Marshalltown Community College (MCC) students, staff and leadership came together to celebrate a vibrant, colorful new mural created by artist Siriaco “Siricasso” Garcia near the student union entrance on Friday afternoon during a ceremony that featured several speeches, food and refreshments, a screenprinting station and even a special grass dance from MCC freshman Tenoch Estrada Snow (Saswedika) of the Meskwaki Nation.

Provost Matt Schmit described the large mural, which includes the message “Keep Going,” as “a reflection of who we are,” a community bound together by a shared purpose and a shared place. Schmit hatched the idea for the mural last spring and quickly got to work with Garcia, an MCC alum himself who now resides in Huxley, and art faculty members Tim Castle and Nancy Adams.

“The mural tells a story that belongs to all of us — our students, our faculty and staff, our greater Marshalltown community. At Marshalltown Community College, inclusivity isn’t just a value we talk about. It’s something we live every day,” Schmit said. “The image of this mural represents a variety of backgrounds, experiences and dreams that make MCC such a vibrant learning environment. Together, we form a community where every student has the opportunity to succeed and every voice has a place in the conversation.”

To Schmit, it also represents a common bond and a collective commitment to student achievement. Castle, the next speaker, expressed excitement about the fact that three murals have been completed on campus in less than 12 months and praised Garcia, who has made a name for himself as a regional artist by bringing people and communities together.

For Castle, the overall theme of the mural is transformation — both of a blank wall into a visually appealing space and of individuals who work to serve the greater good.

“It is a lesson to all our students out there that in your own way, you must transform yourselves into changemakers for a better world, just like Siri has done. That’s the big lesson here,” he said.

Adams spoke of the diversity at MCC as one of its defining strengths with students from all over the world attending the school, and she praised Garcia as a “remarkable young man” driven by a desire to give back to a place that played such a crucial role in his own development as an artist. She also touted the collective effort that went into finishing the mural over a three-week period and thanked the college’s leadership for agreeing to fund the project.

“It gave me hope. It made me proud to be part of this community, and in closing, I’d like to say that I see two rainbows on that wall. I certainly see the saturated, bright, candy colored light that lives in the sky, and I also see the rainbow of the flesh tones in the individuals that are represented on that wall, shades of skin tones, right? And the anonymity of them is intentional because it allows and it speaks to the universality. Picture yourself here,” Adams said.

Next up was the man of the hour himself, the artist known as Siricasso, an Ames High School graduate who thanked MCC and noted the special place it holds in his heart.

“As the first person to graduate from high school in my family, I was looking for a place that felt like home, and MCC was that. During my time here, I grew not only as an artist but as a person. I had the chance to complete two murals on campus and another one in the community,” he said, noting that the latter, located at the old Ay Caramba, can no longer be seen. “This school isn’t where I studied, but where I started — where Siricasso was born. It’s where I first learned to create freely, to think big and to believe in myself.”

It’s also where he met his wife, with whom he recently celebrated 10 years of marriage. Garcia credited Castle as a key mentor and collaborator on the project along with Schmit, Adams, Miguel Sanchez, Shayna Garcia and Jorge Ramirez. He then broke down the mural itself, noting that it is meant to be read from left to right — starting with books, sports and uplifting words reminding students to keep looking forward and a monarch butterfly symbolizing migration and transformation.

“As a Chicano, this imagery means a lot to me and my people. It’s a reminder of all the sacrifices that were made to get me here, and I’m truly thankful for that,” Garcia said. “It’s just imagery that reminds me that dreams do come true here.”

The rainbow represents the LGBTQ+ community, while the Meskwaki corn is a tribute to the tribe that is headquartered just 15 miles west of the MCC campus. The mural also features graduates of all skin tones and students with disabilities, a tree for growth, and above it all, a starry sky symbolizing the idea of dreaming big and reaching for the stars. Finally, the ‘I Love You’ sign in American Sign Language presents a message of love, support and belonging.

“My hope is that this mural becomes more than a piece of art on a wall, that it becomes a mirror, a source of inspiration, a daily reminder that this place, this community embraces everyone. It’s a reminder that you belong,” Garcia said. “Thank you again from the bottom of my heart for allowing me to come back to the place that has given me so much. This mural’s for you, for every student, for every staff, for every dream that begins here at MCC.”

Sanchez, an MHS, MCC and UNI graduate who runs the Print House in Marshalltown, told the audience it was an honor to be back and thanked Garcia for the opportunity to be involved in the mural.

“This mural really spoke to me as an immigrant myself chasing my dreams, and I could see a reflection of my own journey,” he said. “One word of encouragement to the students here is, you know, keep going, chase your dreams, and you never know where the journey’s gonna take you.”

Shayna Garcia, also an MHS graduate and current freshman at MCC, relished the opportunity to work collaboratively with Siricasso despite the fact that she had no previous experience painting murals. Before Estrada Snow’s dance, Schmit commented that the mural will live long past the ceremony, and he couldn’t think of a better place to put it.

Estrada Snow’s parents, Stephanie and Troy, who both introduced themselves in the Meskwaki language, provided a synopsis of their son’s outfit, dancing style and even his first name, a tribute to a famed 14th century Aztec leader, and his Meskwaki name Saswedika, which comes from the Swan clan and refers to a certain splashing in the water.

From there, she broke down the color scheme of his outfit and noted that pink is his favorite.

“I love that my son is really unique and that he’s not afraid to just be himself and love pink despite the associations those colors have,” she said. “But for him, it’s just beautiful, and we decided to put that in the outfit for him.”

Corn, which connects native people across North and South America, is represented on his headband and cuffs, and the otter tracks are meant to showcase playfulness, inquisitiveness and fortitude. Alas, the mirrors represent staying positive and avoiding negativity.

“I’m really proud of (Tenoch) because this is a venture for him to be here at MCC, and right now, during the times that we’re in, it’s getting a little more difficult for our native people to get the education that they want, and so this is a huge statement to be here as a student,” Stephanie said.

Troy traced the roots of the grass dance to the Omaha people, who passed it on to the Dakota people, and said the dance itself symbolizes grass on the prairie.

“Everything is with intention, and the easiest way, I guess, to understand, is when you see it. And I wish I could grass dance. It would be awesome,” he said. “But I just want to echo what my wife said. We’re real proud of him. We’re real proud of all of our kids. They’re all involved in powwow dancing and singing, and we’re real happy that he’s here. We’re real happy that he got to be a part of this event, so we just came to support him.”

After the dance, the festivities continued on a balmy fall day, and the artistic team and MCC leaders behind the mural spoke to the T-R about the process. Schmit shared the importance of making students feel welcome when they returned for the fall semester, and in his view, the finished product went well beyond even his own “grand vision.”

Siriaco Garcia said he didn’t hesitate at all when Schmit approached him.

“This is like a home of mine, so to be able to do something like this here means a lot,” he said.

Both Shayna Garcia and Sanchez were especially thankful to take on such a large scale project, and Siriaco Garcia hopes the mural — titled “Dream Big” — will inspire students to do just that.

“A lot of the students here are international, so, you know, English is not their first language, but art can translate to any language if you have the imagery. So I hope that they also feel represented with the imagery that we put up here,” he said. “We make sure to represent everybody by putting the Earth up here because they come from overseas to be here, some of them do, and, like I said, it’s just truly amazing to be able to connect them with the mural.”

Siriaco Garcia has a project on the horizon in the community of Ellsworth, but he said he may be commissioned for another one closer to Highway 30 on the MCC campus in the future.

“It’ll be the same mentality, same celebration, so hopefully it happens. You’ve gotta talk to Matt (Schmit),” he said.

And Castle, whose partnership with Siricasso dates back to when he was one of his students, said he realized he had a special talent very quickly.

“Siri just shone in class. He was very different, let’s put it that way, and I knew he would go on to do great things. He just has charisma. He has talent coming out of everything,” he said.

Both Schmit and Adams confirmed that there will be more public art to come on the MCC campus.