Wednesday, October 12, 2011

shameless bragging occurs in this post

I need to take a minute and just brag, because I have witnessed something beautiful this week. Something to join the pyramids of Giza or the hanging gardens of Babylon. An epic wonder of the world to span time and nations. Yes, friends. My art class finished it's mural this week.
Oh, what a sight to behold! My class of middle school girls has been working so hard, and all their sweat and toil has finally paid off. Our only rules for the mural were
A) Keep it on theme: It is nature-inspired since the community garden is right outside it's doors.
B) Use the limited color palette I had set out for them.
C) Everything inside a black outline to keep things unified and
D) use patterns instead of solid colors to fill in the shapes.
Now, of course some rules have been bended, but I think for the best. These girls created a lovely mural that will brighten the Community Arts Center for many years.
Pictures of the work in progress after the jump!


The wall before the mural. You can see what sort of condition it was in by
observing the panel above the door. The old plaster had to be scraped off
before I primed and painted it.

After our first day of painting. A general pencil outline for the layout and
a few preliminary black outlines. Mind you there were seven students
working at a time, so everyone had a different task.

I skipped a week by accident! So here, three weeks in (working 1 1/2 hours
per week) you can see it really starting to take shape, plus more of the students
own original ideas materializing.


Fin! The final product, all ready to go for their art show at the end of the week.
They did such a beautiful job and really cultivated their creativity.


I do have to say a special thanks to Chicago-based artist MollyZ. I worked on a mural with her at the Springer School in Cincinnati a couple of years ago and it was the inspiration for this project. Thanks for letting me brag. I'm so proud of my students! -hil

3 comments:

  1. Lovely! Way to go, 6th graders!

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  2. this is great great great!! I know middle schoolers quite a lot more than I used to ... and they are amazing and intriguing creatures. This mural is proof. I love you!

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