Alma Fuerte Public School opened its doors to the Dena Art Fair during the afternoon of Saturday, June 28th. The Art Fair hosted 40 small businesses, 12 live artists, 12 food and drink vendors and offered raffle prizes.
Gino Gaspara coordinated the lineup of artists.
The community art fair and market was originally planned for a parking lot at the Studio G salon in Hastings Ranch, but a teacher from Alma Fuerte — who also sold at the market — recommended the school as an alternative location. It has apparently found a permanent home there.
“As soon as I put the idea out there of hosting it at our shop, we filled up with vendors within the first day,” Gaspara said. “Doing it at Alma Fuerte, we were able to actually paint the walls of the school and get about 20 more vendors.”
The Alma Fuerte charter, which underwent a contentious renewal process earlier in the month with the Los Angeles County Board of Education, allowed artists to paint exterior murals employing vibrant colors and words of encouragement for students in the days prior to the fair.
Alma Fuerte’s director, Adriani Leon, worked closely with Studio G and Gaspara to provide the 230-student charter’s facilities for the event.
“It’s been like a physical and emotional reaction for a lot of us,” said Leon. “This event was truly the community coming out to pour out love, and we were the beneficiaries of that.”
“It feels like a turning of a page,” Leon shared. “It gives us an emotional push to work hard this coming year because it will be a difficult year with our charter renewal [in] two years.”
The school, which navigated the charter renewal process while dealing with the aftermath of the Eaton Fire, serves a student population with a significant percentage of English language learners and special education students.
The fair featured recurring themes of reconstruction in Altadena and responses to the fires earlier in the year, and highlighted art’s role in expressive therapies.
Jordan Mitchell, who was selling paintings he made of scenes in Altadena and elsewhere in Los Angeles County, lost his home in the Eaton Fire. For him, the community constantly empowers him, and his choice to sell his paintings reflects his appreciation for the people who live in the community.
“I love my city, and I just love being in SoCal,” said Mitchell. “I’ve had neighbors that are now displaced or who live outside of town now. They come all the way out here just see me. It’s been great. That’s why I love Altadena, and that’s why I plan to move back. It’s what I’ve grown up with, and it’s shaped a big part of personality and how I was raised. We live in a place with people who are not only just your neighbor but who are also invested in you.”
“The idea behind the Dena Art Fair is that art heals,” Gracie Gaspara, the co-owner of Studio G, explained. “Art is a great way for people to express themselves. We have a kids art area and an adult art area so that people can go and express themselves and their feelings. Now, when kids come on campus, they’re gonna see the art.”
Local vendor Claudia Ortiz sold homemade pocket hugs, giftable, heart-shaped tokens meant to offer comfort and remind someone they’re loved. Ortiz, whose two children attend Alma Fuerte, emphasized the value of the school in her family’s life.
“I really didn’t get this support with other schools,” said Ortiz. “Sometimes I felt like I was not heard or even seen. My son has ADHD so, in other schools, it was really hard for him. He really loved [making pocket hugs] for his friends. Alma Fuerte is the best thing that could have happened to us.”
Muralist Austin Scott painted a wall-sized mural reading ‘Dream Bigger’ on the school’s south entrance near the existing Jackie Robinson mural. This is Scott’s largest mural at 25 feet wide and 30 feet high.
“I decided to paint a peacock because it is not only one of our local fauna but a majestic, inspirational creature,” said Scott. “My black and white coloring-page style of art is meant to inspire viewers to self-conceptualize the colors that could fill the painting. While that in itself could inspire one to ‘dream bigger,’ I also brought the peacock’s tail feathers down onto the staircase and sidewalk to add a bit more wonder. I thought this message would be perfect for kids to see everyday at the school,” explained Scott.
With a live DJ in the background and plenty of food and drink vendors, the art fair attracted whole families and people of all ages.
