Friday, May 18, 2012

Mural Proposal


                                                   
    Mural Proposal 


In our class Public Art: Mural Painting we were given the charge of creating a mural that represents the vision of the Kino Bay Center for Cultural and Ecological Studies in Bahia de Kino, Mexico. We took into consideration the following:
Mission Statement:
Protecting priority species and habitats through integrated application of science, education, information exchange, and community participation.
Vision Statement:
Promoting and modeling collaborations between people from different cultures and institutions to co-create solutions to complex conservation challenges.
We were also asked to specifically incorporate environmental conservation and researcheducation, and outreach into the mural’s theme.
There was an immense amount of diversity within the subjects we hoped to address, and narrowing our ideas proved challenging. However, this resulted in a number of specific decisions being made that focused specifically on priority species and habitats, as well as the integration and collaboration of different cultures and species which are reflected again in the artistic melding of content within the mural.
Included in the mural are, from left to right, the following: Brandt’s cormorants in flight, collared lizard (Crotaphytus dickersonae), reddish egret, red mangrove (Rizophora mangle), leatherback turtle, pilot whale dorsal fins, bottlenose dolphin dorsal fins, humpback whales dorsal fins, fin whale, Heermann’s gull, yellow-footed gull, blue-footed booby, brown booby, American oystercatcher, red billed tropic bird, brown pelican, Chromodoris sp. Elysia diomedia, mullet, Heliaster kubiniji, osprey, cordon (Pachycereus pringlei).
We hope that multiple interpretations can be gleaned from this mural, but some of the connotations we felt were crucial are described as follows. The central image of the leather back turtle morphing into the mangroves of an estuary ties together the important mix of culture, community, outreach, and conservation, while tying in to the Seri creation myth. Themes of education, community, and outreach are depicted in the Mexican and Seri children gathered around the whale vertebrae and the students in the panga. Conservation, research, and science are conveyed in the images of Isla Alcatraz as an important site of biodiversity, the panga full of researchers and students, the fin whale, and the priority species of birds and cetaceans. On the south wall, telephone wires signify the exchange of information in a growing world and the influence of western culture and technology.
By visually connecting and integrating the subjects listed above we aim to represent the clear dedication to collaboration and co-creation that is essential to the Kino Bay Center.




Propuesta

En nuestra clase de Arte Público: Pintura Mural que se les dio el encargado de crear un mural que representa la visión del Centro de Estudios culturales y ecológicos en Bahía de Kino, México. Tomamos en consideración lo siguiente:

Declaración de la Misión:
La protección de especies y hábitats prioritarios mediante la aplicación integrada de la ciencia, la educación, el intercambio de información y participación de la comunidad.

Declaración de la Visión:
La promoción y el modelado de la colaboración entre personas de diferentes culturas e instituciones para crear conjuntamente soluciones a los desafíos de conservación complejas.

También se nos solicitó para incorporar específicamente la conservación del medio ambiente y la investigación, la educación, y divulgación en el tema del mural.

Había una inmensa cantidad de diversidad dentro de los temas que se esperan para abordar y reducir nuestras ideas fue difícil. Sin embargo, esto resultó en una serie de decisiones concretas realizados con un enfoce especial en especies y hábitats prioritarios, así como la integración y la colaboración de las diferentes culturas y las especies que se reflejan en la fusión artística de contenido dentro del mural.

Incluido en el mural son, de mano izquierda a mano derecha, los siguientes: cormoranes Brandt en vuelo, el lagartijo (Crotaphytus dickersonae), garza rojiza, el mangle rojo (Rizophora mangle), tortuga laúd, las aletas dorsales de calderones, toninas, ballenas jorobadas, ballenas de aleta, gaviota Heermans, la gaviota de patas amarillas y bobos de patas azules, bobos cafes, ostrero americano, rabijuncos, pelícano café, especie de ChromodorisElysia diomedia, (nudibranchios), Lisa, Heliaster kubiniji (estreslla del mar), águila pescadora, y el cordón (Pachycereus pringlei).

Esperamos que se puede extraer interpretaciones múltiples de este mural, pero algunas de las connotaciones que sentíamos eran fundamentales están describidos aqui. La imagen central de la tortuga laúd transformándose en los manglares de un estero une la mezcla importante de la cultura, la comunidad, difusión y conservación, mientras enlazando al mito de la creación Comca’ac. Los temas de la educación, la comunidad y de divulgación están representado en los niños mexicanos y Seri que reunen alrededor de las vértebras de ballenas y los estudiantes de la panga. Conservación, investigación y la ciencia se transmiten en las imágenes de la Isla de Alcatraz como un sitio importante de la biodiversidad, la panga llena de investigadores y estudiantes, la ballena de aleta, y las especies prioritarias de aves y cetáceos. En la pared sur, cables telefónicos significan el intercambio de información en un mundo moderno y la influencia de la cultura occidental y la tecnología.

Por visualmente conectando e integrando las materias antes citadas se pretende representar a la clara vocación de colaboración y co-creación que es esencial para el Centro.



COLOR SCHEME


5/15-5/18 Planning



After getting settled and having a quick tour of the place we went right to work. We talked to the fellows and got a sense of what they wanted up on the wall they would be viewing daily (left) and looked to the station's mission statement, vision statement and of course the mural theme.
Mural Theme: Environmental Conservation; Education; Outreach
Mission Statement: Protecting priority species and habitat through integrated application of science, education, information exchange and community.
Vision Statement:Promoting and modeling collaborations between people from different cultures and institutions to co-createsolutions to complex conservations.
After analyzing these, we sketched!


And on the third day we gathered to critique
The end result that day was three very different collaborative ideas for the wall. One of these was to become our base piece for us to alter and reference for the outline that is going to be projected upon the wall.


During the fourth night and fifth day we finalized what we wanted and made it BIGGER so that an outline could be drawn and then projected
The sixth day was spent exhaustedly finishing this task. Some from the group were set to separate tasks such as writing the proposal that would be presented later that evening for approval and the creation of this blog as the main group finalized the actual design in detail and readied it to be colored.


4/14
We resumed our journey after a night filled with intergalactic dreams. Mexico was a mere two hours away and Kino Bay only nine. We reached Mexico within the expected time and though our quest for Kino took longer than we thought, we had a rambunctious three year old to keep us entertained.
We stopped in Puerto Libertad, a little fishing village, on our route to Kino. Here, we ate dinner and those of us who don't speak Spanish received our first lesson in the difficulties of communication when traveling abroad. After dinner we made the final length of our journey and finally reached our destination, just in time for us all to pass out to the sound of mosquitos attacking our skin.
Total hours logged in the van - 19 hours.

5/13 Departing Prescott

Packed and loaded into the van by nine AM Sunday morning we were making great time and well on our way down to Phoenix to find some inspiration for our upcoming mural. Having reached our destined city we traversed the streets, directionally challenged, for the well known murals of the Barrio Cafe. To our pleasant surprise when we found the cafe the walls around it expressed more than expected. Not only were the walls connected to the cafe adorned with beautiful designs but the walls of the community spreading out from behind the cafe were covered with murals and wheat paste designs.

A bathroom excursion into the cafe lead to a meeting between one of the muralists and two students. The artists revealed that the decorated neighborhood was a community project and that he had painted the mural of the man cutting down an agave plant.
After our exploration of the Phoenix mural scene had sufficiently wilted us we piled back up into the van and started the drive towards scenic Gila Bend. This ghost town provided us with comfortable spaceship themed lodgings. With walls that glittered and a pool that glowed green we were fully accommodated.



Best of all the mothership was littered with murals for us to look to in our exploration of design and compositions. The reception area held a dome featuring our galaxy while the diner hosted depictions of spaceships from Star Trek . We are happy to report home that no alien abductions occurred in our presence.