It's coming along...

This past weekend, Michelle and Patty installed parachute cloth panels onto the wall. It's almost finished now - only a few finishing touches to go! Here are some process shots of the installation:

We Still Need Your Support!

The "Aqui y Alla" project is successfully moving forward. We are gearing for the completion of the mural by the end of August. But our work still continues...

We have exciting events coming up in October!

-The mural will be dedicated during Mural Arts Month in Philadelphia!

-Images of the process will be in an exhibit at the Mural Arts Program Gallery!

-Previews of our video documentary of the mural process and immigrant youth stories will be screened in October.

There are all these wonderful opportunities but we still need your support! We are still trying to meet our fundraising goal to finalize the video documentary and to bring the four artists from Mexico back to Philadelphia to celebrate with us in October.

Please offer your support and click here!  All proceeds will go directly to our project!!!

Spread the word! Copy and paste this code into your page to display the Feed The Muse widget.
<a href="http://www.feedthemuse.net/michelleangela" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.feedthemuse.net/widgets/w1/1000001767" style="border-width: 0px;" /></a>

"Aqui y Alla" Project in Al Dia Newspaper

Al Dia Newspaper: Arturo Varela

“Un mural no va a solucionar todos los problemas, pero si es una forma de unir a las personas, de darle fuerza a la comunidad, y de iniciar una conversación”, dijo Michelle Angela Ortiz, creadora y directora de “Aquí y Allá”, proyecto que explora, a través del arte mural, el impacto de la inmigración en la vida de jóvenes inmigrantes en el sur de Filadelfia en conexión con jóvenes en el estado mexicano de Chihuahua.

Al otro lado de la frontera, cuatro artistas del Colectivo Rezizte, en la fronteriza Ciudad Juárez, y del Colectivo Madroño, en Chihuahua (200 millas al sur), trabajaron en el proyecto antes de embarcarse en un viaje a Filadelfia. 

A la ciudad del amor fraternal, trajeron consigo paneles pintados en lienzo por jóvenes en sus comunidades —que han sido plagadas por la violencia y sirven de foco de migración interna en México y “de paso” para quienes aspiran cruzar “al otro lado”, aunque muchos acaben quedándose ahí por años...

Para leer mas haga click aqui

Day 5: Mixing paint, community meeting, and last day with students.

Today was the last day of the summer session with the students. With the help of Michelle Ortiz, the students mixed all of the colors for the mural. Since it was the last day of the summer session, the students shared their thoughts about what they learned this summer and what they will take with them. Words like friendship, union, pride, accomplished, excitement, grateful, were mentioned over and over again. 

A community meeting was held the same day where the artists met some awesome neighbors that will help paint the mural in the community.

Day 4: Drawing on the Wall

Students visited the Mural Site and helped us draw our beautiful design on the wall...