Radio interview in Brazil (or Brasil, if you live there)
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Someone from my distant past crossed my path again recently. He wanted to know more about my murals. If these are also new to you, let me tell you a little about my community murals projects. Contrary to what you might think, it isn't just having an artist show up to paint a gift for a local community. When I create my murals, I make them with the local population. They give input for the ideas incorporated in the art. Then, I create a paint-by-number kind of design for the participants to paint their own mural. Anyone and everyone is welcome. No talent is required because I have enough of that to take care of the project.
Every community is different. It could be a dozen people in a very rural village in the Peruvian Andes, 100 mural volunteers at a food pantry, or even the entire student population - more than 650 children - at an elementary school. No matter the size of the community, everyone who wants to participate, gets a paintbrush. So, long after the artist leaves the scene, this community has ownership of their mural because they truly had a part in every step of the project.
So, if you are like my friend and ask me about my murals, I will give you more information than you ever expected, intended to ask for, or particularly wanted. I seriously know how to "show and tell". I have favorite photos from around the globe, blogs to documents the experiences, and links all over my mural website that share recipes, adventures, disasters, folktales and so much more that I've gathered as I've colored the world.
Yep, there is so much to share as I've made the news all over the world.
I've been on national television, national radio programs and interviewed for newspapers locally and abroad. When I started to compile the information to send to my friend, there was more information than even I remembered. So, I'm quite sure that it will come as a surprise to you. It occurred to me that it might do me well to compile these sources in one location so anyone can have easy access at their fingertips. No, I don't expect anyone to look at every link and read each article. But, if I mention a country that piques your interest, feel free to explore what I've done in that corner of the globe.
The Full Page News Story in MexicoThe Radio-- I've been on the radio more times than I remember. Since nobody has ever sent me a link or given me a recording, I can't prove much of this. I remember interviews in the Galapagos Islands (because I had to speak in my very limited Spanish) as well as Albania and Moldova. All of these were brief experiences.
However, I have also been in two radio stations for extended interviews. The first session was in Liberia. I was in a sweltering dark room without a fan or air conditioning for half an hour. I don't remember much of what I said, but I will never forget the heat. My second interview, in Brazil, was even longer. I had a translator, a small audience, and air conditioning. Both of these are documented in my travel blog, Wander My World with Me.
The Newspaper-- There is a lot more documentation for my murals in print around the world. The record-setting write up is from Mexico. I don't think the record will ever be broken. The reporter, Ramon Carrillo, confessed that he was so nervous about the interview that he couldn't sleep or eat. I assure you, I'm not worth that kind of intimidation. And, he quickly realized it as he wrote his FULL PAGE NEWS STORY about me and my murals. Thank you very much, Piedras Negras, Mexico, for that long-standing - and very surprising - record. A much more normal-sized article, in La Pancarta, documented another trip south of the border.
It may be easiest to divide the other stories up by region.
Africa -- My first mural was at a daycare center for AIDS orphans in Namibia. It was written up in ExPatsAbroad. My other article, in South Africa, talks about a mural that I painted for a church in Potchefstroom.
Europe-- While eating breakfast one morning at a bed and breakfast in Albania, I met a connection that brought me to Estoniato paint at a local school. A very unexpected invitation to the south of Franceto paint a mural at a high school, gave me not one, but two, French write-ups.
Latin America -- The US Embassy in Jamaicabrought me to Kingston for two murals. There were write-ups on the Embassy Website, the local Kingston newspaper, as well as the US State Department website. (Whoo-hoo!) A group of young people raised money to bring me to Brazil. They treated me like a celebrity. And, there were not one, not two, but three articles about the experience.
Oceania-- Working with the US Embassy once again, I painted in Fijiwith write-ups in the Fiji Sun and the U.S. Embassy website as well as an appearance on the U.S. Embassy website about Nauru. Don't know where that is? I didn't either. Go to Australia and head north to the equator.
The Good Old U.S. of A.-- In my hometown of Columbus, Ohio, I've made the news several times. The mural locations varied from a local church, to a youth center where Google came to document the process, a food panty and an elementary school where all 650+ students participated.
YouTube and Videos-- I thought my record for television interviews would always be in Albaniawhere I had back-to-back interviews at the school where I painted. Alas, I have no video links to prove it ever happened. But, a nearby Balkan neighbor, Moldova, blew that record out of the water. For one mural, I had one interview on national radio and five on television! Sad to say, only one Moldovan interview link is still active online. Links for other interviews have been killed off over time. I can't blame Moldova too much because the very same thing happened to my favorite video made in Columbus, Ohio.
Estonia-- You cannot be an art diva and paint community murals. The lessn was reinforced in Estonia when a television crew came to the school. In the eyes of the students, I was just some artist who didn't speak Estonian. However, the kids went nuts when a local celebrity news anchor came for my interview. Okay, this news video is in Estonian, but if you want to hear another in English, I made national news inNauru as well.
Ohio, USA-- When I painted with 650+ students in Upper Arlington, someone took videos of me on their phone. I didn't see them doing it. But, if you want to see the Mural Man in action, there is not one, but two, videos that will give you a good idea of what takes place.
An African-style welcome to Kamina in the Dem. Republic of the Congo My Personal Videos-- If you've waded this far into the blog, you will see that I have saved the best till the last. Whenever I travel, I take the best of my photos and mix them with a dash of local music to make presentations that speak for themselves. They provide the view with much more of my experiences around the world than mere words are able to convey. If I have permission from musicians (which seems to be much easier to get in a smaller country where everyone knows someone), I post the videos on YouTube. You can view muraling with students at Earth University in Costa Rica, a project with the US Embassy in Moldovaand Transnistria, and painting with art students from Fiji National University in Fiji. I also painted on a mission trip to Haiti, with Ebola survivors in Liberia, and with such enthusiastic students in Brazil.
Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), I've made several other similar videos that I can't post on YouTube because I don't have permission for the music. So, you're missing out on my muraling videos for Albania, Nicaragua and Costa Rica, France, the Galapagos Islands, Mexico, Namibia,Peru, Romania, South Africaand Swaziland, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. If you want to see these videos, I guess you're going to have to come see me in Ohio. Or, better yet, invite me to paint a mural wherever you are, and I'll bring paintbrushes and entertainment.
