Farmworkers kids' art has powerful message
--Published May 11, 1997, in The Miami Herald
In an art gallery just off Miami Beach's newly renovated
Lincoln Road, the paintings and drawings of youngsters from a different world seek to be
recognized.
The works at first may appear simple, done with basic materials. But a closer look reveals
some powerful messages.
The artists are children of farmworkers in South Dade. They do not have easy lives. They
struggle with financial and social pressures, and many are seeking an identity that
straddles their Mexican heritage and American lives.
It's all laid bare at Arte del Centro, a special exhibit sponsored by the Metro-Dade
Cultural Affairs Council, Centro Campesino and Local Initiatives Support Corp. Arte del
Centro is on display at the artcenter/south florida artsite gallery, 1655 Lenox Ave.,
Miami Beach.
The artwork, drawn by kids in elementary through high school,
shatters stereotypes.
``I think the message is really subtle,'' said Xavier Cortada, the artist in residence at
the ``Art Shack,'' the name given to the Centro Campesino program where the young artists
worked.
``The exhibit talks about how Centro Campesino has helped in the mainstreaming of those
kids,'' he said. ``These kids are voiceless. Through art, they're expressing themselves.''
Rafael Alcaraz, 15, a sophomore at Homestead High School,
has very little art training. Yet the teenager's painting of a bluish-purple figure with
raised arms and a metal dagger piercing his heart, moved many of those who saw it
Thursday, the opening day of the exhibit.
``It's just what came into my head,'' Rafael said.
For Claribel Gomez, 10, a fourth-grader at A.L. Lewis Elementary, sharing her colorful
rainbow with birds flying across it was like sharing a present.
``I like the rainbow in the sky because when it stops raining, it shows,'' she said. ``I
like the colors in the rainbow.''
Steve Mainster, executive director of Centro Campesino, said the project is an attempt to
give kids an outlet and keep them out of trouble.
``It's a nonthreatening way in which young people are expressing themselves, getting to
know themselves, relating with our staff and avoiding breaking from the adult world,'' he
said.
Supporting programs such as the ``Art Shack'' are a worthwhile investment, according to
Barbara Bernham, the newly hired senior program director at LISC.
``Being able to teach that there are other ways to express themselves other than through
violence, that is absolutely part of community building,'' she said. ``It's the kids who
are the future of that community.''
The exhibit runs through June 8.
|