The mural of Maite, designed by Hernandez with assistance from Magaly, shows her sitting on top of a stack of books, surrounded by an array of colorful coral reef fish and other sea life. Amerie Jo is surrounded by sunflowers-her favorite flower-and an artist palette, since she loved art. The mural depicts the 10-year-old in her favorite lavender dress and the bronze cross that was awarded to her posthumously from the Girl Scouts for her incredible bravery in dialing 9-1-1 during the shooting. “I helped with the dress detail that Amerie Jo was wearing and blocked out colors and just other little parts here and there,” De Leon said. The artists then mocked up a sketch, using the forms and photos as a guide, and presented it to the project committee for approval.ĭe Leon worked with San Antonio muralist Cristina Noriega to complete the mural of Amerie Jo.

They provided photographs and information on the person.” We provided background forms for the families to fill out if they were willing to give us permission to paint. 'We waited until the last funerals were over to reach out to them. “We could not do any of these murals if we didn’t have the blessings of the families first,' Ortiz said. I felt if I could contribute somehow, maybe we could help the families ease their pain even just a little bit.”Įach artist was assigned to capture one of the 21 individuals with the blessing of their families, Ortiz said. I make art and I know art can heal in multiple different ways. I walked in that same building when I was a kid,” De Leon said. “I later saw that Abel Ortiz was involved in it as well, so that’s when I knew I had to reach out to him and let him know I’m not a (professional) muralist, but I’m an artist and I can help in any way possible.”įor De Leon, who once attended Robb Elementary-contributing to this project was something she knew she had to do. She then talked to us a little bit about the project,” De Leon said. “I was working on another mural when Monica came by and gave me and the other muralist her card. Twenty-one portrait muralists from around Texas, as well as dozens of artists assistants, are coming together to contribute to this project, including several Roadrunners such as San Antonio muralist Ana Hernandez ’17, artist Gabi Magaly ’20 and Alina De Leon, a current UTSA fine arts student and Uvalde native. She had a lot of connections with muralists from all over the state.” We brought her on board as a project manager. “Eventually I got a response from Monica Maldonado who runs a non-profit in Austin called MAS Cultura.

“Once they helped spread the word, I started getting responses from San Antonio and other areas in Texas,” Ortiz said. Together with the Collectors of Chicano/Latinx Art and Allies, a group for collectors of Chicano art on Facebook, Ortiz approached the San Antonio Cultural Arts Center to help spread the word of his initiative.

Ortiz wanted to paint some murals on his gallery’s building, but after thinking further, he believed this was something that needed to go across the entire community. And as an artist of course, we’re going to think about art first.” “That got me thinking how I needed to take some form of action. These students will not be a number,’” Ortiz said. “The day after the tragedy, I was watching the reports and one of my former art students, Kimberly Rubio, was hugging her husband Felix who was being interviewed and he said, ‘These deaths will not be in vain. Following the horrific May 24 tragedy, Ortiz-who has a been a part of the Uvalde community since 2003 after becoming a professor at Southwest Texas Junior College-knew he wanted to do something to help the community that immediately embraced him almost 20 years ago.

Another word for capture