Student Festival at Little Village Lawndale High School Celebrates Art, Culture, and Community
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Introduction to Little Village Lawndale High School
Alister Ramírez and Arturo Anguiano III are among the type of students for which a high school in La Villita was created after a very public hunger strike in 2001. The Little Village Lawndale (LVLHS) high school was built after a 19-day hunger strike that began on Mother’s Day, when parents and community leaders pressed the Chicago public schools (CPS) to fulfill their promise to build a high school in their neighborhood. Four years later, the school was built in La Villita and also serves students and their families from the neighboring neighborhoods of North Lawndale.
The Student Festival
Ramírez and Anguiano, both 17 years old and students of the penultimate year, are part of the many students who will be exhibiting and selling their works of art on Saturday at the Masterpiece Art Festival of the School of Multicultural Arts (MAS). This will be followed by a celebration of the 20th anniversary of the LVLHS. The secondary is made up of four thematic schools located together on the same campus that includes the arts, mathematics and sciences, social justice, and a language curriculum in the world. Students from the four schools are participating in this year’s exhibition. Last year’s opening exhibition attracted approximately 350 people, according to the theater master Edward Cisneros, who is helping students carry out the festival.
Attendees of the Masterpiece Inaugural Festival in 2024 observe the works of art of students at the School of Multicultural Arts in La Villita.
Anne Peterson | Proportionate
Student Participation and Experience
The campus will become a festival where students, food vendors, local artisans, and community members can enjoy presentations, buy unique pieces made by high school students, and participate in workshops taught by teaching artists in the National Museum of Mexican Art. "What excites me most is to be able to show my work again to other people," said Anguiano, who participated in the festival last year selling impressions of the most popular drawings published on his Instagram page. Among his work this year is what he calls a "mega poster" composed of nine individual posters. Some have been left without color to represent a recent artistic block. Anguiano invited other students to color the pages, he said.
Arturo Anguiano III highlights the contributions of other students to an Aztec calendar who drew at the School of Multicultural Arts of Little Village Lawndale high school.
Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times
Artistic Expression and Growth
"It took me in total 11 days of work complete that drawing," he said. "As a young artist, I want to inspire other young artists to continue progressing in their own art." Both students also pointed out that they learned about the importance of being friendly and professionals when interacting with people in the exhibition. For the Masterpiece exhibition last year, Ramírez worked in a self-portrait. He said he tries to make all his art personal.
<img class="Image" alt="The student Alister Ramírez
