Mobile Artist, South Graduate Led Mural Project at Strickland Youth Center
Posted on March 5, 2024
For a mural about Sam Lackland, founder of the Azalea Trail, Riley Brenes worked with teenagers at the Strickland Youth Center, a juvenile detention facility in Mobile.
他们 started with a history lesson about Lackland, the force behind the beautification campaign in the late 1920s. 的n they began sketching city scenes and then painting a 16-by-8-foot mural. 的ir final work of art fits the “Make Your Mark” theme for this weekend’s 花节 in Cathedral Square.
Brenes, 2010年 美术 graduate from the University of South Alabama, has worked as a transition program coordinator at the juvenile detention center. He believes painting and gardening projects help give purpose to Strickland youths.
“When they’re in painting classes, they’re just kids,” he said. “的ir minds are busy. 他们’re doing something good. Painting is like that.
“I honestly believe that art is a way for these kids to become part of the city. 他们 需要工作. And they did amazing work with the art and gardens.”
He also painted smaller murals for the entrance to this year’s festival. 一个特性 the University of South Alabama, while the other describes the Daughters of Charity, who founded Providence Hospital.
的 Lackland mural will be on display behind the stage area in Cathedral Square. A Strickland mural from the 2019 festival remains on display on Museum Drive across from the Mobile Museum of Art.
的 花节, an annual fundraiser for what is now USA Health Providence Hospital, has been named a “Best of Bama Charity Event” by Alabama Magazine. Teams of artists, florists and designers create showcases and compete for the bragging rights of a People’s Choice 奖. 的re will be live music, outdoor seminars and select food vendors. 捐款 is required for entry.
On Thursday, there will be a 花节 Gala from 7 to 10 p.m. 周五, the festival will be open to the public from 10 a.m. 到晚上9点.m.; ArtWalk coincides 从6点到9点.m.
On Saturday and Sunday, festival hours are 10 a.m. 到5点.m. Seminars include “Caring for Your Garden,” by Mobile County Master Gardeners, and “Gene’s Gold: 的 Story of the Aromi Azaleas,” by Amelia Rose Zimlich, a 2022 South graduate.
Kendall Hurley, a development specialist for the Providence Hospital Foundation, helps organize the 花节. Murals from the Strickland Youth Center, with support from Circuit and Juvenile Court Judge Edmond Naman, have become part of the scene. (Naman is also a USA graduate.)
“We promote them every year,” she said. “And Judge Naman always supports us, and a way of giving kids a positive outlook.”
Brenes, who grew up in Mobile, studied art at South. 的 faculty encouraged him to 跟随他的愿景.
“If it hadn’t been for them, I think I would have left Mobile,” he said. “他们显示 me that there is a place for me here. 他们 backed me 100 percent.”
After graduating, Brenes traveled to India and was inspired by an artist who did public art in poor neighborhoods. He returned to Mobile, opened a studio in a vacant building and worked with the Mobile Arts Council to start a youth program called CHARTing New 方向.
At the Strickland Youth Center, Brenes began teaching art to teenage offenders. He eventually helped create a new role, as transitional program coordinator, to prepare young people for when they leave juvenile detention.
Last year, Brenes left to work as a property manager in Mobile. He says he’s recharging his batteries while pondering the next step in his art career.
“I started as a detention officer, so I could fully understand what they needed, and get to know the kids, which was probably my favorite part,” he said. “有一些 great people at Strickland.”
Naman, in a post on social media the week Brenes left, noted that Brenes’s “powerfully beautiful murals and lush green gardens” serve as reminders of the “true potential of the children we serve.”
“Most importantly, he was a true friend to the children that needed him most,” Naman 写了. “He has a magical touch with children who are lost and hurting and always seems able to bring out the best in them.”