A Walking History Lesson
The project began with a walking
history lesson with Esposito. During
the tour, students photographed land-
marks and took notes on Esposito’s
insights into what made the neighbor-
hood unique.
mix of small business and residential the eighty-eight-foot mural upon
Mural Design and Production
buildings anchored by a triangle of
completion. The city agreed to allow
Students returned to their classrooms
land known as “the Market.”
access to build and display the art-
to sketch ideas on paper as well as via
Esposito and others invited artists
work. The Capital Region Center for
digital photographs and computer-
and educators to open the area’s his-
the Arts offered space to create and
based designs. Meanwhile, I split time
tory to a new audience, incorporate
display the work prior to installation. between New Visions and the aca-
the arts as a partner in the storytell-
Questar III, the area’s board of
demic/career tech programs to make
ing process, and enlist local students
cooperative education services, offered sure the mural’s support structure was
in the creation of public artwork that the talents of its students from the
keeping pace with the design.
tells the story of Troy. The Little Italy New Visions art program (an advanced
Together with construction tech-
Mural Project was born.
The Little Italy Mural Project
The Little Italy neighborhood group
pledged the financial support to fund
placement program for twelfth grad-
ers) and academic and career tech
programs to design and complete the
mural. Questar III also covered the
cost of the materials until the com-
nology teacher Joe Mix, we developed
a system to attach the eleven 4 x
8" ( 10 x 20 cm) mural panels to the
concrete barrier which would serve
as their base. The construction tech-
