Muralists Hope to Preempt Graffiti

In a program aimed at discouraging vandals from marring the neighborhood with graffiti, a group of Heninger Elementary School students have been donating time on weekends to paint a mural at the school entrance.

The artwork, projected to cost about $3,000, depicts a Mexican folkloric dancer. The project is being directed by Operation Clean Slate, a nonprofit Costa Mesa group dedicated to graffiti prevention.

Kathy Sabine, principal at Heninger, said interviews with youths indicate that they do graffiti in part to gain recognition. The mural, Sabine said, is a way for youngsters to get positive attention as well as improve the community.

“The recognition is there in a beautifying way rather than in a detrimental way,” she said.

Most of the participating students are members of a school leadership program. A teacher and art students from Santa Ana High School helped design the mural.

The mural focuses on the arts because Heninger is participating in a five-year, $1-million grant from the U.S. Department of Education to teach English through the arts.

The Heninger student body is 98% Latino, and about 96% of the school’s pupils speak English as their second language, Sabine said.

The mural, to be completed next week, is a study in bright colors and contrasts, from the yellow, red and green of the folkloric dancer’s dress to the red, white and blue of an American flag to the blacks and whites of a keyboard.

For the students, the reward for their work seemed to be the joy of participating.

“I just like painting,” said Jahir Salzar, 7, speckled with blue paint after an afternoon session. “I don’t know why.”