School Murals
I have painted many colorful murals with the help of children and adults, in the last few years. It is so beautiful to see a plain wall become a little gem, with the help of the community.
Orion's 2008 4th Grade Mural: Our School
In the murals that I have painted with grade school children, I have helped them through the whole process: from brainstorming to drawing, to transferring the images to the wall, adding layers of paint and finally signing, with pride, the finished image.
The process starts by meeting with the kids and brainstorming ideas to pick the overall theme of the piece. After that I lead the kids in one or more sessions where we develop ideas around the theme. The kids work on their own or collaboratively in small groups to produce separate components of the world. I then take all these separate pieces and work on the composition of the whole mural on paper, which I show to the kids. When everyone agrees we start working on the actual wall. We prepare the surface and using a grid transfer all their individual designs into the whole space. Then the kids come out in small crews and work on painting the whole mural.
It brings me so much joy to see the happy artists posing next to their work of art.
Depending on how many volunteers I get, children included, a big mural can be done in less than a month.
I have worked with many ideas from kids like:
- School Gardening
- The Future
- Our City
- Marine Life
Here are a couple of examples of murals completed at Orion School in Redwood City, California:
And here's a gallery with details of various murals...
If you'd like my help creating a mural for your school, painted by your students, contact me.