CARMEN HERRERA–DESIGNED MURAL TO BE PAINTED BY BRONX STUDENTS

A mural based on an untitled 1952 painting by centenarian artist Carmen Herrera will be realized by students at MS244 in the Bronx, writes Joshua Barone of the New York Times. The mural is being produced through the organization Publicolor, which helps troubled youth engage with their schools more closely through art.

“It is a joy for me that my work will be in a public school and even more so that it will be actually painted by the students,” said the artist. Herrera, who turns 102 on May 31, was featured as a Portfolio artist in the October 2016 issue of Artforum. In the portfolio’s accompanying essay, critic Sarah K. Rich wrote, “Herrera, with her unique combination of postwar, transatlantic influences, was better equipped to produce work that explored art’s engagement with the viewer and its relationship to the literal space around it.”