2008 Woodie Awards
The Diego Rivera of Green Street: How Smith's Science and Engineering Building is impacting local community
Megan Burbank
Issue date: 9/14/06 Section: Arts
In 1933, renowned Mexican artist Diego Rivera was commissioned by Abby and Nelson Rockefeller to paint a mural inside New York City's Rockefeller Center. Rivera, a staunch communist, consented, and began a masterpiece that would end his career as a painter and cause great controversy. Rivera did the unthinkable in Rockefeller's eyes while painting the mural: he included a portrait of Lenin at its center. The Rockefellers were dismayed and encouraged him to replace the face of the Communist leader with an anonymous one. Rivera refused, and when the Rockefellers threatened to have the mural destroyed if he did not conceal the image of Lenin, Rivera stood his ground. A photograph was taken, and the 63 by 17 foot mural was destroyed.
Rivera painted his mural and saw it destroyed; he preferred to have his masterpiece ruined than to have his own beliefs silenced. The destruction of his mural made a statement. And right here at Smith, something similar is going on. Jeff Mack, a local illustrator, is making his own Riveraesque mark on the Northampton community. His is a smaller mural, on one of the walls of the Green Street Café, and was still in progress two weeks ago. It features his distinct artistic style, which is somewhat cartoonish and whimsical, and well-suited to the children's books he has illustrated.
Patrons enter the Green Street Café and are quickly intrigued by the mural. Slowly, they come to realize what its subject matter really is. At first it looks as though it portrays some kind of strange family reunion with an array of characters crouched around a table, looking vaguely worried. But eventually, the background reveals itself-it is Green Street, a corner of campus where Smith houses coexist with local homes and businesses. Quickly the mural begins to make sense. The people in it are actually employees of the Green Street Café. It is based on Leonardo da Vinci's "The Last Supper," but instead of signaling that a traitor is concealed among his disciples, the Jesus figure in the center of the mural is holding a scroll of paper in his hand. It is a blue piece of paper depicting an outline of a large building swallowing smaller buildings. It is, in fact, the blueprint for Smith's soon-to-be constructed science and engineering building. It is a building that will displace several of the businesses and homes on Green Street, and the employees of the Green Street Café are not happy about it.
Rivera painted his mural and saw it destroyed; he preferred to have his masterpiece ruined than to have his own beliefs silenced. The destruction of his mural made a statement. And right here at Smith, something similar is going on. Jeff Mack, a local illustrator, is making his own Riveraesque mark on the Northampton community. His is a smaller mural, on one of the walls of the Green Street Café, and was still in progress two weeks ago. It features his distinct artistic style, which is somewhat cartoonish and whimsical, and well-suited to the children's books he has illustrated.
Patrons enter the Green Street Café and are quickly intrigued by the mural. Slowly, they come to realize what its subject matter really is. At first it looks as though it portrays some kind of strange family reunion with an array of characters crouched around a table, looking vaguely worried. But eventually, the background reveals itself-it is Green Street, a corner of campus where Smith houses coexist with local homes and businesses. Quickly the mural begins to make sense. The people in it are actually employees of the Green Street Café. It is based on Leonardo da Vinci's "The Last Supper," but instead of signaling that a traitor is concealed among his disciples, the Jesus figure in the center of the mural is holding a scroll of paper in his hand. It is a blue piece of paper depicting an outline of a large building swallowing smaller buildings. It is, in fact, the blueprint for Smith's soon-to-be constructed science and engineering building. It is a building that will displace several of the businesses and homes on Green Street, and the employees of the Green Street Café are not happy about it.
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