The past few days I’ve been taking the bus from Alexandria to Arlington. We live in a diverse neighborhood on the north end of Alexandria, close to a large Latino community made up of mostly Central American immigrants. Since I am usually one of the few gringos on the bus, it sort of reminds me of being in Costa Rica, which is where I first started making art for others besides myself. Even though I worked in community economic development as a Peace Corps Volunteer with the local people of La Cruz de Abangares, I especially enjoyed collaborating with several of them on artwork for public display. So I thought I’d post some pictures of that work, along with a few other non-art projects!
-
- Custom Mural at General Store in La Cruz de Abangares, Costa Rica
- Paintings of local cultural symbols that I did with the kids. The top reads, in English, “proudly Guanacastecan.” Guanacaste is the province.
- World map mural on side of school with all of the countries in Spanish. We used this for geography lessons, competitions and games! I also taught Junior Achievement and English at the school.
- One of the initial meetings with board members during the formation of ECC La Cruz, a community credit bank that I led the establishment of, in partnership with FINCA Costa Rica.
- Yes, this was indirectly a part of my job! This waterfall rapelling tour is one of the tour options of Finca Modelo, a local, family-owned eco-tourism farm that I closely helped with marketing and expansion efforts.
- Pinocho and Don Herman playing pool in the back room of the pulpería – 2 of the best in La Cruz. I had many pool battles with them.