Mural project honors trapped Chilean miners

Larry Rush remembers watching CNN as the story unfolded about the 33 Chilean miners who were trapped more than 2,000 feet below the ground for 69 days after a tunnel collapsed.

It wasn’t just the story that captured Rush’s attention but the message of hope that gripped him.

During the ordeal in 2010, and even after, he knew he had to find a way to use his talents as an artist to honor the miners.

“It’s been about a 2½-year process,” Rush said.

But now, his simple idea has grown into a 44-foot-long clay panel.

The “Hope Rises-Chilean Mine Exhibit” is scheduled to be on display from 7:30 a.m. to
5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday at the Henderson Convention Center, 200 S. Water St., through May 10.

Hope Rises is divided into multiple columns, each section with the motif of butterflies, which comes from a story shared by one of the miners.

“Watching CNN, one of the brothers told the story of seeing a butterfly,” Rush said.

According to the account, after the tunnel began to collapse, one of the miners saw a white butterfly.

“That story intrigued me,” Rush said. “(The exhibit) expresses the idea of the significance of butterflies being a miraculous thing.”

Each column has 34 tiles on it.

“It’s funny how that worked,” Rush said.

When watching the news story, the miners said there weren’t 33 of them in the mine.

“They said the were 34,” Rush said while extending his index finger to point up. “When I went to put 33 tiles on, it wouldn’t balance. I needed 34.”

Rush also enlisted the help of his art students at New Horizons Center for Learning, 6701 W. Charleston Blvd., along with students from Wolfe Elementary School and University Baptist Academy.

“This project allowed our students to become a part of something bigger than all of us,” said Jorge Sanchez, principal of the academy.

Before his call to be an art teacher, Rush started out as a musician.

“But I always had it in the back of my mind I wanted to do art,” he said.

He started with pen and ink and moved to watercolor paintings before trying out ceramics. That’s where he learned to work with clay, which is what the exhibit is made out of.

“It’s a mixture of red and white clay,” he added.

He received his master’s degree in art education from Arizona State University. For the last 13 years, he has been an art teacher at New Horizons Center for Learning.

Rush said it was good to get his students involved in the project because it broadened their awareness of what was going on in the world.

“It gives them a sense of compassion and understanding for events like this,” he said. “Children need to express their feelings.”

He added that after 9/11, he had students work on a project to help them process their feelings.

Rush is trying to figure out a way to get the exhibit to Chile so he could truly honor the miners in person.

“I can imagine a lot of them dealing with post-traumatic stress,” he said. “With this message, they know that children in the valley were still concerned for their well-being.”

Rush said he has been working with the Smithsonian Institution and Chilean Honorary Consul Paulina Biggs-Sparkuhl in an effort to contact the miners and find someone to house the mural.

Aside from Chile, Rush hopes the exhibit remains traveling throughout Henderson.

“I am humbled how helpful people have been here,” he said.

It was previously at the McCaw School of Mines.

“I didn’t know how big it was until I had to move it,” Rush said.

He has had to move the piece one panel at a time in his car.

“I think I drove 500 miles back and forth one day,” he said.

After the convention center, the exhibit is expected to be at the Henderson Multigenerational Center, 250 S. Green Valley Parkway, May 13 through June 13.

For more information, visit cityofhenderson.com/parks.

Contact Henderson/Anthem View reporter Michael Lyle at mlyle@viewnews.com or 702-387-5201.