Teen artists bring new downtown mural to life

A team of teen muralists with paint-splattered shirts and glue-covered hands braved the summer heat Thursday morning to add sections to a new 80-foot-wide, 30-foot-tall mural downtown.

For the past six weeks, a rotating team of teen artists has taken a turn painting and installing part of the piece each week through the K Space Contemporary Summer Mural Arts Program.

Located on Chaparral Street between Peoples Street and Starr Street, the brightly colored mural covers a building's corner. When viewed from the right spot, the whole mural should appear flat. The design is based on "I saw Diego at the wuashateria", a piece by K Space artist Jimmy Peña inspired by Diego Rivera, with a border designed by Monica Marie Garcia.

The program concludes this week, but the mural won't be unveiled until Aug. 4 during ArtWalk.

Instructors Mayra Zamora and Garcia, along with a couple teen apprentices, will complete the work and install the upper panels over the next two weeks. Emily Quintanilla, 17, is one of the program's apprentices.

"My preferred career path is to become an artist, so this has been really helpful," Quintanilla said, adding that the program offered the chance to improve skills and to learn how to network, as well as teaching some of and the ins and outs of being an artist.

In addition to the mural, campers also worked on a self-portrait series which will hang at the Garcia Arts & Education Center during an exhibition July 31-Aug. 31.

A closing reception is planned for 5-7 p.m. Aug. 31 at the center.

The mural was put together using a mural method developed in Philadelphia, where artists avoid working outside during cold winter months by painting cloth panels meant to be glued to walls, Zamora said.

"In Philly, they have harsh winters," Zamora said. "In South Texas, we have harsh summers and hot summer days. Throughout the week, we're inside the studio painting on five-by-five fabric and then one day out of the week we come out here with the students and they do the installation on the lower level."

The teens were fully immersed in the process, Garcia said — priming and cutting fabric, painting, spreading glue on brick walls like thick icing on a cake, placing the panels and pressing the fabric smooth against the wall and touching up the painting to make a seamless finish.

"Until last year, I had no idea murals were done this way," second-year camper Gloria Harris, 14, said. "I thought they were all just spray-painted."

Harris said she enjoyed getting to learn from professional artists.

"I normally paint faces on my own and when I ask my family for critiques, they say, 'Oh, it looks fine'," Harris said. "It's really nice to have a professional with an eye for art help critique things you don't really notice."

In total, 63 teen campers participated this year, with their attendance limited to only a couple of weeks of the process to increase the number of people that can participate in the free program.

To participate, artists have to apply and submit a portfolio.

"There's not a lot in Corpus for teens doing art," Willow Tucker, 15, said.

Since 2016, the program has installed about two dozen murals around Corpus Christi, including downtown and in La Palmera Mall.

Teen apprentice Heaven Garrison, 17, has been participating every summer since she was 11, starting earlier than the average participant.

"Over the years I've learned to really love it," Garrison said. "It's a beautiful process to be a part of."

It can be hot, Garrison said, but the camp is worth it.

"If parents are thinking about putting their kids into an art program and they really enjoy art, I think this is really important," Garrison said. "You meet your people who love the same thing as you and it's a great feeling to be around people who are as creative and motivated to make art like you.

The murals should last for about 20 to 25 years, Zamora said.

"Hopefully, when they become adults, they'll be able to come back and say, 'I did that'," Zamora said.

The program also offers the opportunity for art teachers to participate as professional development, so they can learn mural techniques to take back to the classroom.

Amanda Freeman, who will be a new art teacher at Flour Bluff High School this year, said the program has given her ideas for the school year. A mural project could help give students a sense of ownership at school, she said.

"You can just tell the kids have so much fun creating the art," Freeman said.

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This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: Teen artists bring new downtown mural to life