We want to bring attention to another recent Piryx customer, the Estria Foundation, an organization that aims to reinvent people by working with them to reinvent the spaces they live in through public art projects that involve local communities. We had the opportunity to catch up with Development Director Maggie Utgoff, who was gracious enough to shed light on their work. We learned of the foundation’s mission, the artist himself, and some of their projects.

While the foundation was recently established in September of this year, Estria himself has been painting murals for over twenty years in various parts of the world. From Honduras to San Francisco, his murals have inspired folks to paint their own murals, and create work with empowering messages that serve their surrounding communities. His work is at the heart of the foundation’s mission. As stated on their site, they strive to “shift the social consciousness on critical human and environment issues through education, art projects and community events globally.”

One of their up and coming projects exemplifies this mission. For the next 12 months, the foundation will be working with communities to create 10 different murals in 10 different cities focused on the issue of water. These works will be open to the public, and incorporate local culture. The idea is to engage communities across the globe in a dialogue on water and its future.

“We want bring people and communities together on this issue,” said Utgoff. Be on the lookout for this ambitious initiative in 2011.

Prior to the Estria Foundation, Utgoff worked for Twitter for two years, and most recently worked on the Jerry Brown for Governor campaign. Her business background coupled with her passion to enact change compelled her to take part in this special cause. Please visit their site to learn more about their work, latest projects, and how you can help. We want to thank Maggie for sharing her time with us.