By Mary Jordan
Springdale Public Schools
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art will feature a mural by Helen Tyson Middle School students as part of “Diego Rivera’s America,” the museum’s current temporary exhibition.
“I was so honored to have been asked,” said Lori West, Helen Tyson fine arts teacher.
The "The Diversity of Helen Tyson Middle School" mural project was a great opportunity for students to create art and get the experience of having their work displayed in a world-renowned art museum, she said.
“I feel like I’m VIP,” said Samuel Ramirez, a 12-year-old Helen Tyson fine arts student. “All of us are VIP.”
Diego Rivera depicted the human experience in both Mexico and the United States in his public murals and paintings featuring families and workers; struggles and celebrations; and histories and imagined futures, according to the Crystal Bridges website. “Diego Rivera’s America” examines the artist’s works from the early 1920s and early 1940s through more than 130 pieces.
The most-significant influence on the student artists was Diego Rivera himself, West said.
“The students discovered that he was a master storyteller, he loved life, he loved to tell stories of everyday, minor tasks,” she said. “His work brings out the emotions in his audiences, and it certainly brought out emotions in our students.”
The Helen Tyson Middle School mural will be one of about 10 student murals on display beginning Saturday, March 18 as part of the museums’ Pintura Fest event, West said.
Pintura Fest is a community fiesta celebrating art, stories, music and the opening of the exhibition from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, March 18 at Crystal Bridges, according to the museum’s website. No tickets are required to attend the free event.
Students will complete mural beginning at 11 a.m. in the Great Hall, West said. Students had to have the 8-foot-by-4-foot piece 95% complete prior to Pintura Fest.
“Students will also be serving as ‘art ambassadors,’ so to speak, and will be engaging in dialogue with the guests and visitors,” she said.
The mural incorporates vibrant colors and the diverse stories of the participating 13 student artists, much like Diego’s work, West said.
“The students learned a great many new techniques in creating the mural, and used a water-based acrylic medium for the first time,” she said.
Photos of participating students are incorporated into the piece, as are their personal stories of where their families originate and meaningful, personal artifacts, said Myia Cunningham, 12. The fine arts student is incorporating an image of a family belt buckle into the mural.
“We don't have a lot of artifacts. But to me, it's really special,” Cunningham said, of her great-grandfather Andrew Cunningham’s belt buckle. “That's where my father gets his name.”
“How are you a part of the cultural diversity of NWA?” is the mural’s theme, West said.
The 3D piece incorporates a brown paper mâché canoe to represent the Marshallese culture and colorful paper flowers to symbolize the region’s Hispanic community.
The mural also includes a virtual reality component, an initiative tackled by Helen Tyson Education Accelerated by Service and Technology students, West said. EAST is a statewide initiative that uses technology in service to the community.
Two EAST students used a 360-degree camera to record fine arts students creating the mural, said Lesly Aleman, a 12-year-old EAST student. Museum visitors will be able to interact with a virtual reality display next to the mural to hear participating student artists’ diverse stories.
The stories can be accessed by scanning QR codes on the students' pictures, she said.
Visitors can then listen to student stories told in their own voices and words.
“The students learned a great deal about their personal history when asked to reflect on their background and how they were a part of the cultural diversity of NWA,” West said.
West said she hopes students created fond memories through the mural project, she said.
“I hope that one day they look back on this experience and are able to tell their grandchildren that they once had a mural created by a studio of artists that they were a part of that was exhibited along with many legends of American art at Crystal Bridges,” West said.
The Bentonville museum will feature the exhibition through July 31, according to the Crystal Bridges website. The exhibition began March 11.
The Helen Tyson mural will remain on display in the museum’s Great Hall until March 26, West said.
