Wall Mural

The school mural wall has been a hotter, harder, more rewarding art project than my students and I had anticipated. It took us two weeks to paint, with three hot work days, and two rainy recovery days in each week.

The first week we did the entire underpainting. You need no vision to use a paint roller on a cement wall. Students would pair up and one would do the edging while the other would work the roller. I'd come along behind with a paintbrush to blend large masses of color so that there was a gradual shift over the panels of concrete.

Students and I worked together to determine which words and which order to put them in. We decided to use verbs: command statements and tried to think of the most appropriate background colors and patterns would make the most sense with each word and how to create contrast the background with the foreground. It was the perfect way to learn and apply design principles.

We didn't have all of our ideas completely solidified when we started painting, and so we used chalk to lay in some of the wall.  We "erased" any of the patterns or words that we didn't end up using with paint brushes and water. I was impressed that some students with no vision could still draw without any tactile drawing tools.

I added Braille dots after the print words, to help fill up space and reinforce the Braille code.Students were looking for ways to include the rest of the school. I suggested that they each offer their handprint, but then there was a discussion on how the handprints could be arranged. We came up with the idea of a garden where the handprints were the flowers. We grow as individuals and we grow together.

I painted a pair of wings during a planning period. One student wants us to do a whole series of wings on the opposite side of the wall that we painted, but I think we'll save it for next year. In the meantime, I've been so pleased at the number of people who tell me they feel happier each day as they come to work and see the wall. Everyone deserves an environment that is makes them feel good.