This past October our inaugural Medical Mission trip to the Jose Galvez region of Peru was a huge success. Inspired, Academy teaching artist-in-residence and parishioner Maureen Bennett thought of a way our school communities could create something together. While in Peru, mission team member and Academy receptionist Elena Ugarte, commissioned by Maureen, drew outlines of the Peruvian students’ hands. With drawings in tow Elena returned to the Academy where the students used the outlined hands as a starting point to create new and inspired works of art! The students were introduced to the contemporary international artist Romero Britto. Brazilian-born and Miami-made, Britto uses vibrant, bold and colorful patters to reflect his optimistic view of the word. He believes artists are change-makers for good. Inspired by the Peruvian hands and Britto’s artwork, they created Positivism and Love! Check out photos of the work below and a great moment this past week when the two classes of students met for the first time over Skype in our MakerSpace classroom where they showed off their work.