Esmeralda Bolivar & Elmhurst Pride Collective - Iridescent

My name is Esmeralda Bolivar and I live in Elmhurst and I own a craft and paint workshop for adults and kids in town. My business, Do It Together Workshops, has been open for over five years, and the community in the area is amazing. 

The people in town are so supportive, and local businesses are always collaborating to come up with fun events for the town and surrounding areas. It's through, do it together workshops that I've worked with the Elmhurst Art Museum on other projects. 

I'm also a fan of their classes. I've done their ceramics class a few times. This piece was made using wood MDF and acrylic paint layers were created using ACNC machine. The title of our piece is you two can be a hero. 

Iridescent was once an ordinary person, just like anyone else. They lived an unremarkable life, never standing out or doing anything particularly noteworthy. However, all of that changed when they were inspired by the Peacock. 

The Peacock is a symbol of power, strength, confidence, renewal, awareness, pride and glamour. Their appearance has inspired stories and tales, and ancient culture revered them as a gift from the gods. 

Iridescent realized that everyone has the potential to be beautiful and unique in their own way. Their empathy and understanding allowed them to connect with people from all walks of life. Through their actions, Iridescent reminds everyone that they too can be a hero to someone else, and that the smallest acts of kindness and compassion can make a world of difference. 

Iridescent's power may not be flashy or spectacular, but they are no less impactful. The group behind the concept is the Elmhurst Pride Collective. I work with some of the youth members in the group, and they came up with the idea of having a beautiful, confident, powerful superhero that had a positive presence wherever they went. 

From that came the idea of incorporating the peacock. You can see the different colors representing the LGBTQIA community, from the colorful feathers representing the progress flag to the white, pink, and light blue necklace for transgender individuals and brown and black for the people of color. 

We incorporated yellow and purple rings at the end of each feather representing the intersex symbol. The size of the artwork is part of what makes a superhero so cool to look at, but it was also very challenging to sketch and paint on. 

The group spent many hours sketching and painting the main design. I have been really excited throughout this process. I hope that our superhero story of spreading positivity, kindness and compassion brings out the superhero in all of us. 

You don't have to save the world to save someone's world.