[RP TownTalk] Subject: Re: Mural Idealist

[marc stauffer]

Chris wrote:
I'm hoping to stick with the native Indian theme.  My class will be  
trying to follow all the leads that have been posted, as I hope others  
will also.   Thanks all...

Chris,
I applaud your idea of wanting to focus the content of the mural on  
the indigenous Native American population. However, I've got a pretty  
strong reaction to how you conceive of describing the theme in the  
mural. You mentioned that our history is one of "honor and shame".  It  
seems to me though that your conception of the mural is to not address  
the rich complexity of the town and nation's history.  It strikes me  
that your proposed idea of the content of the mural stems from your  
particular view of history and how you would prefer to have it  
represented.

My reaction is that a mural so narrowly focused leaves out a great  
deal of the complicated, and often painful, subject matter that makes  
up the history of the area interesting and rich.  It seems  
disingenuous to me to produce a public, community-based mural that  
focuses solely on one narrow conception of our shared history.  You  
have asked for community input, as well as the input of your students,  
and have suggested a particular theme, but then acknowledge that your  
team does "not have the time or inclination to research specifics  
about the American Indians that walked paths along the anacostia  
tributaries".   I don't understand how one can propose to create a  
historical mural without doing the research work necessary to  
adequately and honestly portray that history.

As others have mentioned there are an abundance of historical  
resources nearby and easily available that could be drilled into to so  
your students and we as a community, could collaboratively create a  
mural that depicts a particular slice of our shared history with as  
much historical richness and complexity as possible.  It strikes me  
that delving into the history and coming up with a mural that  
interprets that body of material in a multiplicity of ways (through  
various creators of content and mural panels) enriches the educational  
value and substance of the process for your students, as well as all  
of us who will read the mural over time.  It may be my views stem from  
an equally particular and personal sense of how a community mural /  
art project should be constructed, so take the comments as you wish.

Regards,
marc stauffer
4913 ravenswood rd.





-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://riverdale-park.org/pipermail/towntalk/attachments/20090424/4a694d88/attachment-0002.html>