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“Spooky” Eyesore Primed For A Happy Face
by Thomas MacMillan | May 28, 2010 11:12 am
(5) Comments | Commenting has been closed | E-mail the Author
Posted to: Arts, Newhallville
A group of teens is putting a new face on a “dirty,” “ugly,” and “spooky” abandoned building in Newhallville.
Those were some of the adjectives used by teens in a leadership program at the Your Place youth center as they gathered at the corner of Starr Street and Winchester Avenue. They were looking at the side of 568 Winchester Ave., an abandoned building with boarded-up windows and a peeling graffiti mural on the wall.
That wall will be covered in a brand new mural in a few weeks. The Your Place teens were there to begin the creative process by taking a look at the wall and imagining what they’d like to see in it’s place.
The project is being spearheaded by Sarah Custer (at center in photo), an AmeriCorps volunteer at Neighborhood Housing Services of New Haven. Standing on a step on Tuesday, Custer asked the teens to describe the building, eliciting the adjectives above.
Custer asked them how the building makes them feel.
“Disgusted,” said one.
“Like I want to slap somebody,” said another.
Custer said she wanted to work with the teens to create a new mural, one made with community input. “I really want this to be something where the whole community has buy-in,” she said. “This can be your project. ... You can really have an active stand.”
Custer made a plan with Your Place program manager for the teens to draw and write on Wednesday about what they’d like the mural to look like.
The mural will be painted with the help of artist Katro Storm, who’s responsible for the READ mural at the Stetson Branch library on Dixwell Avenue.
The Sherwin-Williams company has volunteered to spray-clean and prime the wall in preparation for the mural, Custer said.
Painting will begin on June 7.
Asked later what they want the mural to look like, several young people shouted out answers. “Kids holding hands singing Kumbaya. ... Smiling faces.”
What message do you want to send?
“Heal the world!” said 15-year-old Moet Bacote (in top photo, in blue shirt).
“Stop the violence in New Haven!” said 16-year-old A’Nesha White (at left in top photo).
Can a mural really stop violence?
Definitely, said White.
“No,” said 17-year-old Jordan Young (in photo below, second from right), seated nearby. That’s not realistic, he said.
No mural can do that, said Jamel Outlaw (at right in photo below). But it could be a start for something, he added.
Post a Comment
Comments
posted by: HewNaven?? on May 28, 2010 12:37pm
Very cool! With these kids leading the project and with Katro’s help I know this will be a great success!
And, don’t underestimate the power of a mural to affect your surroundings. Usually, people respond more to symbols than to speech. Symbols trigger a visceral reaction. Positive symbols = positive actions.
posted by: NHS of New Haven on May 28, 2010 1:29pm
Please join us on June 2 at 6pm at the Stetson Branch Library (200 Dixwell Ave) for a mural planning meeting. We would love to hear your ideas about the project.
If you are interested in helping us paint the mural, or for more information, contact Sarah Custer at 203-562-0598 or scuster(at)nhsofnewhaven.org
posted by: Ned on May 28, 2010 9:06pm
Has anyone contacted the building owner for permission to rectify this eyesore? It would be a shame if one of these kids got hurt on the property and then had to sue the pants off of the owner, or the city… Also, aren’t boarded up windows against the city ordinance? Maybe eminent domain could be used to turn this building into a community center?
posted by: Josiah Brown on May 29, 2010 12:12am
This sounds like a terrific project.
Several New Haven teachers, as Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute Fellows, have developed curriculum units—available for non-commercial, educational purposes—related to public art and murals.
These Fellows and their units include:
Val-Jean Belton http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/guides/1996/3/96.03.09.x.html
http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/guides/2001/4/01.04.01.x.html
Maria Cardalliaguet Gomez-Malaga http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/guides/2006/2/06.02.01.x.html
Susan Norwood http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/guides/1999/2/99.02.06.x.html
Diane Platt http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/guides/1993/4/93.04.03.x.html
Melissa Sands http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/guides/2008/3/08.03.05.x.html
posted by: Bob on May 30, 2010 11:40am
Great effort by these kids, these are the type of kids that dont get enough recognition in the papers and the news. Unfortunately, all the paint in the world wont change the drug dealing, the crack addicts and alcoholics hanging out right around the corner of this building on the Winchester Ave side. You wanna talk about community policing, lets start with this community policing itself, and to not tolerate the nonsense that occurs on this corner 20 of the 24 hours of every day.
