Maria Nagle
The Pantagraph
When 16-year-old Oskar Urquizo saw his silhouette Friday on a retaining wall across Olive Street from the Bloomington Public Library and City Hall, he was taken aback.
"It's kind of scary because how accurate it looks like me," said Urquizo.
But more importantly for Urquizo is why his silhouette and those of six other McLean County Diversity Project students — known as "scholars" — are being painted on the wall.
The silhouettes anchor a 115-foot-long section of a mural the youths are creating to spotlight efforts by Not In Our Town of Bloomington-Normal to end hatred and bigotry in the communities.
Local artist Vince Bobrosky is guiding the students to allow their personal narrative to become visual art. Each scholar's silhouette is the centerpiece of a section the scholar will complete his or her own way.
"Me and my dad were racially profiled here in Bloomington, so that is one of the main reasons why I wanted to be part of the project," said Urquizo, who grew up not far from the wall.
"There are so many things you wouldn't know about a person unless you talked to them," added Urquizo. "This project is kind of showing the differences between all of the different people in our community."
Other silhouettes are of Oskar's sister Olivia, 12, Abhiru Raut, 13, and Ved Lombar, whose age was unavailable, all of Bloomington; brothers Richie Beck, 16, and Max Beck, 13, both of Colfax; and Molly Klessig, 13, of Downs.
Klessig said she wants to use the image of a Protea, a South African flower, in her portion of the mural.
"It's really kind of perfect,” said Klessig, who was among four scholars at work on the mural Friday. “It represents diversity."
After the students complete the mural over the summer a dedication ceremony will be announced.
To go along with the mural project, two other scholars — Kristin Koe, 18, and Ethan Clay, 13, both of Bloomington — formed a piano-cello combo to record "Vicissitudes," a piece featuring music they composed. David Rossi, owner of Bombsight Recording Studio, donated his time and and facility for the project.
"'Vicissitudes' actually means 'change,'" said Koe. "I think it is representative of the song itself, but also the mural and what Not In Our Town stands for."
Camille Taylor, a retired educator and a NIOT member, and Jeff Schwartz, founder of the the Diversity Project, also worked with the youths on the project.
It was the scholars' idea to do a mural, which they are calling "Let Our Light Shone," said Taylor.
The students met over four Fridays after school at the city's Creativity Center to put the project together. They also had help from the Downtown Bloomington Association, which also has a public art program.
Rays extending from the silhouettes contain each student's personal message about NIOT. The rays also shine on depictions of the Bloomington Center for the Performing Arts, the Normal Theater and other iconic Bloomington-Normal buildings.
"When you think about the youth and the messages that they are going to have inside each of the silhouettes, their message is the light," said Taylor.
"They are basically filling our community with hope for the future," she added. "They are generating from their hearts and heads their hopes and dreams for this community and the world. There can't be anything better than that."
The musical recording will be uploaded along with pictures of the mural to NIOT's website, www.niotbn.com.
The duo will perform the song at the Not In Our Town Festival from 6-9 p.m. June 28 on the downtown Bloomington square, said Taylor.
“I think it is super cool that when I have kids and they have their kids that they are going to be able to go to this wall and say, 'Hey, grandma painted that; mom painted that.' I want it to be a memory,” said Klessig.