Why Yuma is getting a new mural at one of its most popular parks

YUMA, AZ (AZFamily) — The Arizona heat isn’t stopping the Yuma Art Center from painting a 20-foot mural.

The center partners with Arizona at Work every summer to hire students to paint a mural. This year, eight people have been employed to paint at Joe Henry Optimist Center Park.

“I just finished mixing up some paint, and I’m going to get started on the mural,” said Sariah Garcia, a teen hired by Arizona at Work.

Garcia said there’s no place she would rather be this summer than on top of an eight-foot ladder, painting a mural she helped design.

She said it had always been her dream to paint a mural.

“I started crying when they chose my concept because I was just so overwhelmed and so happy,” Garcia said.

She collaborated on the mural with two other students, Hector Norzagaray and Jada Rico.

The mural, titled Desert Oasis, stands approximately 20 feet high and 70 feet wide.

It has a giant pair of sunglasses painted on it. Each eye frame details some of Yuma’s iconic landscapes and yearly traditions, like the hot air balloon show.

“As a kid I would always look at the air balloons. I would run outside to my backyard and see all the different types of air balloons fly in the air. It’s so beautiful. It’s so magical,” said Garcia.

The magic is now coming to life on the park’s gymnasium wall.

A two-week training course taught the students how to create mural artwork.

Art instructors Lisseth Carrillo and Albert Escalante are educators with extensive experience painting murals across Yuma County.

“It’s just like an internship. They are gaining experience. They’re gaining... I imagine knowledge that some of them never thought they would need,” said Carillo.

The mural should be done by next Friday, just before its big unveiling.

“I just hope people look at this and get nothing but positive emotions from this,” said Jedidiah Braithwaite, another teen who helped with the mural. “I hope people look at this and say, ‘hey, that’s my town; I am proud of it.’”

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