Margarito J. Garcia, III, Ph.D.

Aicragjm1205@aol.com
The Academia de Arte Yepes is reaching out nationally to Educators and Students.
Since 1992, the Academia de Arte Yepes students have completed over 30 murals,
including 10 space and science murals for NASA, the European Space Agency, and the
Italian Space Agency. Twenty-three years later, the Academia de Arte Yepes is still
Trailblazing the marriage of Art, Science, and Technology with their newest
program designed to train students to successfully compete in the 21st century.
The Academia de Arte Yepes is reaching out to establish Online partnerships, via the
internet, with schools nationally for the new Science and Technology Mural Project with
NASA entitled The Age of Exploration: from Magellan 1480 to Cassini The Grand Finale
2017.
Educators and students interested in participating, Online via the Internet, in the Research
and Design portion of the Academia de Arte Yepes educational mural project can contact:
George Yepes at www.georgeyepes.com or the Academia de Arte Yepes
at: http://www.georgeyepes.com/academia-de-arte-yepes/
Thank you, and looking forward to hearing from you.
George Yepes, Director/Painter/Muralist

July 31, 2015

The Trailblazing Academia de Arte Yepes

"Twenty years ahead of time, and still Leading STEAM
The Age of Exploration: from Magellan 1480 to Cassini The Grand
Finale 2017

NASA: Inspiring the Next Generation of Explorers Through Education

"Today, America has a serious shortage of young people entering the fields
of mathematics and science. This critical part of NASA's mission is to inspire
the next generation of explorers so that our work can go on. This educational
mandate is an imperative."

Sean O'Keefe, NASA Administrator

www.georgeyepes.com
The Academia de Arte Yepes is currently reaching out to establish sponsorships and new
partnerships locally, nationally, and internationally for their new Science and Technology Mural
program entitled The Age of Exploration: from Magellan 1480 to Cassini The Grand Finale
2017.
Merging science, technology, and mathematics to gain a quality education and real-world
applicable skills is not a new concept. Twenty years before the STEAM Program took form in
schools nationally culminating with a presentation to the President in the White House, the
Academia de Arte Yepes students had already produced a series of ten Science and Space
murals beginning in 1995 for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the
Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).
Twenty years ahead of time, the Trailblazing Academia de Arte Yepes first implemented a series
of such programs beginning in 1995 when they partnered with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory
(JPL), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the European Space Agency,
and the Italian Space Agency to create and complete a mural titled Cassinis Arrival at Saturn.
The mural depicted the ground breaking journey of NASAs Cassini Spacecraft two years before
its launch and nine years before its actual arrival at Saturn. In doing so, the Academia de Arte
Yepes, in partnership with NASA, the European Space Agency, and the Agenzia Spaziale
Italiana: established and implemented a fourteen-year National Educational Model titled: "The
Marriage of Art, Science, and Technology.the predecessor to the national STEAM Program.
From 1995 through 2008, the Academia de Arte Yepes students produced a series of ten
Science and Space murals for JPL/NASA for un-manned missions to Saturn, Mars, and Jupiter.
In 1996, the JPL Director, Ed Stone and the Academia students together unveiled the Mars
Global Surveyor mural titled Mars Leading the New Millennium Students at the John F.
Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, Florida. During that visit to The Kennedy Space
Center, the Academia students and their parents attended the launch of the Mars Global
Surveyor. The 1995 and 1996 Cassini murals were made possible through a joint undertaking
between Cassini project personnel and Academia students, wherein the young master painters
from the Academia were guided during the murals creation by Cassini science and mission
design manager, Charles Kohlhase, and Cassini mission designer, Fernando Peralta. This work
was undertaken as part of NASAs nationwide outreach effort to engage student interest in
science, technology, engineering, and mathematics and to cultivate and inspire the next
generation of explorers. In addition, in 2007-2008, the Academia and JPL/NASA joined forces
again to complete the expansive 340 foot-long "Cassini Science Return mural which was
designed and created specifically for the Space Operations Facility at JPL/NASA,
commemorating the new discoveries made from the research and science data transmitted by
the Cassini orbiter from its four-year mission to explore the Saturnian System.
Now in 2015, the Trailblazing Academia de Arte Yepes has designed a new Unprecedented
Visual Arts Program that will serve elementary, secondary, and college students.
The new Academia de Arte Yepes innovative program will merge science, engineering,
computer technology and art in the research, conceptualization, design, and completion of largescale, public art murals. The state-of-the-art program will place students in an intensive,
professional mural painting academy where students will learn to work as an integral part of a
team and will receive multi-disciplinary training and hands-on experience in all artistic aspects of
mural creation, from conception to completion. The Academia de Arte Yepes has already
completed developing the two-and-three-year Program curriculum. George Yepes, the Academia
de Arte Yepes Director, will be teaching all of the class sessions. Class and Studio assistance

will be provided by the Academia de Arte Yepes Alumni Master Painters, who are graduates of
the twenty years of Academia mural programs.
The first of the new Academia de Arte Yepes projects will begin during the 2015-2016 academic
year as a professional studio program in the visual arts. The students selected for the Academia
project will work directly with Director, George Yepes and Academia de Arte Yepes Master
Painters to create an interdisciplinary tryptic mural entitled The Age of Exploration: from
Magellan 1480 to Cassini The Grand Finale 2017. The mural will memorialize the Cassini
Spacecrafts 20-year mission from 1997 through September 2017.

The Academia de Arte Yepes is currently reaching out to Sponsors, Schools and new
Partnerships that are interested in participating in the launching of this new project which is
scheduled to begin during the 2015-2016 academic year. Anyone interested in the new
Academia de Arte Yepes educational mural project can contact:
George Yepes at www.georgeyepes.com or the Academia de Arte Yepes
at: http://www.georgeyepes.com/academia-de-arte-yepes/