St. Boniface Festival and Parade

This weekend was the St. Boniface Parish Festival.  Today there was a HUGE parade; I got to walk with Casa Guadalupe´s float and hand out fliers that I made advertising the mural.  They are small, about a fourth of a letter-size page, front and back, with a key to the symbolism in the mural and an invitation to the inauguration celebration that we are having on September 23 at the wall. 

With all the festivities, we had many passers-by as we were painting.  Every day several people stop me to chat for a bit about how they are touched by the mural.  Little kids ask the best questions!

Today I thought back to a moment last week when one of the young teen volunteers told me about how much the mural meant to her.  She said, "I hope that this mural lasts for a long time, and that no one puts graffiti on it.  I want to show my kids where I painted."  She also volunteered to decorate a donation box to put in her family's store.  I was so moved by her passion for the mural. 

I have been reflecting lately on my role as an artist in this project... sometimes it has been difficult for me to determine how much control I should have in the mural painting.  I've had much practice giving precise and concise directions - I feel like a conductor of an orchestra.  Even with my direction, the individual personalities of the volunteers are revealed through their painting styles. 

I talked with Gustavo Lira (who just donated 20 gallons of leftover paint!) about making murals with kids.  He told me that he tries to help them paint it themselves, but if they are having too much difficulty getting it right, he will go back and correct it later.  When talking with Elaine about the issue of correcting volunteer work, she told me that corrections may be helpful to clarify confusion in content.

I've been trying to walk the line between leading volunteers and giving myself time to paint.   Some days I am mostly behind the scenes mixing colors and explaining techniques; lately I've gotten more chances to put my brush to the wall.   Like artist Janine Antoni says of her experience with tight-rope walking, I am learning to be more comfortable with the daily imbalances that occur in either direction.