in the economic and social development of the Niagara Corridor's Hispanic Heritage District. Students in four Buffalo Public Schools (BPS) located in the heart of Buffalo's Latino community— D’Youville Porter Campus School #3, Frank A. Sedita Academy School #30, Herman Badillo Bilingual Academy School #76, and International Preparatory School 198—participated in supplementary art enrichment classes after normal school hours. Students and their families were asked to reflect on their own personal journeys in order to create stories and imagery with these experiences in mind.
Local Puerto Rican artists Aileen Gonzalez-Marti, Wilbert Ramos, and William Rodriguez, collaborated with BPS art teachers to support and nurture these young artists creative translation from memory to art. Many of the student images included in From One Home To Another/De Un Hogar A Otro are meaningful remembrances of the home they left behind, as well as a visual ode to the place they call home today: the City of Buffalo.
There are symbols of importance throughout From One Home To Another/De Un Hogar A Otro. On the bottom left is the coqui, a small tree frog and an important cultural and historical symbol of Puerto Rico. It sits on a large colorful flower called the Flor de Maga, Puerto Rico's national flower, which resembles a large hibiscus that grows on trees on the island. To the top left, you will find an elephant walking long the base of Mount Everest and young kite flyers along a waterfront. These are symbolic of the area's newest African and Asian neighbors, and were included as a gesture of love and appreciation for those moving into La Avenida San Juan’s historically Hispanic community.
Moving to the right along this scene, one visually crosses the oceans into the Great Lakes. A majestic sun embraces the mural, its rays filled with Taino petroglyph icons, revealing the deep roots Puerto Ricans maintain with the island's indigenous inhabitants.
Moving left to right across the image, a plane flies over Western New York into the City of Buffalo, passing over Niagara Falls buttressed by the Peace Bridge, a gateway into Buffalo through Porter Avenue and Niagara Street. These international markers give way to local symbols such as the colorful buffalo statues placed throughout the city, Millard's Shark Girl, and the welcoming La Avenida San Juan gateway signs.
The images described above, as well as many more student-produced artworks, were incorporated into a large mural designed by Buffalo artists Patrick Foran and Tricia Butski during a 6-week BPS summer arts enrichment camp for young muralists called Mural Mania! Foran and Butski worked with students to prepare the panels, enlarge and draw the design, and paint the mural. Their efforts in depicting the unique experiences and personal stories of our BPS students, while highlighting the commonalities of this community's diverse, multi ethnic and multilingual populations, was masterfully done.
Foran's and Butski's dedication and belief in this community mural project catapulted From One Home To Another/De Un Hogar Otro from brainstorming and sketching sessions with those artists and teachers involved in the developmental and conceptual part of this process to a fully realized mural that spans 44 feet in width along a prominent stretch of La Avenida San Juan.
Ultimately, over 200 Buffalo Public School students and their families and dozens of community stakeholders, were involved in some capacity in the development and creation of this mural, a work of public art that the entire community can be proud of.
The Hispanic Heritage Council of WNY and the Buffalo Public Schools Art Education Department would like to thank Dr. Tamara Alsace for her dedication to this project, and local proprietor Thomas Mangione for providing us the space required to display this historic public art work."
Statement by Michele Agosto