Street Art In San Miguel: Celebrating An Ancient Stream And Young Artists

hace 2 horas
3 Min. de lectura

By Colleen Sorenson

An ancient stream runs through our city. For centuries, its waters sustained people and wildlife, enabling settlement, nourishing orchards and livelihoods, and shaping daily life. To celebrate this ancient stream and our local artists, La Vida de Las Cachinches is a captivating new mural project along the arroyo, promoting respect and the beauty of our urban nature.

Twelve San Miguel artists are coming together in April 19^ththrough 22^nd, partnering with Sociedad Audubon de México A.C. and Puente Viejo Residencial, to bring new life to the arroyo with colorful large-scale murals of joyful connection between our community and the urban nature along one of our important waterways. When looking into the arroyo, what do you see? Along with history, reverence of water and flourishing plant life, we find furry critters, reptiles, turtles, insects, birds, frogs, toads and now fish in the pools that have formed from a continuous flow of water. Along the pathway, designated areas have been located for native plant pollination gardens.

April Gaydos, president of Sociedad Audubon de México A.C. since 2014, knew right away she wanted to get involved in community projects back in 2010 when she first arrived in San Miguel from California. She decided on Sociedad Audubon de México, first founded in 1967 by Lilian Birkenttein, to be a perfect fit and found ways to take the message even further. Audubon's programs now include, among others, Nature in the City and Niños y Naturaleza. "Bird conservation and habitat protection remain central to our mission, but we believe that protecting our environment begins with helping people deepen their connections to nature. A focus is on educating children and to engage them in habitat conservation because they will inherit this earth."

I like tending gardens. While working one day with other volunteers at the pollination garden in Parque Juárez, April and I reminisced back to the planning and cancellation of a 2014 mural festival along the Cachinches and how it has remained mostly a vacant 'missed opportunity'. I asked her, "Want to try again?" Her immediate response was a “Yes”. We remembered back to when the Cachinches was more or less an ignored place. Down into the arroyo were collections of garbage and the walls of houses along the banks were covered with unsightly tagging. The arroyo had largely been reduced to a storm drain, in places marked by pollution and neglect, and its significance had been virtually forgotten. As April and I explored along the walkway, she commented on our observations, "...and yet, it persists: an exceptional urban wildlife corridor and shared public space, still holding potential for connection, stewardship, and renewal."

We went off to visit with the management of Puente Viejo Residential who loved the idea of murals showcasing our urban nature and pollination gardens. They were happy to offer 90 meters of their wall along the Cachinches to our local artists, beginning at Calzada de Aurora. Working now with 5 schools and 300 children in the Niños y Naturaleza program, April will invite the many schools along the arroyo to make new connections with our waterway and all that is found there. "This project is a reminder of San Miguel's origins. It is a revitalization of the Las Cachinches Creek, reconnecting people with the waterway that once made settlement in San Miguel possible."

We are inviting the business community, along with all others, to participate with support by sponsoring a mural, tax credits provided by Sociedad Audubon de México A.C. Sponsorships cover the costs of each mural, including payment for artists and 5-7 years of high visibility for your name, business or group. With three levels of sponsorship, it's a beautiful way to be a part of San Miguel's art history. Under the fiscal sponsorship of Audubon de México, this project of contemporary murals featuring our waterway and urban nature is proposed to be sustainable all along the entire length of the Cachinches with our local San Miguel artists in charge of organizing each new mural event. This first project on April 19^th through April 22^nd, is Audubon's opening story of the Arroyo Las Cachinches while also celebrating our local artists who will then continue the story forward.