Team Director Sunshine Durant (at podium) speaks during the 2024 Pockets of Perception mural “Colors of the Community” dedication ceremony July 31 on the south side of the Ford Community & Performing Arts Center in Dearborn, as Dearborn Community Fund Director EmmaJean Woodyard listens.
By SUE SUCHYTA
Times-Herald Newspapers
DEARBORN – With bright colors cascading from the south exterior wall of the Ford Community & Performing Arts Center’s Lincoln Ballroom July 31, the Pockets of Perception team dedicated its 2024 mural.
The mural, “Colors of the Community,” was created by the largest POP team to date, with 11 high school and five college students working with director and artist Sunshine Durant, along with the creative input of Dearborn artist Daniel Cascardo.
The POP team’s mission, to encourage multicultural understanding and cooperation by utilizing a team approach, engages teens in creative problem-solving through the arts while at the same time encouraging them to be involved in bringing public art to the community.
The students earn a paycheck for their work as they gain valuable experience.
Dearborn Community Fund Director EmmaJean Woodyard said the Community Fund focuses on programs and activities that enrich the community.
Members of the 2024 Pockets of Perception mural team pose by the “Colors of the Community” mural July 31 on the south side of the Ford Community & Performing Arts Center in Dearborn, with Amanda Eldaw (left), Lily Martinez, Zeinab Zorkot, Amina Bazzi, Addison Cleveland, Lauren Boyce, Ilana Sarkisian, Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud, Isabela Sierzputowski, Ashe Watson, Malak Abdulroda, Serena Salameh, Kole Catris, Liliana Witgen, Camila Gomez and Team Director Sunshine Durant.
She said it is a beautiful sight to see a team working together on a mural.
“Everybody’s kind of doing their own thing, but they also work together and give each other pointers and help out,” Woodyard said. “It’s really a beautiful thing.”
She said it’s appropriate that the 2024 mural is on a building that hosts so many arts activities in the city year-round.
“It’s meant to reflect the vibrancy and energy that emanates from the center,” Woodyard said.
Mayor Abdullah Hammoud said he had a meeting with the Detroit Institute of Arts earlier in the day and they committed to funding an additional mural in collaboration with the POP team.
“I’m super excited for that as we’ve been in partnership with them through EmmaJean (Woodyard) with some of the art pieces we have across the city,” he said. “Art is so much more than what you see on the wall.
“It’s everything that’s happening out of this building: Everything in the Lincoln Ballroom, to our theater, to the folks within the various classrooms that we offer, our performing arts center, and so the fact that this was the canvas that was selected for this year really is something special.”
Guest artist Daniel Cascardo of Dearborn (at podium) speaks during the 2024 Pockets of Perception mural “Colors of the Community” dedication ceremony July 31 on the south side of the Ford Community & Performing Arts Center in Dearborn, as volunteer Johanna Seidel (left), Dearborn Community Fund Director EmmaJean Woodyard and Team Director Sunshine Durant listens.
Hammoud said when he first saw the mural, he realized that every element of what happens inside the building is reflected on the wall outside.
“We hope to continually beautify our city with pieces like this on every bare wall that we have,” he said. “And so, if you have an idea of a wall that can be used for such a mural, pass it on to me, pass it on to EmmaJean. We’ll find the money for it.”
Durant said the POP Team mural is one of her favorite summer activities, and said it means so much to the community.
“Dearborn is implemented with so much diversity and culture, and to have it on the walls, we can see what it means to us,” she said.
Cascardo, who was born and raised in Dearborn, said he thought initially that he would just be telling the POP team about mural creation, because he creates murals professionally.
He said he met with the POP team, took their ideas and combined them into a drawing for the mural.
“When I came here and they had the black line drawing on the wall, I said ‘Wow – this is a big project,’” Cascardo said. “It’s a huge mural, and there are a lot of things going on, but you guys nailed it.
“When I pulled up here today, I just saw the colors, and it really captures the rec center and what goes on in this community.”
Team assistant Eliana Pettigrew (at podium), 19, of Wyandotte, a University of Michigan student and third-time POP mural participant, speaks during the 2024 Pockets of Perception mural “Colors of the Community” dedication ceremony July 31 on the south side of the Ford Community & Performing Arts Center in Dearborn, as volunteer Johanna Seidel (left), Dearborn Community Fund Director EmmaJean Woodyard and Team Director Sunshine Durant listens.
Team assistant Eliana Pettigrew, 19, of Wyandotte, said POP has had a huge impact on her over the past three years.
“I got to see that this could be a career that I could go into, and it just didn’t have to be something that I was passionate about if I wanted to continue with it,” she said. “So, I really do genuinely think that my involvement in POP is one of the reasons that I had the self-confidence to go into art as a career.”
Pettigrew said she just finished her first year of pursuing an art degree (among other degree work) at the University of Michigan.
“I think that everyone who is involved with this can say that this is a super valuable experience and it is really empowering for the people involved,” she said.
POP Team members include high school students Malak Abdulroda, Amina Bazzi, Kole Catris, Addison Cleveland, Steven Durant, Amanda Eldaw, Camila Gomez, Lily Martinez, Serena Salameh, Ashe Watson and Liliana Witgen.
The graduate team of college students include returning young artists Lauren Boyce, Ilana Sarkisian, Isabela Sierzputowski and Zeinab Zorkot, along with Pettigrew, who is assisting Sunshine Durant.
Also helping the POP team are artist Sasha Corder and advocates Robert W. Curtis, Steve Durant, and Dearborn Parks and Recreation Director Sean Fletcher.
Other project support was provided by the city of Dearborn, Hammoud, COMPAC Manager Martin Zbosnik, educator Kim Ismael and Dick Blick Art Materials of Dearborn.
POP funding for 2024 was provided by Ford Philanthropy, Paul and Sandy Butler, Robert W. Curtis, the Exchange Club of Dearborn, the Woodyard Family, the Rotary Club of Dearborn, Steve and Faye Adelson, 3D Financial LLC, Susan Rowe and Johanna Seidel.
The 2024 Pockets of Perception mural “Colors of the Community” basks in the sunlight during the July 31 dedication ceremony on the south side of the Ford Community & Performing Arts Center in Dearborn.