Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By richards on October 3, 2014

Like so many old, industrial cities of the Northeast that have seen better economic times, Holyoke, Massachusetts, is desperate for change. Almost a third of its residents now live below the poverty line, and the more run-down areas of town bear the unmistakable look of decay.

The Holyoke Alleyway Revitalization Project (HARP), curated by University of Massachusetts administrator Carol Soules, is an effort to help that. By reclaiming the exterior walls of vacant properties and treating them as a canvas for local artists, HARP hoped, as stated on its Facebook page, to bring people together from all wards of the city.

However, a last minute decision by a Holyoke building owner has succeeded in doing the exact opposite.

David Flores, 31, a Mexican-American artist from Chicago who lives in Holyoke was asked to design a piece for HARP.

His mural depicts a decorative license plate that's common in the Puerto Rican community. It usually says the name of a town on the island, but in Flores' version it reads, "Holyoke." According to Flores the piece was meant to pay homage to the city and its' strong Puerto Rican presence

Beginning in the 1960s, migrants from Puerto Rico began settling in the area joining the Irish, Jewish, Polish and Italian enclaves already there. They now make up 44.7 percent of Holyoke's 40,000 or so residents, the highest percentage of any town in the country.

Soules decided to put Flores mural on one of the walls displaying art at the old Yeorgs Garage. While building owner Mimi Wielgosz initially gave her blessing, Flores says, on the day of installation she pulled the plug on the mural, saying the piece would do more harm than good for the Hispanic community.

I was literally going up the ladder to start hanging the piece when Carol told me I could no longer do it, Flores told Fox News Latino. She said that the [Ivory Billiards] owners across the street did not want it up.

The artist said he was never given a reason why he had to take it down.

Mimi told me that I could not have my mural on any of the walls," said Flores. "They never went over to speak to Ivory Billiards."

View original post here:
Dispute over public art celebrating Latino heritage drives a wedge in Mass. town

Category: Jewish American Heritage Month
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