Second Mural in Rafah

The Maia Mural Brigade was super charged at the end of our time in Gaza and painted two murals in one day. This one was created at Tuyou Al-Jenna school which is one of the sites of the water purification systems so badly needed in Gaza. Bringing awareness to this important issue was one of the main objectives of the
Maia Mural Project.







The Inspiration
Mohammad, Awesome Palestinian Artist

Rachel Corrie Mural in Rafah

The Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace and Justice funded one of the water filtration systems at the Afaq Jadeeda Kindergarten in Rafah, Gaza.

The memorial mural in Rafah was one of eight murals painted by American and Palestinian artists as part of the Maia Mural Project.





To find out more about Rachel Corrie, please visit the website.

Mosaic Murals

Since I have been focusing on the impending Maia Mural Project, my friend Rebeccah sent me a link to Lewis Lavoie's Mural Mosaic.

Mural Mosaic is a process invented by artist Lewis Lavoie that takes individual paintings and places them in a specific order to create a large painting. In 2004, Lavoie took his process and involve other artists. He pre-prepares panels with color tones and shapes. Using the color guidelines on the prepared panels as inspiration artists create a painting using their own style within the "theme" of the mural subject. All the panels are reunited to create the final image which is kept a secret until the final unveiling.

Each tile is one foot square. At the website you can click on each tile to see them in detail. Truly amazing!

Watch him create a mural....

Murals

A new art expression for me......MURALS!

This July, thirteen artists, art therapists, teachers, organizers, and psychologists from Olympia, San Francisco and beyond will be traveling to Gaza in order to collaborate with Palestinian youth and artists to design, paint and document, A Tale of Two Cities - The MAIA Mural Project!

We will begin our trip with an orientation and training throughout Israel and the West bank, where we will meet with Jewish Israeli and Palestinian artists and activists.

The MAIA Mural Project will be a series of collaborative murals focusing on environmental justice, specifically water or ‘maia’ in Arabic. The group will work with youth and artists in Gaza to paint murals at sites of the water purification units that the Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA) is installing at schools and kindergartens. The quality of water in Gaza has been eroded, particularly in the Israeli assault of 2008-9, creating a severe health hazard to which children are most vulnerable.

You will be able to follow The MAIA Mural Project as it unfolds on blogs, Twitter, Facebook and Flickr! You will find uploaded video interviews with Palestinian partners, giving you a real sense of our experience and all of the amazing individuals involved. This extensive documentation will become part of a growing global conversation about resources, water, solidarity, cross-movement building and non-violent resistance to oppression.

Example of mural in Olympia which will be incorporated into the project.

The leaf near the upper right corner with the bird of peace, OM, and world is the one I created.

There are many ways that you can support this unique endeavor! Donations of any amount will help towards airfare and paint! All donations are tax deductible and can be made at www.olympiarafahmural.org – click, MAIA Murals.

If you live in Olympia.......The MAIA Mural Project Café and One Big Drawing will take place on Saturday, June 18th from 5-10pm at Mariah Art School, 1403 Garfield Ave, NW, Olympia WA. Come enjoy a nice meal and drinks, and live acoustic music will begin at 7pm. Susan Greene, director of ORSMP and Ziad Abbas, director of MECA will introduce the project and share images from past projects in Palestine as well as the process of ORSMP and the MAIA Water purification units.

This will truly be life changing experience!