INTERNS & VOLUNTEERS

Supplemental Travel / Workshop / Study Program

As previously mentioned, the Latin American Art Resource Project occasionally offers opportunities to integrate field work with formal study, both for regular interns and for students who enroll specifically for this course. Our program has laid the groundwork for several Honduran universities to host students from universities from North America (or Europe) to combine field study with social projects aimed to revive the use of traditional materials and methods in art, artisanry, and architecture. Activities have included mural workshops for schools in marginal communities, urban and village beautification projects, and rural artisan training.

It may take several more years, but eventually, these activities may formalize into three annual sessions. During Christmas and Spring breaks, one-week workshops would concentrate on field study of three kinds of Mesoamerican painting: prehistoric cave paintings, Mayan temple art, and the campesino houses decorated with local earth colors. Summer workshops would consist of four full weeks of activities: a week of language study (optional); a week of orientation and training workshops; a week of development applications in disadvantaged communities; and a week of on-site field study. This multifaceted program would offer something of interest to any student of art, architecture, anthropology, art history, Latin American studies, education, Spanish language, or social work. It would be particularly appropriate for students seeking experience in multicultural development work.