Day 9 (Mon., June 7)

Caption: (from left) Carlos Canul, Elizabeth Amaro and Manuel Pulido form Gecko Innovations, a Dallas-based painting company that paints murals throughout the city. Here, they pose in front of a mural at Cesar Chavez Primary School in Forth Worth.

Caption: Carlos Canul, makes the finishing touches on a mural at Cesar Chavez Primary School in Forth Worth.

First off, I want to say Happy Birth date to my mama, Rocio. Sorry that I can't be out there w/ you on this special day, but I am out here trying to make you proud. It's been a while since I missed mama's b-day. I think last time I wasn't w/ her on her b-day was in 1997, when she still lived in Mexico. Well, I know I'm far away, but I want to say Happy B-Day Mom! Today's assignment was very inspiring. I was sent out to shoot three successful artists. Manuel, Elizabeth and Carlos form Gecko Innovations, a new company comprised of these talented artists from the Dallas area. They were putting the finishing touches on a mural at Cesar Chavez Primary School in Forth Worth. Going to this assignment took me back to a resent past. This spring semester I took a painting class with Chicana artist Yreina Cervantez. That course was very inspiring as I learned a lot about Chicano art. Carlos mentioned that the three artists are fine artists first of all, but some of their work (especially the Cesar Chavez mural) could be labeled as Chican@ art. The three artists took me to J.P. Elder Middle School, where they worked on two murals. Their work was very inspiring and its great to see Raza artists succeed. The artists mentioned that for the inauguration ceremony at Cesar Chavez will feature Cesar Chavez Jr. They made me feel very comfortable and I am hoping they invite along to their next project so I can get a good photo-story about these three talented artists.

Yesterday-Main-Tomorrow