Student artist beautifies hallway with creative murals
At the International School of the Americas, you’ll find a story painted along these walls.
Kyren Stevenson is a junior at ISA.
“It kind of just brightens up the school hallway; it gives students something to look at and just enjoy as they walk down,” the seventeen-year-old said.
With the help of fellow students from the allied campuses of LEE, NESA, STEM Academy, ISA artist Rachel Kamata works on painting a mural inside cubby holes in the language hall.
“I think art reveals a lot about a city or peoples’ culture that you wouldn’t see otherwise. How do people express themselves; what is important to keep as a physical piece or artwork instead of a memory; how do people want to share messages through artwork,” Kamata said.
The seventeen-year-old high school senior said she has always been interested in art and started taking classes in middle school.
“I joined an afterschool art program in the summer of eighth grade and I’m still in that program, it’s called Mosaic through Blue Star Contemporary, she said.
Her mural in the language hall paints a welcoming message.
“As a student at the International School of Americas, we have a sister school in Takayama, Japan and they send exchange students here and students get to go there. I went two years ago during the summer and I had a wonderful experience so this mural is a way to honor the relationship between our two schools,” Kamata added.
She was inspired by that Japanese Exchange program and wants to create an innovative mural to fuse the two cities together.
“Interestingly, the name of the town that they are in is Takayama and I thought well, how can I incorporate San Antonio into that name, so instead of ‘taka’ we have taco. This doll is called ‘sarubobo;’ it’s red. It’s something that has been passed down there that grandparents make for their children and so we are going to have the doll eating the taco. Around that we have different statues from around San Antonio. On the left side, we have symbols from Japan,” Kamata said.
Her younger sister Jane is also helping with the painting project. They work almost every day afterschool on the mural.
“I’ve started to grid lines here and we are going to put writing about the exchange program so that when people come and look at the mural, they don’t just see how pretty it is, they can also see what the meaning behind it is,” Jane Kamata said.
ISA reaches students through a unique learning experience.
Art teacher, Ms. Puentes, said she loves to see Rachel spending her free time beautifying the hallways and engaging her peers.
“Art is really important because for many students, their extracurricular activities are the reason why they come to school. Art, music, and theater, all extracurriculars are a place where students can be themselves. It’s a place where students can work with their peers and express themselves. It’ a place where they can communicate their ideas; it’s a safe space for a lot of kids,” Puentes said.
Students from NHS (National Honor Society) and NAHS (National Art Honor Society) have also come to help with the art project.
Kyren, who is helping with the painting, agrees.
“Having something here that is culturally unique kind of spreads the word about what ISA is all about,” she said.
After high school, Rachel plans to attend a university and double major in International Relations and Art.
To see more of the work from ISA artists, you can find them here on Instagram: @ISA_VISUAL_ARTS.
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