PA Migrant Education Program mural enlivens CORE Gallery

Over four days in August, Almanzar-Oree, who is Assistant Director at PCA&D’s Center for Creative Exploration, led a team of a dozen campers. “They ranged from 3rd-graders to 11th-graders and varied in exposure to art,” Almanzar-Oree says, “so it was great to have them all work together. They are all living in Lancaster now, but from all over the world, so some of our camp time was spent reflecting on where we are from.”

Birth of Change, she adds, was the result of a collaborative effort with the artists themselves. 

“We spent the first day looking at murals throughout art history, talking about color and principles of design, and getting to know each other,” Almanzar-Oree says. “We knew our theme would be Transformation and Change, as that was the overarching theme for camp season, but the elements of the mural came out of the second day of discussion.

“Students created sketches and iterated on them. We discussed what we liked most and voted on what to carry through to the final drawing. I spent the evening between the second and third day drawing up a final sketch. We learned about methods of scaling up artwork and we then translated to large canvases using the grid method on day three. The rest of the third and fourth day were spent painting everything in.” Altogether, Birth of Change took about 20 hours to complete, with students doing the bulk of the work during the four-day camp. 

It was, Almanzar-Oree says, a rewarding experience. 

“The program works with youth and their families to achieve academic success and encourage active participation in their communities. Incorporating the arts is important for the program, and I’ve been grateful to be part of their work.”