Aurora Sidney-Ando
Aurora Sidney-Ando (Mexico/Alaska)
Aurora is an artist and a counselor and her work in both fields is informed by multicultural and humanistic perspectives. Aurora was born and raised in Mexico and has lived in Alaska for the past 12 years. She received her Master's in Counseling from Alaska Pacific University and her Ph. D. in Humanistic and Transpersonal Psychology with a certificate in Expressive Arts for Social Change from SayBrook University.
Aurora immerses herself in painting and shows her work around Anchorage. She is working with non-profit agencies to advocate for expanding the realm of visual arts within the Anchorage community in the spirit of promoting peace and social change.
Further integrating her background in art and psychology, Aurora is working with North Star Behavioral Health Center, Universal Health Services, Inc. on illustration projects that use children's stories to educate kids and the adults in their lives on behavioral and mental disorders.
Mural at James Smith Resident Hall
At James Smith on UD’s Laird Campus, about 20 students met weekly with artists in residence Aurora Sidney-Ando to create a series of mural panels. Most of the students were members of the LGBTQ+ and Racial Justice Activism and Visual Arts living Learning communities in the residence hall.
The goal of the project, was to connect people and promote peace and unity through art. With a doctoral degree in humanistic and transpersonal psychology, Sidney-Ando focuses much of her work on using expressive arts for healing and social change.
The panels
“Large-scale art takes a lot of people,” she said of the mural project. “I wanted to create a nonjudgmental culture of acceptance. Not everyone agrees [on everything], but everyone feels comfortable enough to share opinions.”
The mural itself is made up of four large panels, each representing one of the four elements: Earth, Air, Fire and Water. According to Sidney-Ando, the decision to depict the four elements stemmed from the idea that nature is a healing force, and therefore aligned with the goals of the project.
Pascha Bueno-Hansen, associate professor for Women and Gender Studies, oversees the LGBTQ+ and Racial Justice living-learning communities. “The act of coming together regularly with artist Aurora Sidney-Ando to create their vision of freedom and manifest this vision through artistic expression in the very place they live marks a space of collective self-revelation, healing and community building,” Bueno-Hansen said. “justice."
Just Write!
'Just Write! Wilmington Creative Writing Series' is a collaborative initiative between the William “Hicks” Anderson Community Center, the University of Delaware’s Associate in Arts Program and the 100 Men Reading program.
With assistance from students in UD’s Associate in Arts Program in Wilmington, Aurora Sidney-Ando and other facilitators guided children through the process of writing and illustrating a picture book based on their own experiences.
The six-week project culminated in the publication of “Football, Basketball, Lost at School, Peanut Butter,” with the young authors honored at the annual Literacy Day celebration at the Wilmington Police Athletic League in December.
