An open house will be held Tuesday for Nuestros Cuentos, or “Our Stories,” a collaborative project documenting the lives of Lansing-area public school children through the use of autobiographies and artwork.
The event is from 3:30 to 6 p.m. in the Michigan State University Global Gallery, located in the Nisbet Building, 1407 S. Harrison Road, Suite 301.
Nuestros Cuentos is a partnership with the Lansing School District’s Mt. Hope Elementary School and Pattengill Academy, MSU’s College Assistance Migrant Program, MSU’s Residential College in the Arts and Humanities, and the MSU Federal Credit Union. Its uses stories to tell the history of Michigan’s Latino population.
“The exhibition will showcase original artwork used to illustrate the children’s stories, a short video documenting the 2013 and 2014 Nuestros Cuentos projects, photos, a mural and the Nuestros Cuentos books,” said Estrella Torrez, founder of Nuestros Cuentos and professor in MSU’s Residential College in the Arts and Humanities.
In the spring of 2013, Torrez initiated Nuestros Cuentos and the work caught the attention of Mark Sullivan, associate professor in the MSU College of Music, who serves as the curator for MSU Global’s Creative Fellows series.
“Many of the artists and cultural practitioners presenting focus on stories - how they are fashioned, how we shape them, how they shape us and how they catalyze our understanding of ourselves and others, and drive our projects and develop support within communities,” Sullivan said.
More information about the Nuestros Cuentos open house and ongoing exhibits can be found online at http://msuglobal.com/events/creative-fellow-open-house-estrella-torrez/.