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Claudia’s Story
Chilean artist (Visual Art)
Claudia Missana worked with an
environmental NGO in Punta de Manabique on the Caribbean coast
of Guatemala. She practically worked alone after two Guatemalan
environmental government officials were murdered in the area.
This action sent all NGO personnel in the area back to the
capias. Claudia remained and organized arts and crafts
workshops, “art and garbage” works, taught painting
and drawing to children and teachers, and organized children to
paint murals at four schools. She accompanied these works of
art with messages of self-esteem, appreciation of nature, and
creativity.
Claudia: I am
a Chilean painter and photographer. When I heard about the
ArtCorps program I got immediately interested by the challenge
of using arts and communication with people and conditions that
would be completely new for me. I became the first artist of
ArtCorps in the field. I stayed in Guatemala for three months,
between February and April of the current year 2000. Although I
received the appropriate training from ArtCorps in the culture
and customs of the country, nothing was as I expected.
Throughout my stay I kept remembering one piece of ArtCorps'
advice: “Go with a plan in mind, and be ready to
drastically change it.”
My host organization was on the Caribbean
coast of Guatemala. My objective was to work with the
communities that lived there combining art and environmental
education, using drawing and painting to communicate goals of
environmental protection and the importance of the Manabique
mangroves as a unique ecosystem. I used my teaching experience
to expand childrens' creativity and capabilities of
representation, and also, I explored possible uses for native
materials in arts and crafts workshops for teachers and
children.
Working with the children, I tried to
stimulate their self-esteem and recognition for their parents'
work, combining this with nature and environmental information.
My idea was that representing everyday life and experiences was
a form of recognition that might open their minds to see their
world with other eyes. Drawing and painting animals, the
mangrove or the fishing activities, was a way to connect them
to expression, that lead us to paint murals in the schools of
four villages. It was a strong experience for them and for me.
I think ArtCorps is a great idea. The
combination of communication and the arts are a powerful way to
give people a chance to look at themselves. For me it was an
opportunity of looking at art in a new way.
Although my main goal in going was not to
improve my art, I was immersed in a world of totally new
perceptions, new materials and extreme living conditions. This
experience made me reconsider my political and philosophical
views. It also changes my feelings and emotions about many
things. I received a sense of personal strength and an opening
of my visual ideas which is going to change or radicalize my
way of producing artworks. This experience opened my heart. I
will never forget it.
I do not hesitate to recommend this
program to any creative person that wants an opportunity to
grow and look at art in a new way.
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