A colorful new mural is honoring the life and legacy of a beloved South Side educator while celebrating the power of art to bring a community together.
Painted by San Antonio artist David Blancas, the mural honoring Selena Sanchez was unveiled recently at Armstrong Elementary in South San Antonio. The project was funded through CULTIVAR — Communities Uplifting Learners Through Imagination and Vibrant Artistic Reflections — a $3.35 million U.S. Department of Education grant awarded to Texas A&M University-San Antonio in partnership with the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts.
For A&M-San Antonio, the mural represents the culmination of nearly five years of work connecting students, educators and families across the South Side with culturally relevant arts experiences.
For Armstrong Elementary, it represents a permanent tribute to a teacher who made an enduring impact on her students and colleagues.
Sanchez taught fourth grade at Armstrong and was a passionate advocate for arts education. She was among the first educators to participate in CULTIVAR when the program launched and became a leader in Armstrong’s arts education efforts. In 2023, she was named South San Antonio Independent School District’s Teacher of the Year.
“Ms. Sanchez’s passing was traumatic for the students and families,” said Karen Burgard, associate professor and principal investigator for the CULTIVAR grant. “She was such an integral part of the school community, the larger district community and the South Side community. She was beloved.”
Sanchez’s colleagues approached the CULTIVAR team shortly after she passed away in January 2025 to ask if the grant could help create a community artwork honoring her life.
The result is a mural created by Blancas, a visual artist who grew up on San Antonio’s South Side and whose work can be found throughout the community.
Blancas also painted “Yanaguana Mythos” on the side of the mechanical yard building near A&M-San Antonio’s Business Library Hall. The painting pays tribute to the indigenous Payaya people.
Blancas’ work on the Sanchez mural continues a relationship between the artist, A&M-San Antonio and the South Side community that CULTIVAR was designed to strengthen.
“The intent behind CULTIVAR was to create culturally relevant art experiences for children, families and communities, but also to engage families in using the arts as an expressive tool for their identity,” Burgard said.
A&M-San Antonio received the CULTIVAR grant in September 2021, with the initiative beginning the following month. The University partnered with the Tobin Center as the grant’s required arts organization and identified South San Antonio ISD — and particularly Armstrong Elementary — as the initiative’s primary school partner.
The goal was to bring art experiences to students and educators while creating a deeper, sustained partnership with a local school. Over the life of the grant, CULTIVAR has provided arts education to more than 800 teachers in the ASPIRE network, a partnership between the University and seven South Bexar County school districts to improve college access and student outcomes “The Sanchez mural is especially meaningful because it brings together education, community, artistic expression and the celebration of a South Side story,” Burgard said.
As CULTIVAR ends its five-year grant period, the mural also serves as a reflection of what the initiative set out to accomplish when it began.
“It’s the perfect way to end the grant,” Burgard said. “Its intent was to really wrap our arms around the community in a loving, artistic way. And this is a beautiful way to do that.”