In this article the author describes a project in which professors and preservice art educators from Northern Illinois University (NIU) collaborated with teens and members of the DeKalb Latino local community center to create a mural celebrating a traditional Aztec narrative. The mural project involved professors, university students, teenagers and Latino community members. Its purpose was to foster connections between the university and the local Latino community using art as a vehicle for collaborative learning. The mural was conceived of and painted over a period of a year. This project was based on the author's desire to apply what she had learned as a student of two Maya artists in informal settings in Guatemala to her work with preservice art educators in the Midwest. NIU college students were accustomed to working in formal classroom settings in both teacher--and student--centered contexts. The author intended to take art education pedagogy out of classrooms and into the community to demonstrate the possibilities for crossing cultural bridges. ["Learning Outside the Box: How Mayan Pedagogy Informs a Community/University Partnership" was written with Elizabeth Rex, Gerrie Aulisa, and Maria Lim.]