The Miami Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired campus is the canvas for the community’s latest work of street art, rising above the streets of Little Havana.
Located on the corner of SW Sixth Street and Eighth Avenue, the four-story mural will face historic Calle Ocho and overlook Miami Lighthouse’s recently dedicated Charles J. and Olga Nielson Family Playground.
Miami Lighthouse invited local twin artists George and William Hustus to leave their distinctive imprint on the building. The brothers are painting a mural designed to depict the overall theme of Miami Lighthouse Learning Center for Children — “It’s Possible to See without Sight.”
“The artwork is a collaboration of imagination and the idea of infinite possibilities for the blind children and their sighted peers attending Miami Lighthouse’s Learning Center programs,” said George Hustus. The Miami-based artists attended the art magnet high school, DASH (Design & Architecture Senior High), where they began their artistic development.
“The mural painted by the Hustus brothers marks a celebratory moment as our Miami Lighthouse embarks on its nearly 90th year of service to the blind from the same location and it creates a bond between our campus and the surrounding Little Havana community,” said Virginia Jacko, Miami Lighthouse president and CEO. “We hope to raise awareness on a national level about the blind and at the same time instill the importance of art in our early learners despite being visually impaired.”
The Lighthouse Learning Center for Children includes a first-of-its-kind inclusion pre-kindergarten program created in partnership with Miami-Dade County Public Schools, the Early Learning Coalition, and our philanthropic community. This innovative program is a national model and has been validated by the first-year results of the University of Miami’s longitudinal four-year study.
Researchers working on the study found that overall, the Miami Lighthouse Learning Center for Children demonstrated high quality instructional practices above the national average.
“How fitting that a first of its kind mural comes to Little Havana along with a first of its kind Learning Center,” said Miami Lighthouse Board chair George Foyo.
