The Collegian

Issue date: 5/20/05 Section: News

Media Credit: Karyn Gilbert Counterclockwise from upper-left: Jossue Hernandez, Marco Rocha, Julie Hardman, Susan Rodriguez, Oscar Morales, Joanne Martinez, Kelli Flanagan, Jorge D. Moreno, Chao Vang, and Mr. Mario Moreno. Not Pictured: Robert Silva, Mitsy L. Arbuckle, Perla Reyes, Eduardo D. Moreno.

Media Credit: Karyn Gilbert The Mural entitled "Building The Dream: is located near the ESL Program.

The unveiling of two murals by Mario Moreno's mural painting class lit up the second floor of Cunningham by the ESL room.

"This is what learning is all about," said Moreno. "Not just learning in the class, but sharing what they've learned to the community."

The festivities brought all sorts of food and friendly faces to mingle Thursday, May 12.

"It was a dark (area), with no color," said President Raul Rodriguez.

The 13 students combined their love of the arts to paint a life-sized mural, entitled "Building The Dream," in the fall of 2004 for the students of the English as a Second Language Program.

The colorful mural has many themes, including the role that education plays in the fulfillment of the students' goals and aspirations, the interconnectedness and interdependence of life, and openness to people of other cultures.

"[At] first we didn't think it would come out right," said Jossue Hernandez. "We grew to like it a lot more as it progressed."

In addition to the original mural, Julie Hardman came up with the ideas and design for a second piece to hang on the opposite side of the larger one.

Also, Kelli Flanagan, along with a few others, re-painted the carousel horses and Pixie Woods, so the community could enjoy their freshly painted ride.

"We contributed ideas (and came up with) doing the carousel horses at Pixie Woods," said Flanagan.

The entire project took a few months, where most of the work was the design.

"Most of the time was designing (the murals), the painting only took a couple of weeks," said Hernandez.

Rodriguez informed the artists that the murals should be mounted so they could be moved, if necessary.

"I made sure it would be removable, (in case the room were to be moved)," said Rodriguez.

They also put a top cover over the mural for protection and "to make sure the paint doesn't flake," said Joanne Martinez, who was part of the design team.

The murals are located right outside of Room 233 in Cunningham.

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