Placemaking for Little Amal with Ashley Mireles and Anthony Rundblade

Join us on Saturdays in September to make a house for Little Amal’s Walks Across America coming to Confluence Park in October. REGISTER HERE!

This series of workshops is part of a collaborative community-based performance project designed and organized by artists Ashley Mireles and Anthony Rundblade. Come help build hundreds of cardboard houses and contribute to a performance with Little Amal!

Saturdays at Confluence Park, 310 W Mitchell. 10AM-12PM, September 2, 9, & 16. Free and open to the public. Register here to reserve your spot.

Participants should bring a gently used shoebox or small moving box. Supplies and refreshments will be included.

Little Amal is a 12-foot puppet of a 10-year-old girl and Syrian refugee. Amal, whose name means “Hope” in Arabic, journeys to shed light on the challenges faced by immigrants worldwide and encourage advocacy and strengthen awareness, empathy and conversation around the global refugee crisis. This project is supported by the San Antonio River Foundation, City Council District 3, City of San Antonio Department of Arts and Culture, The Office Performing Art + Film, and The Walk (Little Amal) for Amal Walks Across America. Stopping in San Antonio on October 21 and 22, Little Amal will visit more than 35 towns and cities from Boston to San Diego, covering 6,000+ miles, from September 7 through November 5. 

Ashley Mireles is an artist, educator, and native San Antonian. Ashley focuses her practice on access by developing and organizing creative projects for regional institutions and community spaces in Central Texas. Ashley is a Friends of San Antonio Public Library Arts & Letters Award recipient, San Antonio Area Foundation Artist Fellow, NALAC Leadership Institute Fellow, and Public Art Curator at the San Antonio River Foundation. She has previously served as the Education and Community Programs Manager for Artpace San Antonio, Co-Director of La Printería, and Artist Mentor for the New York Foundation for the Arts’ Immigrant Artist Mentorship program. Her works can be found at and in the collections of Artpace San Antonio, Hardberger Park Tobin Land Bridge, Mexic-Arte Museum, National Museum of Mexican Art, Texas Christian University Print Collection, University of Texas Libraries Special Collections, Walt Disney Company, Zuckerman Museum of Art, and the San Antonio River Walk.

Anthony Rundblade works and lives in San Antonio, TX. Rundblade works in sculpture, installation, and print. He earned his BFA with a focus in printmaking from The University of Texas at San Antonio and his MFA in Studio Arts from the University of Texas – Austin. Before entering his MFA candidacy, Rundblade worked as a Studio Technician and Studio Manager at the Artpace Residency Program (2014-2019). In addition, Rundblade has had several solo exhibitions between San Antonio and Austin, including Cloak Dagger Parallel Meridians (2017), Catastrophe Parade (2018), & Nearer Midnight (2019), along with collaborative and group exhibitions like Wild Ruins, Wild Orientations (2023), Bush League (2018), Doom & Bloom (2022) and Common Currents (2018).