A shocking event happened September
11, 2001 that is etched forever in our memory.
Almost 70 years ago, another “event of horror” occurred
in a place called “Guernica”.
On that April day, Nazi Luftwaffe bombed and machine-gunned
the small Spanish town of Guernica,
killing thousands of innocent people. In response to this “act
of terror”, Pablo Picasso painted his masterpiece, what
would become one of the most famous paintings in the world today.
The
day after 9/11, one of our art students walked into class and
asked if they could “paint their feelings” about
what happened the day before. In the next few weeks, almost
200 art students painted their interpretation of that cruel
act of terror.
The individual works were so “moving”; we
decided to put some of the works together into a “Guernica-like” mural,
just as Picasso did 70 years ago.
With
canvas, paint, and brushes donated by a local paint store, Forty-Four
art students worked and created,covered up and reworked for
over six weeks. They worked in early morning and just after
school, painting on the flat canvas spanning the floor of a
hallway of SBMS.
The
mural was so large that we exhibited it outside, hanging and
covering the side of a school bus. The images speak for themselves.
A lone dove falls from the sky. An American flag is torn apart
and becomes wings of an eagle as it emerges from a screaming
figure. Flames fill the sky with smoke and are mirrored by candlelight.
Tears fall, yet hope, bravery, and the spirit of a child fills
the canvas.
The
student artists experienced a healing; they felt a part of the
world, patriotic, proud, and transformed from despair to courage.
Their art will be forever etched in their hearts, and ours too.
David
Butler
Art
Specialist
SpringBranchMiddle
School
SBISD
