Introduction to Little Village Lawndale High School
Alister Ramírez and Arturo Anguiano III are among the students for which a high school in Little Village was created following a highly publicized hunger strike in 2001. Little Village Lawndale High School was built after the 19-day strike that began on Mother’s Day, when parents and community leaders pushed for Chicago Public Schools to follow through on their promise to build a high school in their neighborhood. The school was constructed four years later in Little Village, and serves students and their families from the neighboring South and North Lawndale neighborhoods, too.
The Multicultural Arts School’s MASterpiece Art Festival
Ramírez and Anguiano, both 17-year-old juniors, are among the dozens of students who will be displaying and selling their artwork Saturday at the Multicultural Arts School’s MASterpiece Art Festival. It’ll be followed by a 20th anniversary celebration of Little Village Lawndale High School. The high school is made up of four thematic schools housed together on one campus that includes arts, math and science, social justice and world language curriculum. Students from all four schools are participating in this year’s show. Nearly 350 people attended last year’s show, according to theater teacher Edward Cisneros, who is helping students put on the fest.
The inclusion of even more community partners and students, plus the anniversary celebration, crowds are expected to be even bigger this year.
Student Artwork and Performances
The campus will be transformed into a festival where students, food vendors, local artisans and community members can enjoy performances, buy one-of-a-kind pieces made by high school students, and participate in workshops hosted by teaching artists at the National Museum of Mexican Art. “The thing that’s most exciting for me is just being able to once again show my artwork to other people,” said Anguiano, who participated in the festival last year by selling prints of the most popular drawings posted to his Instagram page.
Among his art this year is what he dubs a “mega poster,” made up of nine individual posters. Some have been left uncolored to represent his breakthrough with a recent bout of artist’s block. Anguiano invited other students to color in the pages, he said.
Personal Artistic Expression
For last year’s MASterpiece show, Ramírez worked on a self-portrait. She said she tries to make all of her art personal. “I always struggle to look at myself in the mirror because I really don’t like how I look,” she said. “So that pushed me out of my comfort zone, putting my face on a huge canvas, and I visualized the feeling of people watching me.”
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