It's bright and colorful, fun yet poignant, and the new mosaic adorning the walls of La Casa Latina may be the only known instance where Tito Puente and Cesar Chavez are immortalized next to one another.
The larger-than-life mosaic depicting Latino and Latina heroes now stands in the ARCH building as a symbol of strength and unity not only for the Latino community at Penn, but for all students who aim for high achievements.
Without a director last semester, La Casa Latina had extra money in its budget to do something a little different.
"We had wanted to find a way to put that excess money to good use for both La Casa Latina and the Penn Community," said Sabrina Harvey, spokeswoman for La Casa Latina. "That is how the idea of the mosaic actually began."
The process of creating the mural began last May with the combination of an artist's vision and what was perceived to be a dearth of minority artwork on campus.
Two recent College graduates -- Randy Qudzada and Mario Cruz, also a graduate of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts -- began their proposals for University funding last year. But it wasn't until mid-summer that everything was approved and work could actually begin.
"This was a great way to end my education at the University of Pennsylvania," said Cruz, one of the co-creators. "Even though Penn is trying to increase minority recruitment and retention, before this piece was commissioned there was very little to no minority artwork on campus. I feel very strongly that this will be the first of its kind at the University."
The mosaic spans an entire wall, colorfully depicting heroes in the Latino community -- men and women alike, from musicians to baseball players to activists. The subject of the piece serves to remind the Latino community of the strength and success of those who came before them.
"In addition to being generally aesthetic, we hope that it will inspire many students to come into La Casa and realize the leaders in themselves, not only for them and their family but for the Latino familia," Harvey said.
Among those immortalized in the tiles are Tito Puente, one of the premier composers and players of Latin music, Cesar Chavez, the labor leader who fought for the unionization of migrant workers in California, and Roberto Clemente, a baseball Hall-of-Famer who played for the Pittsburgh Pirates.
"The great thing about this subject is that it isn't just appealing to one set of people," Harvey said. "You really get a feel for how many Latino leaders are out there that I personally feel you don't get a lot of in the normal educational system."
The group had originally petitioned the Vice Provost for University Life's office for an outdoor piece, but eventually reached the compromise of placing a movable wall inside the ARCH that can easily be transported if the group should ever change locations or if there is a need for it elsewhere on campus.
All summer, Cruz and another Philadelphia artist, Michelle Ortiz, sketched and scaled, putting numerous ideas to the board of La Casa Latina until they had all made a unanimous decision.
And according to students, actually putting the mosaic on the wall was the fun part. With 11 different colors and literally millions of tiny tiles, the task became a formidable one for Cruz and Ortiz.
But as work began, the two artists realized they were not alone. Community members from both La Casa Latina and the rest of Penn wandered into the space to add tiles to the piece -- the exact reaction La Casa Latina had wanted to elicit from the work.
"It wasn't an individual effort anymore," Cruz said of the piece. "It was an effort that involved the entire community of La Casa and Penn."
"I kind of thought that was great because it brought people together and because usually fine art is a pretty individual process and doesn't welcome the efforts of too many people. But projects like this can be totally inclusive."
