In the M building hallway, one of the walls is currently being painted. This is the wall in front of M101 and was the classroom of former 2D Art and Photography teacher, Lorraine Vazquez, who unexpectedly passed away on June 6th, 2024. In addition to the plaque that is being created in her honor and officially naming the classroom after her, the art teachers of Pembroke Pines Charter High School is working on a mural  in her honor.

The project started a week before school started, and the deadline is in September. The people who are currently working on the mural are Mrs. Negron, Mr. Foreman, Mrs. Hoffman, the new art teacher Mr. Hernandez, and the children of Mrs. Vazquez. The bright and vibrant colors create a lush and beautiful landscape with colorful plants and a beautiful sunset sky in the background. The idea behind this mural came from Mr. Bayer, and the rest of the art department, who decided that they should expand on a painting that Mr. Bayer had received from her as a gift and create an entire landscape around it.

This original painting is prominently displayed at the center of the mural on the wall. Mrs. Negron has been working closely with the family of Mrs. Vazquez and says “I asked their family a bunch of questions in order to incorporate as many things that she liked into the mural.” This included things such as her favorite type of trees, her favorite flowers, her favorite animals, and much more.

So far, a lot of the painting has been done by Mr. Foreman, most of the details by Mrs. Negron, Mrs. Hoffman did the clouds and flowers, and the extension of the tree in the painting that started it all was done by Mr. Hernandez. All of the art teachers are sharing and contributing ideas towards the project even if they can’t work on it as much because of beginning-of-the-year responsibilities. What’s left to do is add finishing touches on the flowers and clouds, and any additions from the children of Mrs. Vazquez. Mrs. Negron has been gradually working on the mural after school these last few weeks, and after this week there should be more progress and involvement from the teachers now that it’s the third week of school and they have gotten the hang of things.

In addition, Mr. Foreman gives more insight into his perspective and his plans for the mural. His favorite things about the mural are how some parts are transparent, which he finds surprising and fun, and how some areas are very detailed and other areas are very simplistic. He is also very fond of how well the center painting is incorporated into the mural. He wants to get the majority of the mural done by September but wants to continuously work on it during the school year, and has even considered having some students join in and add their artistic style to the mural.

Foreman’s main goals are to “Make the painting feel like home, reminiscent of [Mrs. Vazquez], organic and colorful.” He also talked a bit about Mrs. Vazquez’s other paintings and how he wanted to make the mural similar in style explaining how “Her original paintings felt both alive and dormant, paradox-ish. The trees she painted felt like they were in an in-between state and the colors she used were typically warm tones.” Additionally, Foreman added that he wanted to “…make giant flowers and leaves that feel like you could walk into the scene.” This is prominently shown in the mural where there are big, vibrant, and pretty leaves, with beautiful green and purple tones.

Foreman additionally has two main inspirations aside from Mrs. Vazquez’s artworks. One inspiration was a playful and fun-looking student artwork that made him feel very happy, and the other inspiration was a mural on a building with giant whimsical flowers with colors that were so vibrant and flourished, and were inspiring with all of its little details.

Mr. Foreman’s only wish is that the mural does her justice to the best of their abilities and makes people smile, he only wishes that he could have painted it with her. As sad as the story behind this mural is, it is also very inspiring, and the entire team of people working on this mural hope that it empowers and inspires students and staff to do great things in the time that they have on Earth.

At the time of writing, after school, Mr. Foreman, Mrs. Negron, and Mrs. Vazquez’s son can be seen working on the mural during the week in the M building hallway.