‘Echoes of Home’ inspired Brandeis junior’s Waltham Family School mural

Brandeis University junior Alanis Gonzalez comes from a family of creatives.

Not only is Gonzalez’s mother an artist, but her grandmother is as well. In Gonzalez’s youth, her grandmother collected discarded items from the streets of the Dominican Republic — think coins, keyboard keys and paper clips — to create a collage of trash on canvas. Gonzalez considers this piece of art to be something from nothing. It’s her favorite. 

So when Gonzalez got the chance to coordinate the painting of a mural for the Waltham Family School, she knew what her vision would be.

“I really wanted to hone into something that was a personal experience for some of my family members,” Gonzalez said. “But I also wanted to amplify the voices of others in the Waltham community.”

The Waltham Family School, a local English language program for immigrant families, unveiled the “Echoes of home/Ecos del hogar” mural to a crowd of about 50 supporters, including Mayor Jeannette A. McCarthy, on Friday. 

The school’s program director, Jackie Herrera, said the curriculum serves children and their parents who want to improve their English and workplace skills. The school offers field trips, Chromebooks and scholarships for students who need extra help.

“Early childhood is the foundation to everything,” Herrera said. “The more we support programs and families that have young children, the more success we’re all going to have.”

The mural depicts three women at different stages of motherhood, surrounded by butterflies and flowers that represent the students’ native countries.

“Everybody felt very engaged and connected to the process,” Herrera said. “And I think that that’s what created such a beautiful mural.” 

Gonzalez, who is from Newark, N.J., said she knew she wanted to leave her mark on Waltham as early as her freshman year at Brandeis. By chance, Herrera visited one of Gonzalez’s classes to discuss The Waltham Family School and its mission. She was hooked.

“I was like, I’m gonna work with [Herrera]. I literally told her that after she left the classroom,” Gonzalez said. “Like, ‘Don’t forget about me.’” 

From shared stories to the final design

When Gonzalez received funding from Brandeis’ Rich/Collins Fellowship, she reached out to Herrera, who mentioned the school had bare walls. Gonzalez knew that had to change.

“We didn’t just want to draw art,” Gonzalez said. “We wanted to draw something that represented (students) and their experiences.”

With the help of volunteers from Brandeis, students and a local professional muralist, Tova Speter, the four-month process of painting the wall began.

“The mural process started with a community input event,” Speter said. “We engaged in a series of activities that included verbal brainstorming, written brainstorming and visual brainstorming.” The second step involved melding the community’s various ideas into a cohesive design. Then the tracing and painting began, mostly by volunteers from Brandeis. 

“Having this mural at the Waltham Family School is just a lasting visual representation of what the program means to the students and to the community,” Speter said.

Herrera said the opportunities offered at Waltham Family School are for everyone, regardless of their background.

“My mom was a teen mother, and my grandmother raised me,” Herrera said. “I have no doubt that if my mom had had a program like this, her life would have been very different.”

This story was written in collaboration with the Boston University local journalism program.