This Fresno artist paints murals with kids to 'build them up'

FRESNO, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) - A Fresno-based creator has been bringing vivid and colorful murals to schools each implicit the Central Valley, describing her enactment arsenic 1 of the astir rewarding experiences of her life.

Fresno-born creator Andrea Cano Torres has besides been involving students successful the coating process, giving them lifelong memories and lessons successful the process.

Torres says her creation has go an outlet arsenic good arsenic a trade, allowing her to supply for her lad portion showing him and herself it is imaginable to marque a surviving arsenic an artist.

"My ma was like, what are you doing with your life? You can't bash thing with art," Torres said. "In retrospect, she's like, I'm atrocious that I didn't judge you - but I'm truthful proud."

Torres' creation draws from her beingness experiences. Taking inspiration from aged Spanish commercials, Mexican soaps, and adjacent her aged address, Torres says her creation has been therapeutic - but her mural enactment has been fulfilling successful a wholly antithetic way.

After earning a treble Bachelors astatine Fresno State, she began teaching astatine Fresno High wherever she rapidly got progressive successful the mural club.

"They utilized to person [a mural club] and I conscionable benignant of helped bring it back," Torres said. "Ever since past it benignant of shifted from teaching to teaching art, to coating murals - and I've been doing it since 2016."

For Torres, coating the murals with the children is much than a blessed project, it is simply a responsibility.

"You person a precise important, almighty relation successful their life," Torres said. "You either physique them up oregon you sound them down."

Torres says the murals are an accidental to amusement section children that they are not constricted to their situation and they are susceptible of large things themselves. She says she's had a accidental to spot galore of her erstwhile students turn up and go artists themselves.

"I deliberation coating connected walls is specified a like, forbidden happening that erstwhile they get to bash it and past erstwhile it looks good, it's similar they get they're conscionable truthful arrogant of themselves."