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Retired artist Sam Leiba recalls youth-driven mural project, champions public art
Summary
Retired artist Sam Leiba described painting murals across New Mexico with his brothers and involving local teens at a YDI site about 40 years ago, saying public art should be free and reflect community voices.
Retired artist Sam Leiba said public art belongs to everyone and recounted a mural project in which local teenagers helped shape designs at a YDI site roughly 40 years ago.
Leiba said he and his brothers painted murals across New Mexico as members of Arpes Guadalupanos de Aslan and that they were inspired by the Mexican Mural Masters’ goal of educating the poor. "I like the idea of public art is for everyone," Leiba said.
According to Leiba, a YDI staff member invited the group to create murals at a YDI location after spotting them painting elsewhere. He said they gathered teens during the summer, collected their ideas, produced design drafts and returned to the young participants for approval.
Leiba said the Guadalupana figure appears in many of the group’s murals because it is their "Santita," and he emphasized that the projects reflected the voices and ideas of the young people involved. "We painted murals all over New Mexico," he said.
He closed his remarks with a passage he favors: "we were all born differently so we can learn from each other," underscoring his argument that public art is an accessible, educational community resource.
