A Mural Rising for Summer Rising at East Bronx Academy

UPDATE!!

Students and teachers celebrated with a special mural unveiling on Thursday, August 12, 2021. Enjoy the brilliant final masterpiece!!!

---

original post August 4, 2021

Students at East Bronx Academy eagerly began painting a large outdoor mural as part of Summer Rising under the artistic direction of esteemed muralists Vanezza Cruz and SIENIDE. Arts Horizons and East Bronx Academy of the Future are proud to have received this special grant award through the New York City Department of Educations’ Office of Arts and Special Projects, made possible by the New York City Artist Corps. Students filled the recently renovated park area with splashes of color against the backdrop of a new basketball court and park benches overlooking blooming flowers along a colorful walking path. This park gives residents peace and tranquility within a busy South Bronx neighborhood, and the mural is an ideal addition to the school and a great way for the community to come together through the arts.

The mural design process was led by Vanezza with close collaboration from Principal Sarah Scrogin and Assistant Principal Steven Brady of East Bronx Academy as well as Principal Emily Shu of Bronx Envision Academy, a school co-located in the building. Students shared their ideas in special workshops which led to the rich design depicting iconography that represents the school and surrounding community: a knight, cacti, and the subway. The knight [school’s mascot/logo] symbolizes strength, honor, integrity and courage. The cacti represent resilience, endurance and fortitude as they are known to survive in new environments and situations all the while remaining adaptable and strong. Lastly, the subway is a unifying factor for the entire school campus as their building is right next to the 174th Street train station in the Bronx. The stack of books and the apple in the shield echo elements of education. The decorative dark hands symbolize an otherworldly power of protection and guidance, and colored in a way to represent the gamut of skin tones amongst the BIPOC community in the area.

SIENIDE joins Ms. Cruz at East Bronx Academy as an artist and teaching assistant, and together, they carefully guide students to make their mark on the newly primed wall while implementing newly learned techniques in color theory, color mixing and painting. Students from both schools work collaboratively to help bring to life this stunning largescale mural which will be unveiled in a special opening ceremony in August 2021. We are excited to see the final result and cannot wait to share the images of the mural that will cheerfully welcome students, staff and community members back into the school community after a very tumultuous school year in pandemic.

About the Artists:

Vanezza Cruz is a mixed media artist, graphic designer and with an early education in fine arts and music, she graduated Cum Laude from FIT with a BFA in Graphic Design. After working as a graphic designer in the fashion industry, she pursued her MFA in Printmaking at Lehman College. Working as an Art Education Administrator, a freelancer and a muralist, she continues to explore her passions of drawing, binding books, taking pictures, creating collages, and other creative odds and ends. Her work explores ideas of body image and beauty, cultural identity and representations of women.

SIENIDE is a multi-layered artist whose life and is inspired by life and art. Dozens of Sien’s masterfully illustrated murals are scattered throughout the five boroughs of NYC. His public works engage a younger generation of street art enthusiasts with abstract compositions and mood altering color. SIENIDE is an Illustrator, and Professor currently teaching Digital Media Arts at TCI College in New York City.

For more information , please contact Kiran Rajagopalan:

---

Kiran Rajagopalan
Director of New York Programs
kiran@artshorizons.org 
201-567-1766 ext. 113