Bronx Students Create Carmen Herrera Mural for Their School

At the age of 102, artist Carmen Herrera is going back to school—in the form of a mural at New York City’s M.S. 244 in the Bronx. There, students re-created a design by the Cuban-born painter based on her 1952 work Untitled, in a collaboration with Publicolor, a philanthropy that works with at-risk students in New York City schools. Over several weekends in June, a dozen students scaled, taped, and painted the 12-by-8-foot, black-and-white installation outside the school’s auditorium. In 2015, Publicolor did a similar project, working with the estate of Sol LeWitt to create two murals at the High School of Fashion Industries in Chelsea, and hopes to increase its collaborations with artists to four per year.

The bold mural at M.S. 244 in the Bronx was inspired by legendary painter Carmen Herrera. Photo: Joshua McHugh