I spent 2 1/2 years there. It was a great experience in my life so far, and it lead to a PEAK experience for me - the coordinating of the mural at Los Galanes Restaurant in Detroit's southwest section. That area of Detroit is the Latino area for the city, and like the Latin countries, there are many murals in the community.I had located Freedom House while I was completing a Master's Degree in Art Therapy at Wayne State University in Detroit. Because Art Therapy can be a non-verbal experience - "A Picture is Worth A Thousand Words" kind of thing for both the client and the therapist, I had deduced that Art Therapy would be perfect for working with Political Refugees. Then to my delight, I found out that Detroit had a shelter for that community. You can ask in the far-flung regions of the world, and people will tell you about Freedom House, but the vast majority of people in Michigan have never heard of it. Anyway, I will expound and elaborate on Freedom House, in another posting - back to the mural. In my research for my thesis: "Mapping the World:Art Therapy with Political Refugees", I spoke to the director of a similar shelter in Toronto, Canada, and she told me they had done a mural as a community project. It was when I mentioned it to the director at Freedom House, Janet Rey, that Janet decided it would be a great idea for us to do in Detroit. So, she asked me to do one, then she found the wall and a gang of us did it. One of my best friends, Sharon O'Hara-Bruce agreed to ride shotgun with me, and Elizabeth Medallin also coordinated it with us. It was just like they said in the movie "Field of Dreams" - "If You Build It, They Will Come"- we backed my van filled with paint and brushes up to the wall every day for five weeks, and people appeared and painted. We had over 70 people of such fabulous diversity and beauty contribute to the mural. For a lot more details - go to my website: http://www.greatwallsmurals.com and click on Mural Journal.
