Still Trying

I would really like to include art in the school garden project, both the mural proposed by one of the teachers and also artistic and textual signs for the garden, regarding information about the species of plants used, their importance in Tzutujil culture, and instructions on maintenence, as well as whatever constructs we can make from garbage/recycled materials.

If anyone can recommend an organization, a business or an individual that gives small grants for art or donates art materials, please let me know as I would really like for this to happen by January. I'm gonna start crafting some emails to stores in the US, if they have foundations set up for this kind of thing, expired materials they will throw out, etc...if you have any ideas/connections to art stores or anything related, please let me know! It would be nearly impossible to send them to Guatemala (well, you can pay to do it...but they will end up in the hands of Guatemalan postal workers!) but I have family and friends coming to visit all the time and many have volunteered to bring me things from there.

I'm planning on leaving here in May 2009 and would like to see the project running successfully and in the good hands of people committed to keeping it going, which means that the students in the school have to be interested in it...and art is always a great way to get students involved. I realized how few pictures I had been putting on, so I'm posting a few random school-garden-art/ nature-mixes-with-art pictures off the internet These are not mine! Oops, don't tell--although a friend of mine did design the woman that has vines growing up her legs in spring (Dessa Kirk's sculpture in South Grant Park, Chicago)!!! And the last one, of the mural, was done by one of my best friends, Joel Bergner (www.joelsmurals.com). Click on the images to view larger pics!