Alexa and Darcy in Kenya, Sanaa Project

2xShin

We have been in touch with California-based street artist 2xShin (check out her work here: flickr.com/photos/shinshin2008/) about our mural project!

We reached out to 2xShin with the idea of incorporating her techniques into our project. She uses wheat paste to adhere her photographic images to surfaces around various cities.

She told us her process wouldn’t work on the steel structure of the New Dawn Education Center but offered a ton of other suggestions and advice about technique, materials, color schemes, theme options.

Thank you 2xShin!

Alexa and Darcy in Kenya, Sanaa Project

The Mural Site

We recently received an email from Irene Tongoi, Director of the New Dawn Education Center in Huruma. She attached an image of the school on which we will be helping the students paint a large-scale mural:

Constructed from recycled steel sea containers, the surface measures approximately 80 ft long by 20 ft high. The material and the ribbing of the exterior walls pose an interesting challenge! We are in the process of researching what technique, paint types and designs will be ideal for such an unusual structure.

We’re excited to see what can be done with this unique site!

Alexa and Darcy in Kenya, Sanaa Project

Welcome!

Welcome!

We’re very excited to share with you an important moment in our lives!

This June we will be traveling to Kenya as volunteers to develop a sustainable arts program for 160 high school students. The Sanaa Project (sanaa is art in Swahili) is directed at students who live in the poverty-stricken Huruma slum outside the city of Nairobi, the country’s capital.

We believe that artistic creation is not only crucial to education but also a right for students in all societies. Through the Sanaa Project, we hope to raise awareness about the importance of art as a means of expression and a source of hope.

We need your help to connect these 160 children to art in a sustainable way. Our goal is to raise $10,000 by June 10^th to buy the art and mural supplies, T-shirts for the children, and to cover our travel costs and local subsistence at $20/day. With your help we will then sell the students’ artwork here in the US and reinvest the funds to buy more art supplies.

We will be leaving with the Volunteer for Life program of Palms for Life Fund, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization based in the United States. We decided to work with Palms for Life because we believe in their mission—the idea that “we are all connected to the poor” and that investing in education is a key step to addressing the root causes of poverty.

During this first mission of the Sanaa Project, we will initiate a mural project, designed and executed by the students, to stand as a constant reminder to the local community of children’s potential for creativity.

More information regarding the Sanaa Project can be found under the Kenya heading in the “Projects” page in the Palms for Life site.

Thank you!

Darcy and Alexa