Few people who attend McHenry County College (MCC) in Crystal Lake will forget what happened there recently, even if they were not there.
The reminder hangs on a 16-by-7-foot canvas on a wall at the end of a long hallway in the main campus buiding. Over two days time about a dozen MCC art students worked with Mario Castillo, one of the nation`s foremost muralists, to paint a mural for the college as part of its Festival Latino-Americano `92.
The festival, which has events scheduled through November, is aimed at heightening awareness of Latin American influences in culture and culminated recently with ”Spanish Immersion Night,” an evening that included a talk by Castillo on mural painting, a concert by a Chilean guitarist and Latin dance lessons.
The most lasting impression undoubtedly will be the mural that Castillo helped the art students shape. Castillo, a member of the art faculty at Columbia College in Chicago, was invited to MCC by its art gallery curator, Judith Nahill.
The students picked several themes for the mural-a Native American settlement, wildlife, fields and woodlots to represent the county`s early days; a train and a bulldozer to depict the arrival of growth and development; a drawing of Uncle Sam covering his eyes as a symbol of unresponsive government; and light and dark human figures to show the mixing of people of different racial and ethnic backgrounds.
”I came here wanting to do a mural that was responsive to the McHenry County community,” Castillo said. ”The students chose the themes, and I`m helping them put the themes into a work of art.”
Tamara Tower of Woodstock, a sophomore art student, worked 14 hours over two days on the project.
”As soon as I heard about the mural, I was interested,” she said. ”I liked the scale of it. I`ve never done anything like this, and one of my goals as an art student is to try as many mediums as I can. And, I wanted the chance to work with Mario.”
