Art Forms Change

  • The completed mural provides an uplifting message of cultural diversity
  • The mural team engrossed in sketching out their ideas.
  • A significant amount of research and discussion went into the design process
  • A participant, carefully plotting out the design in a grid format.
  • The artists were meticulous, making sure each paint stroke was perfectly executed.
  • Centrally located in the mural is a tower, built with images and symbols that students identified with achieving success.

Project Description

"Art Forms Change” was created by students at GED Plus High School. The mural celebrates the students’ experience as first generation Americans. During the research phase, the students studied the modern ‘griot’ or storyteller and shared their own hopes for achieving success during a series of peer-to-peer interviews. These conversations examined language, class, culture, and race in order to better understand the immigration experience and the defining and blending of culture. The mural is framed by two students on either side. One listens to music, a symbol that particularly resonated with the students. The other, a young woman, proudly wears a dashki-patterned shirt. The students used patterns from textiles and the maps of their countries of origins as a background to the image.

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Project Info

Location: 269 West 35th Street 7th Floor New York, NY 10018

Fun Facts

Suggested Activity
Create an original textile pattern based on your family’s country of origin.
Research
Houston, Texas was recently declared the most ethnically diverse city in the United States, surpassing both New York City and Los Angeles.
Legend Symbol
The griot. A griot is a West African historian, storyteller, praise singer, poet, and musician.