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Hundreds of students, families, staff, and community members celebrated La Escuela Fratney\u2019s colorful new mural last month.\u00a0Artist Tia Richardson named the mural \u201cCreciendo Unidos\u201d \u2014 growing together \u2014 which also is the motto of Fratney.<\/p>\n
The mural was made possible by the family of Sylvia Levine, a former teacher, Riverwest resident, and art lover. Seeking a way to honor her memory, her family approached La Escuela Fratney Principal Sara Cruz. Cruz suggested their generous donation be used to paint a mural on the school\u2019s large south wall.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are extremely grateful for their gift, and we also want to thank the Bader (Philanthropies) Foundation for donating funds for installation of the mural,\u201d Cruz said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is now, with this mural, that what we value, honor, and teach inside the school building is on display outside the school building for our entire Riverwest and Milwaukee community to enjoy,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
Some of the values of Fratney, which is the only dual language English-Spanish school on Milwaukee\u2019s north side, can be seen in the mural, the principal said. For instance, respect is portrayed by an image of a teacher welcoming a child to a classroom. It\u2019s also seen in the symbol for Fratney School, which was suggested by a parent: a huge heart.<\/p>\n
\u201cTia and her team of artists were able to put the students at the center of this big heart, and that is where we believe students should be, at the center of our hearts and the center of all that we do at our school,\u201d Cruz said.<\/p>\n
The diversity of students in the mural will let the school\u2019s students see themselves in it. In the past school year, Cruz noted, the staff welcomed families from Colombia, Nicaragua, Honduras, Venezuela, Mexico, and other countries to La Escuela Fratney.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe hope that, through this mural, all those who have left their country of origin, coming to Milwaukee for safety, education, and job opportunities, will know that we welcome them and embrace the unique stories they bring with them,\u201d Cruz said.<\/p>\n
Other school values can be seen in the mural: Students marching for children\u2019s rights, which represents a focus on equity and social justice, and students reading together in English and Spanish, representing \u201chow much we value and honor students\u2019 home languages and multilingualism,\u201d Cruz explained.<\/p>\n
The mural is 40 feet by 16 feet, painted in acrylic on aluminum panels. Besides the artist and her team of assistants, the mural\u2019s creation involved more than 300 La Escuela Fratney students, families, staff, and community members, beginning with visioning sessions in the fall of 2023.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur students were involved in every step of the design and painting process,\u201d Cruz said. Richardson and her team completed the painting’s finishing touches.<\/p>\n
Miguel Sanchez, MPS East Regional Superintendent, observed, \u201cWhen we work together, great things happen. This mural is a beautiful example of that.\u201d<\/p>\n
The artist said the mural reflects her own values as well as the school\u2019s. “It’s about unity and diversity, working across cultures for the common good,” Richardson said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I look at this mural, I\u2019m inspired by the richness of the different stories in the images,\u201d the artist said.<\/p>\n
That includes \u201cstories of immigration and finding a new place to put down roots,\u201d Richardson said, adding, \u201cFratney is a place where everyone can belong and feel safe and cared for.\u201d<\/p>\n
Richardson\u2019s work can be seen across Milwaukee. The numerous locations include Al Jarreau Park, N. 30th and W. Locust streets; the I-794 piers downtown; Black Cat Alley, off E. Ivanhoe Place; the Milwaukee County Courthouse\u2019s lower level; and the Donald J. O\u2019Connell Memorial Auditorium in MPS Central Services.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hundreds of students, families, staff, and community members celebrated La Escuela Fratney\u2019s colorful new mural last month.\u00a0Artist Tia Richardson named the mural \u201cCreciendo Unidos\u201d \u2014 growing together \u2014 which also is the motto of Fratney. The mural was made possible by the family of Sylvia Levine, a former teacher, Riverwest resident, and art lover. Seeking […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5813","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mps.school\/fratney\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5813","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mps.school\/fratney\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mps.school\/fratney\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mps.school\/fratney\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mps.school\/fratney\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5813"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mps.school\/fratney\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5813\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mps.school\/fratney\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mps.school\/fratney\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mps.school\/fratney\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}