Roger Whiting to Unveil Mosaic Project Made at the 7th Annual Craft Lake City DIY Festival
Salt Lake City, Oct 20 — Dual Immersion Academy (DIA), a bilingual Spanish immersion school in the Glendale neighborhood of Salt Lake City, has been undergoing a makeover. Artist Roger Whiting from Community Arts of Utah stepped in as a volunteer and teamed up with Craft Lake City to put together a large mosaic project for the school. Ms. Desirae Pauga’s talented sixth through eighth grade social studies class designed the 9-by-50-foot piece. The theme of the mural is “Los Padres: Maestros de Valores Para el Exito,” or “Parents: Teachers of values that lead to success”. The project came together on fiberglass mesh during Craft Lake City’s DIY Festival in mid-August. Over a hundred people have pitched in to assemble the tiles that make up the mural. The supplies for this amazing project were provided by Home Depot (West Valley City), Habitat for Humanity ReStore, and Community Arts of Utah.
This Thursday, Whiting will unveil the completed mural at a Spanish-language Family Art Night sponsored by the Salt Lake City Arts Council. It will feature a lecture on Mexican art history presented by accomplished art curator Renato Olmedo-González from Artes de Mexico en Utah and a mosaic art workshop by Whiting. Each family attending will leave with a finished work of mosaic art to keep. The event is free and open to the public.
Whiting believes it is important to integrate art experience with children. “Youth need to see that their voices matter, so they can work on developing original, positive ideas and solutions for their lives that can better help us all,” Whiting says, “I love creating murals with youth because they are silly, creative and willing to learn new things.”
A word of appreciation from Roger Whiting to mural project donors: “A big thanks to Home Depot for their generous donation covering most of the supplies that will be used for this project. A thanks as well to the Habitat for Humanity ReStore for donating tiles to the project and their continuous encouragement of my community efforts.”
About The Artist: Roger Whiting: Roger has been creating murals for over a decade. After a brief stint as an art teacher in a public school, he realized that his talents were better suited to project-based learning. He began to focus his energies on grant writing and developing large-scale murals and mosaic projects with youth in low-income and underprivileged communities. His business, Community Arts of Utah, helps to fill the gap for youth who want to have high-quality arts experiences, but would not have the resources in their neighborhoods otherwise.
About Craft Lake City: Craft Lake City is a 501-C3 charitable organization. Our mission is to educate, promote and inspire local artisans while elevating the creative culture of the Utah arts community through science, technology and art. In an effort to keep the community active, educated and aware of local DIY culture, Craft Lake City hosts monthly workshops, gallery shows, fundraisers and an annual festival to promote regional spending with independent artisans, makers and businesses. The 2016 Craft Lake City 8th Annual DIY Festival will be held on the second weekend in August.
Event Details:
Location: Dual Immersion Academy–1155 s Glendale Dr. Salt Lake City, UT
Date: Thursday, Oct 22, 2015
Time: 6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
For more details, contact Roger Whiting: (801) 707-3580, communityartsofutah@gmail.com
