Isabahlia Garden Mural project, August, 2013.

This is just one of the projects Xmental has been working on in cooperation with the Center for Court Innovation, http://www.courtinnovation.org/, and I had the pleasure of designing.

“Background on NYC Community Cleanup in operation since 2009, NYC Community Cleanup is a citywide initiative designed to serve communities with visible signs of disorder. Community Cleanup began as an effort to utilize the model of targeted community payback pioneered by three community courts in New York City – the Midtown Community Court, the Red Hook Community Justice Center, and Bronx Community Solutions.

Researchers have documented that these projects have changed local sentencing practices, repaired conditions of neighborhood disorder, and increased defendant perceptions concerning the fairness of court procedures (Frazer, 2006; Hakuta, et al, 2008; Henry & Kralstein, 2011; Katz, 2009; Sviridoff, et al, 2001). Community Cleanup operates as a project of the Center for Court Innovation with funding from the Mayor’s Office of the Criminal Justice Coordinator.”

Read more here –

http://www.courtinnovation.org/sites/default/files/documents/community_cleanup.pdf

I was asked to create a design that incorporated big flowers and a chicken….I think it works. I even got to add a dandelion 🙂

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We collaborated with the dedicated members of Community Cleanup, especially Dwayne and Ben, without whom we would not have any supplies and no spray to stop the itchy bug bites! The kids did an amazing job, painting all the flowers in bright and bold colors. It made it much easier for us to come back and finish up the details.

The best part of standing on a chair, spray paint in your nose, paintbrush hanging from your mouth, palette about to fall to the ground, is having a kid ask you how you’re doing that. It’s an incredible testament to the power of art that they stop to watch and ask and listen intently. Their interest is real and spontaneous. I hope I give them answers that encourage them to find their own chair, wall and brush…legally, of course…;)

02 Aug This entry was published on August 2, 2013 at 6:38 pm. It’s filed under artwork and tagged brooklyn, brownsville, center for court innovation, community, community cleanup, flowers, isabahlia garden, mural, paint, rooster, xmental. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.