Client: The State of Florida Arts Council for the University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida

Overview

Ernesto painted for the University of Florida’s Institute of Hispanic-Latino Cultures, also known as “La Casita.” La Casita is a “home away from home” for students, so Ernesto wanted the mural to connect students to the building, their culture, and to each other.

Abuela’s house represents comfort and security, just like La Casita. The mural uses that feeling and idea with a colorful, intricate design featuring abuela working in her garden, where lots of different plants and animals live together.

The students and faculty spoke of feeling at home at La Casita. Some people mentioned feeling like they were at abuela’s house. Each Latin country was researched to find its national plant, flower, bird and butterfly, and a symbol was chosen to represent each.

Some countries share a symbol, like El Salvador and Nicaragua, where the national bird is the turquoise-browed motmot in both countries. Some countries may find they feel represented by another country’s symbol. For instance, the morpho butterfly was chosen for Costa Rica, but it can be found in forests throughout Mexico, Brazil, Colombia and Venezuela. This overlap symbolizes the shared story of the students.

The mural runs approximately 35’ long and 20’ high.

Goals

The goal of the project was to represent the students and faculty of the University of Florida’s Institute of Hispanic-Latino Cultures.

Process

Ernesto visited the site and spoke with students and faculty. A concept was created to reflect the students and their stories.