Restoring the Mural

 

Through the Humboldt Park Empowerment Partnership, a vision has been established to beautify the mural lot, while providing green space for community residents and empowering local students.

Chicago Public Art Group

CPGA works to unite artists and communties in partnership to produce quality art and to extend and transform the tradition of collaborative, community involved, public artwork.

Through community dialogues, design sessions, visual research, and problem solving session, communities develop and encourage communication.

Their goals include introducing creative skills to both adults and children, training and educating professional artists to become responsible leaders in the public art field and educating communities in the socail and asthetic possibilities of collaborative public art.

NNNN's plan is to work with the Chicago Public Art Group (see side bar) and Architreasure, a local non-profit landscape group, which will allow students to work on creating a park and restoring the mural.

'We will be working with local students in order to give them a chance to maintain and create ther own history in the community," Ruben Feiciano said. "We already have a committee running and hope to begin working on the project sometime this year."

These murals are also significant because mural art is not a typical means of expression in the Puerto Rican community.

Mural art wrok has traditionally tied to the experience of Mexicans. "La Crucifixion de Don Pedro" has been described as a mixure of Mexican and Puerto Rican artwork that speaks about something that happens to Latinos in Chicago that doesn't happen anywhere else.

"The meaning of these murals has kind of transcended into identifying itself with our community,"said Hildia Hernandez, a resident of Humboldt Park, "whether it's Puerto Rican or all the other cultures that live in Humbodlt Park and the area."

"When I found out that they weren't going to build over the mural, I was literally brought to tears," Sanchez said. "For Puerto Ricans and everyone in Humboldt Park, this was a huge victory."

Feliciano could not agree more.

"The success of saving this mural is a victory in our struggle with gentrification," Feliciano said.

History Profiles Restration Process