Down by the school yard

Beauty sometimes comes hard to proud, old neighborhoods like mine.

Stubborn bricks stand porously and reject fresh paint outright, cracked mortar dares art to bloom.

Thankfully, artists like Irineo Medina know how to coax brilliance from cranky walls and to lift whole communities with a paintbrush’s stroke.

Irineo has painted 16 murals to date, three right in my neck of the woods, and he is about to unveil a fourth right across the street from my house.

We are thrilled by the proximity of such cool, uplifting artwork.

“It’s not just about the art,” he told me on one of the many times I stopped by to express my gratitude and admiration. “It’s about the community. It’s about people creating something that says, ‘I was there.’”

I was there, walking past on that first day when he and his student helpers painstakingly applied the first coat of primer. It took so many hot, sweaty hours and that unforgiving brick just sucked it from the surface.

They added a second coat the next day and then, throughout the week, had some fun adding color. The community was invited to paint from 12:30 to 3:30 each day. Irineo stayed long after they left, sometimes painting through the night and into the early hours of the morning.

Paid for through grants, the murals celebrate optimism, elegance, humanity and love.

I can’t wait to see the finished piece.

If you’re in the neighborhood this Friday, come to the Drew Street side of Kaleidoscope Academy for a party from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. to celebrate the finished mural.