Christina-Taylor's peers create public art in her memory

They did know this is a special project, one they’ve been working on every Wednesday since September. It will be a signature of the new, expanded Christina-Taylor Green Memorial River Park — a colorful place along Pima County’s Loop trail for people to enjoy both nature and art.

Construction on the park, which is being built as a public-private partnership between Pima County, the Green family and community donations, is expected to begin later this month and to be completed by April. The family is working to raise the remaining funds needed — about $5,000.

Christina-Taylor was the youngest of the six people killed in the Tucson mass shooting six years ago today, on Jan. 8, 2011. The shooter targeted then-Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who was permanently injured by a shot through the brain. Christina-Taylor, a 9-year-old third-grader, had been waiting in line to see Giffords when she was shot.

Also killed were Dorothy Morris, 76; U.S. District Judge John M. Roll, 63; Phyllis Schneck, 79; Dorwan Stoddard, 76; and Gabe Zimmerman, 30. Thirteen people, including Giffords, were injured.

Born in 2001

On an 11-foot high, 7-foot wide freestanding outdoor concrete wall, the students from City High School in downtown Tucson have painted a radiant mural. Their painting shows two birds, Gambel’s quail, flying through a bright sky over an Arizona mountain landscape.

The teens created their own blue by mixing some colors and managed to come up with a hue that’s even deeper and more brilliant than the real Arizona sky.

“I love art and painting, so I jumped at the opportunity to do this,” said Oona Husok, a 16-year-old City High School sophomore. “Knowing what it was for — I wanted to do it more.”

Husok was 10 years old and living in Tucson when the shooting happened. She recalls hearing more news about Giffords but always knew Christina-Taylor’s name, she said.

Like Husok, Christina-Taylor loved art. A large steel replica of a blue and green butterfly she drew shortly before she died will eventually be placed on the top of the students’ mural. The butterfly’s wings will have a 6-foot wingspan.

“I was so young. It was hard to comprehend. But it is powerful to find out we were born the same year,” said 15-year-old Cameron Carrillo as she painted a group of cholla on the mural.

Carrillo called the mural an “amazing opportunity” to be outdoors and do art at the same time.

“I am finding myself at peace when I am here,” she said.

Gambel’s quail

The teens’ after-school art instructor, Margo Wallace, noted that the Gambel’s quail featured in the mural are family oriented, which fits the spirit of the park.

“Look at the All Souls tradition in Tucson. We are a community that embraces remembering and celebrating people we’ve lost,” Wallace said.

“I lost my dad when I was 11. Being able to do something for another family is awesome.”

She said it’s also been a rare chance for the students to “take a pause from life,” and just focus on painting.

The mural and the wall it stands on will be a featured element at the improved 2-acre park area. The wall will be surrounded by handmade tiles and 18-inch colored concrete pavers that will include the names of all individual and business donors to the park — whether it was $5 from one of Christina-Taylor’s friends or $500 from a local business.

“We wanted to impress on kids that they can make a difference — they can show their kids the paver later in life,” said Jenni Johnson, a friend of the Green family who has been helping to raise funds for the park.

“Every donor will be acknowledged with something that’s permanent.”

On the Loop

The park is located along the Cañada del Oro section of The Loop trail system, at the southwest corner of Shannon and Magee roads, across from the Northwest YMCA. It’s a place where Christina-Taylor and her brother Dallas liked to ride bikes together, and a place where her family still goes.

“We have the (planned January 8th) memorial downtown, but this is where she played,” Christina-Taylor’s mother, Roxanna Green, said on Dec. 14 as she watched the City High School students painting, after bringing them some Eegee’s.

“This is personal.”

Green stood to the side of the students and watched quietly, explaining that it was a difficult day for her — the fourth anniversary of the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, that left 20 6- and 7-year-old children and six educators dead.

Each time there’s been a mass shooting since her daughter’s death — and there have been many — Roxanna has struggled. Newtown was especially hard.

Butterflies and songbirds

Christina-Taylor stood 4 feet 11 inches tall when she died, had dark eyes, dark hair and an extroverted personality. She was the only girl on her baseball team, had done political canvassing with her grandmother, and on the Halloween before she died dressed up as Supergirl.

The park improvements are meant to both honor Christina-Taylor and give something valuable to the whole community, particularly to children.

Designs show gardens with native plants chosen to attract butterflies, hummingbirds and songbirds. CAID Industries of Tucson is providing five steel benches laser-cut with desert southwest flora and fauna designs to reflect these garden themes. CAID is also donating the steel butterfly that will sit atop the mural.

The plants in the gardens will be labeled for educational purposes, and a central courtyard area will include a statue of children playing. The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum recently signed on to provide a feature to attract monarch butterflies.

The museum has donated more than 120 native plants that will be part of a monarch butterfly “waystation” — a site that provides food and habitat for the butterflies to feed their migration. The effort is part of the Arizona Monarch Partnership, which aims to improve monarch habitat throughout the state and reverse the decline of the species.

“It seems Christina-Taylor has been with us this whole time, making it bigger and better,” Green said. “So many things are small signs that she’s with us, that she’s here.”