The Mark Making Stove Works team
The Mark Making team working in the studio
The Mark Making school hallway scene before installation
The Mark Making installation at Stove Works
The Mark Making installation at Stove Works
The Mark Making portrait section installed
Local youth participated in workshops led by Mark Making, a local art-based nonprofit organization, to design and create a mural from start to finish based on themes that affect them personally: the challenges of getting a good education, namely the bullying, drug abuse and gang activity happening every day in their schools.
Kennedy Bass, Skylar Muhammad, Ricardo Nache and Tahlia Smith identified a theme suitable for the challenging site offered by Charlotte Caldwell at Stove Works, and collaborated with creatives Josiah Golson and Genesis the Greykid to develop drawings and words appropriate for their concept.
"It is an honor and quite humbling to be the location of 'It's Our Turn'. said Charlotte Caldwell, director of Stove Works. "It is a testament to the fortitude and ambition of youth. By becoming the agents of their truths and of others, Skylar, Kennedy, Tahlia, and Ricardo have created a mural that resonates and wells within each of us."
The mural features a school hallway where bullying, drug abuse and gang activity are taking place, a group portraits of the youth who are apart and have made decisions to avoid these behaviors. They hope to inspire other teens and say “It’s Our Turn” to have civic focus on the hard core issues that determine the future of us all. On the bottom panels are listed those who have died from bullycide, drug overdose or as a result of gang activity. It’s time for these unnecessary deaths to stop, said officials.
“We want to show the community that we have power, power of choice," said Ms. Muhammad, director of public relations. "We want to show teens that they have power too.”
The youth were hired by Mark Making to create this project from scratch and once a visual concept and mock up were ready, they learned about funding to support the mural execution. To this end, they wrote and were awarded an ArtsBuild grant, made numerous public presentations and created a video for a GoFundMe campaign that secured the rest of the funding.
“We hope this mural will start conversations about the world we live in today,” said Ms. Smith, project director.
The unveiling celebration of "It's Our Turn" will be Thursday, May 13, at 5:30 pm. in the courtyard at Stove Works.