Mario Mena
Chicago, Illinois
www.instagram.com/mena_arte_chicago
I have 19 years of experience working as an artist. For the last three years, I have led community projects as a teaching artist with the National Museum of Mexican Art’s youth program Yollocalli Arts Reach and as a muralist with Paint the City.
My work is centered in the communities I create with. I work closely with community members to create public art that tells a story about their neighborhood, about the people who live and work there, about issues important to neighbors and families, all with the intention to preserve and celebrate our cultural identity.
My work with Yollocalli has led to the completion of large scale public art murals with youth program participants and community input. Youth in the program are guided through the process from start to finish - from research about the history of muralism and public art and learning the techniques of street art, to designing a mural collaboratively and painting together in community.
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I intend to bring a collaborator on to this project who I have worked closely with on multiple community mural initiatives, Hananne Hanafi. Hananne is currently the Director of Creative Placemaking for a local organization, The Alliance 98, and we previously worked together in her role as Co Director of Yollocalli Arts Reach of the National Museum of Mexican Art. Her experience with public art projects will support the success of workshops, community engagement, and mural logistics from start to finish. Fun fact - Hananne is a Berwyn resident. I painted a mural on her garage in the alley of Euclid Ave off Oak Park Ave.
For this specific project, since my artwork's imagery is reflective of my Mexican culture, I would do a quick presentation showing prior murals that fit this project's expectations. During the presentation I would point out symbolism that I used to depict certain points.
We would have prompts ready for the community, like them specifically drawing symbols that represent our Latinidad and culture. For example - Mexican culture is regional, symbols and imagery changes from different regions in Mexico. This will really help us add specific imagery to depict different areas of Latin America along with the usual culturally appropriate image that I already use. This will be key in making sure we are inclusive in representation of the community. With the notes and drawing prompts from the community we can start an initial mock up.
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I have experience leading mural workshops. I have worked on mural projects in different capacities that involve multi-week program models and community involvement.
Two examples include:
Chicago Bulls x National Museum of Mexican Art’s Yollocalli Arts Reach Mural, 19th & Wolcott, Pilsen, Chicago: This mural in collaboration with the Chicago Bulls Community initiative involved a process of workshops between the marketing/design team of the Chicago Bulls and our Street Art Studio program to share ideas and have a conversation on expectations for the mural.The marketing team gave a presentation on their approach to Bulls marketing and what they would like to see represented in the mural. Students were able to ask questions and take notes during the meeting. Students also shared what they would like to see represented in the mural. After that meeting, the students and I worked on designs representing key words or sentiments based on our meeting notes. After coming up with the initial drawing I took the lead on creating a composition of the design to create an initial mock up. After the initial mock up was created I met with my students for feedback and to see if the design represented our own expectations before sending it out to Yollocalli staff and the Chicago Bulls staff for further feedback and revisions. Once that information was received we went back to the studio to adjust the design before sending it back for a final approval.
Willa Cather Elementary School Mural, 2908 W Washington Blvd, Chicago: For this mural project, I met with a pre-selected classroom of students to get prompts for the mural. I presented prompts on big sticky notes at the front of the classroom with 3 general questions. The questions were: What is something that inspires you? What colors do you see in your future? Who is your superhero or favorite person? While the students came up with their answers to the prompts, I was simultaneously having a conversation of what could fit into those categories and would answer their questions. So we also worked on the questions as a class to come up with images that would symbolize those answers.
I took those responses and came up with drawings to represent their answers. Afterwards I came up with a mock up design that was later shared with the principal, staff, and students for further feedback. With the feedback I made minor changes to come up with the final design and sent it to the principal for final approval. Once approved, the mural was started. We had some volunteer students help throughout the process before finishing the mural independently.