Denver art students bring new warmth to animal shelter drop kennel
Young artists paint acrylic murals in the Denver Animal Shelter
Students from In Lak’ech Denver Arts gathered Saturday to bring a bit of color and joy to the Denver Animal Shelter’s drop kennel.
Around 10 young artists began painting the walls of the shelter’s drop room — an area that allows people to place strays or unwanted animals into kennels during the shelter’s off hours — with colorful paw prints, animals and hearts.
The lively effort will take three painting sessions, leaving the room at 1241 W. Bayaud Ave. with signs of love and joy.
“When people are coming here and making these difficult decisions to relinquish their animals, they are often doing it out of love and with hesitation,” Marissa Vasquez, Manager of Community Engagement at the Denver Animal Shelter, said. “So, they took that message and incorporated it into their design. We wanted it to be a warmer, more-inviting place.”
When deciding to brighten the room with community art, the shelter looked to In Lak’ech Denver Arts — a free art school based in southwest Denver that looks to bring art education to underserved communities. The motto of In Lak’ech lined up perfectly with the shelter’s public health model of One Health, creating a perfect pairing.
One Health is the concept that health goes beyond humans, stretching to plants, animals and the planet.
In Lak’ech is an ancient Mayan saying meaning “you are my other me,” meaning unity amongst all living things.
“Our kids put really put those models into these pieces,” Aalycia Rodriguez, a teacher at In Lak-ech Denver Arts, said. “They all created this by themselves and came up with everything. It’s all their ideas of how they feel like all health connects.”
The students painted paws and hands holding up the globe on the main wall, presenting the unity of all beings.
“It’s a really cool opportunity for these young people to see that this modern health model is the same as the way our ancestors existed,” Vasquez said. “We want to start doing more humane education programming here at the shelter. This was an opportunity to start that.”
The acrylic murals will be finished on Dec. 9.
