The Creation of a Mural

The Creation of a Muralby Isabel Cotarelo

July 2007 Bajos de Chila, Oaxaca, Mexico. Mission: To help a group of children, ages 5 to 13, create a mural for the townsSport Center. We only had 3 week to do it!!!

and we began.We met at 7AM. The heat was rising, by noon was 105F. We played games to get to know each other, talked about the Mexican Muralist Movement , brainstormed about the themes for the mural. We visit the site.

http://www.mexicanmuralschool.com/muralists/muralists.htm

The children unanimously decided to represent their community and traditions in the mural. We walked around town and took pictures of things that represented Chila. The children began to drawand draw and cut and had lots of fun doing it.

We started to assemble the drawings on one of the schools walls. The sketch began to grow. The sketch was 4 times smaller than what the final work will be.The murals wall was painted white and a grid was traced. The artwork was transferred.

For the next 2 weeks, the children splashed paint, kidded around, swam at a nearby creek, learned, had fun, ate ice cream, relaxed, fearlessly walked on the scaffold, and a few wild horses and straight cows and donkeys came to contemplate the activities.

The big day arrived!!! Families gather at the site to welcome the work and the artists. The children were extremely proud of their mural; Chila una Maravilla. The community was thrilled with the areas beautification. For me, it was the best summer ever. Mission accomplished!!