I have started a large mural project at the school where I work and it’s beyond invigorating and inspiring. My history of mural painting here in Hawai’i has been most challenging however, with ZERO of my projects still standing. Three have been painted over, one disappeared and while I have happily collaborated with other professional artists on their visions, this current project definitely comes with an air of paranoid apprehension.
Will this one get painted over? My arthritis is absolutely interfering with my comfort, happiness, productivity. Will this one be my last? The pain is undeniable, not just the physical pain in my joints, my head, my bones. The pain of accepting what I thought I’d never have to face. The end of an era.
Gamaliel Ramirez taught me how to mural paint and in the tradition of the Mexican Mural Masters, Picasso’s most famous “Guernica” and the Chicago style of urban graffiti, grit and colors, I ran with my youthful passions, conducting groups of small children and enthusiastic parents to paint the walls of schools all over our fine city, North Side to West Side to South Side. I was so fortunate to be hired as a teaching artist and mural instructor and proudly led public art works for almost 15 years.
When I relocated to Honolulu however, everything changed. I was certified as an art teacher, started working full time at a high school and began looking for walls in a new city, not knowing the artists and organizations that feed such chances. Working with and through my school, and my own students and co-workers has helped my fire stay lit. Painting walls for public art is a mission and vision that has shaped my soul.
But the walls I painted are not there anymore. One got defaced by pre-teen taggers and ruined beyond repair, then replaced with another graphic for the sports complex. The first one was one of my best murals of all time and disappeared after the construction site took down the wooden fenced plywood we helped paint, after promising to display it in City Hall and give it back to our school. I imagine it ended up in the landfill. The third and fourth walls, the music building at my school, turned out to be a beautiful and fun project with over 200 people helping out. They were painted over when capital improvements happened.
So here we are now. The music building begs for a revamp and we’ve already started. In one week we finished the vibrant background colorations, and this morning, I started painting the master design. By next week, the mural sketch will be fully transferred onto the walls by hand and projector and the students and volunteers will all start filling in.
I’m beyond excited, humbled and honored the building will have us again. She was decrepit, we painted her, gave attention to our arts and music program through paint, our program exploded in numbers and enrolled students in our classes and we had fun. Then the construction people came, scraped and patched her up, stripped her, primed her and then she sat bare once again. I’m honored that school wanted art back on the walls and this time it will be better than before!
As I type this in a ton of paint, throbbing aches shooting from my shoulders to my finger tips, the act of typing is making my head spin. Physically walking back and forth all day everyday, taking care of the materials, scrubbing rollers and brushes and in the high heat and humidity challenges my strength. My knee wrap tan line is unenviable and I have to bring multiple changes of clothes a day because I am soaking in sweat from working outside. When I get home I can’t even stand up food prepping has become a lifestyle, as I can’t possibly cook after a long day of labor.
The sacrifice is amazing and daunting. That’s why I think this one may be my last one. The amount of painkillers I have to eat every day to keep going isn’t good for my health that’s for sure, but one think I do know, is that I wouldn’t have it any other way. This music building mural will be the gem in my crown of a lifetime of painting walls, and I pray the next generation will take it from here and I can pass the royal staff to them.
Music Building Mural: SPRING 2026 at McKinley HS, Honolulu, Hawai’i
PAINTING BY STAR* 