URBAN YOUTH BUILD UNITY THROUGH ART

The Black and White Reunion’s vision is to bring together all races of people working side-by-side, addressing inequality found in our society.

“We are opposed to a reactionary course of action born from crises,” explained George Hogan who sits on the Black and White Reunion Council and explained the group’s work. “We work together to eradicate racism and address inequality in our society.”

Each year, the group holds a summit against racism in January.   It offers a $2,500 scholarship to an outstanding Pittsburgh law school student.  And, it sponsors the Mural Bridge Project, an effort that through creativity and art creates a form of unity through a collaborative dialogue.

“The art is used as a bonding catalyst,” said Hogan.  The Mural Bridge Project was started four or five years ago. Teens from around Allegheny County participate in a weeklong summer program of art, dialogue, and leadership training, during which they create a mural.

“Youth get a chance to dialog on their issues and concerns,” he said. “Speakers will address conflict resolution, personal conduct, policing relations, citizenship and common security, cultural sensitivity, and international awareness, “And, we celebrate diversity,” he added.

Once complete, the 12’ x 8’ portable mural —which bears different themes each year— travels around the greater Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area.  The murals are exhibited in airports, convention centers, conferences, prisons, hospitals, schools and locations determined by the students.

“We want to build a model of Americans values in action,” he said.  Through the art,

we want to empower youth to take leadership roles in their communities,” he said.

Hogan pointed out that The Mural Bridge Project is an effort toward unity.  “The mural gets people to talk face-to-face and to break down stereo-types,” he explained.

This year, 35 youth from different races will come together and create a “Singing Tree” mural.  It is part of the Singing Tree Art Project’s international forest of trees.  Its Author, artist Lori Marshall, said the international mural project, was inspired by Meredith Miller, age 8, of rural Virginia, who asked, “What if all the children of the world made a painting together?”

The teens involved will take blank puzzle-pieces that were drawn on and colored in by the imaginations of children in the Children’s Museum, the Children’s Institute, Children’s Hospital, homeless shelters, and the Shuman Detention Center, and will assemble the completed art puzzle pieces to construct the final mural art — the Allegheny County “Tulip Singing Tree.”

MORE ABOUT THE SINGING TREE—

The basis for the artwork comes from the story, The Singing Tree, by Kate Seredy. Hogan explained, “One night during World War I, soldiers crawled for hours on their bellies to escape the enemy. Everything had been destroyed by the shells, bullets, and violence of war. They didn’t come across any evidence of life — not a house, person, rabbit, squirrel, bird, tree or bush. However, when dawn came, they saw that one tree was still alive. Birds from hundreds of miles away, who don’t normally come together, were in the tree singing.

“This story is used as a metaphor for the earth, which is like the Singing Tree of the Solar System.  All the things that divide people are put in a different perspective when the focus is placed on the fact that there is no other life for billions of miles around.”

In the spring of 2001, a pilot project took place in the Rappahannock County schools (Virginia), under the guidance of then-resident artist Laurie Marshall.  All the children of this small county (about 1000 children) made a painting together.  The first “Singing Tree” was funded by a grant from the Headwaters Foundation.  Next, four more “Singing Trees” were created in Pittsburgh, PA where Marshall currently resides.  High school art students from an inner city school (Peabody) and a suburban school (Mt. Lebanon) painted the background, and cut out leaves, tree trunk and earth so that 4000 students could be a part of the paintings.

All the Singing Trees created to date have been exhibited at the U.S. Botanic Garden as part of their September 11th commemoration.  This included the first international participation — a village in Peru, ex-child soldiers from Sierra Leone and students from Germany.  The next step is to continue inner city-suburban-rural collaborations in the U.S.; to have a collaboration between Native American and urban young people and to create a Singing Tree in Peru, with teenagers again taking a leadership role in designing and preparing the parts for others to use.

A website, www.thesingingtreeproject.org, allows worldwide access to the images and ideas of the project.

In the year 2000, the participants of The Mural Bridge Project mobilized themselves around the theme of America, as they discussed the issues and ultimately produced their own definitions of diversity as design in their mural art.  The artwork became a touring exhibition, serving as a symbol of understanding of America’s multiplicity of cultures.  The Project brought together a wide variety of individuals and groups, and became a centerpiece for dialogues of school-wide, community-wide, and citywide diversity celebrations and a positive message to the community.

The Synod of the Trinity recognized the efforts of the Black and White Reunion’s Mural Bridge Project with a Peacemaking Award.  During the “Let the Healing Begin” Mural Bridge Project, summer school students at the Shuman Detention Center created an   8’ x 8' canvas mandala (circular design) entitled “Let the Healing Begin” (pictured). They dedicated it to Robert Dixon, age 22 years, who was brutally murdered in the Pittsburgh community during the 2001 school year.

“Many students and staff of the Shuman Center knew Dixon,” explained Hogan. “It is their way of speaking up and out in protest, rage, anger, and frustration at the unnecessary escalation of crimes and violence.”

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