Jean Teaches Street Art in Aruba

For the last year I have been spending time in the hot sun five days a week for an hour and a half walking people in the outside gallery of the Aruba Mural Tours. I have met many locals who now know me as a local “Dushi”! That means “sweetheart” in the local language of Papiamento.

Walking to each mural with a water bottle in hand, I tell people about how Tashika and Ataniro are local legends painted on the walls of buildings. Colorful and symbolic of the rich arts culture here, these faces remind people of the change that is overcoming the city. The arts are flourishing. Once a town solely for people who worked at the refinery, people now look forward to starting a new local business to accommodate the groups of Americans and others coming to see the Street Art.

I know Tito Bolivar who is the creator of the Aruba Mural District in San Nicolas and curator of the ArtisA Gallery For six years he has been giving up to four mural tours a day and worked with artists from around the world. He has trained me to walk about the town and share the whole story of how and when the murals were created. The murals fill the walls of businesses and dilapidated walls in the city of about 15,283.

Humans and animals are the focus of the mural stories. Living so close to the white and pink sand beaches brings the mural paintings together to share important things with the people who inhabit the island. This is what I love about this island. There are people milling about and interacting. When you come to take a tour with the murals you experience the people and the art. It is an intimate experience. Many people will repeat the tour coming to see the murals because they are added to each year, and it is like walking through an outside museum. I have spent time inside museums and galleries teaching and helping people feel a connection to art.
It is important to keep it about the love of the culture and its people.

San Nicolas was once the thriving town home to the second largest refinery in the world. During WW2 the country was a major player in defending Britain by sending oil and gas to them as allies. Managed primarily by English speaking countries the Americans pulled out of the refinery leaving lifestyles changed forever in 1985. Fortunately, local traditions flourished at this time and are being reimagined. Even though Aruba is small, it is powerful. It has a growing art scene in the Caribbean that has been galvanizing, and especially picking up momentum since 2016. Over 70% of the tourists who come to Aruba are American. Their presence here is important as the economy has become 90% tourism based.

The country has over 108 different cultures which make it incredibly diverse. Despite being a Dutch Caribbean, the island has many indigenous cultures who are considered true Arubans. They are schooled by the Dutch system of learning and often go to Holland to finish their studies. As with Tito, he is giving back by supporting local artists in his social gallery.

Last year, I participated in a cultural and artistic event in San Nicolas Aruba, not as a muralist, but as an abstract painter using my rollerblades as my paintbrush. I felt welcomed into this world, not only with my own art, but as a part of the fabric of curators and families working tirelessly to create social change through the arts. This can be seen in the way many females

like Fio Silva (IG:fio.silva) from Argentina who challenge stereotypes with their art, who reclaim the public sphere for women adding femininity to street art.

Knowing the mural stories has not only given me more freckles and tan lines, but most of all it has changed my painting process in a positive way. I recently described one of my paintings that I entered in a contest in Fine Art America as being: “an evolution in street art and graffiti. Using the touch of the wheel on the surface repeatedly, my paintings are made as the layers dry and become dynamic swipes with drips made as if an aerosol paint brush is used on a wall. The speed of my wheel used as a paint brush relates to graffiti and the process of creating abstract paintings that become expressions of time and emotion.”

my paintings blend social change and the idea of drawing from places which inspire my painting process. In the years to come, I am excited to change, meet new people outside in the sun and sand, to absorb the light and the attention I give to others and their stories that tell a story of culture and love. To me this is how I give peace a chance. I am very grateful to be included in this new and beautiful community.