Tree of Life Mural - Finished!!

Here it is, the Tree of Life mural....finished!!!  (I posted a bit about the symbolism of the Tree of Life here awhile back.)  I had so much fun painting this one!  I loved the freedom of working in this style and within this color range.  Clients sometimes think that it is better to give me no direction at all for their projects and that they should just "trust the artist".  While I do appreciate that so much that they trust me, it actually helps me be more creative when I am working within some sort of confines.  Give me some ideas for subject matter, show me some images of art you like, show me the decor and color scheme of your home.....then turn it over to me!  Too many restrictions however, can be limiting.  It's a balance, and this project struck a perfect one. 

The last picture in this post is one that I photoshopped. This is what the mural owner is planning on doing with this! I designed the trees branches to have space between them for family photos of all shapes and sizes.  I can't wait to see this mural when it's actually a completed family photo wall, not just photoshopped by an impatient me :)

Hope you enjoy!

Friendship Mural with Oakridge Students

Friendship Mural with Oakridge Elementary

After my last school mural with the Civil Rights theme and working with the high schoolers, this little mural was simple, fun and quick, by contrast.  It's been a fun little piece, made by a fun little group of kids. At Oakridge Elementary in Oakridge, OR., the students do not have school on Fridays.  I've found this to be true at a couple of the more rural school districts I've worked at.  Fridays are optional. It's pretty sad, really, that the funding has been cut so severely that kids and teachers have 4 day weeks every single week.  But, at least there's grants around that allow artists and guest specialty teachers like me to come and work with the kids who do opt to come on Fridays.  

I'm only working with Oakridge for 3 Fridays, so we went pretty small with our mural project (also it had to fit within a pretty tight place in their hallway).  We worked on plywood with acrylic paint (as always - environment AND kid-friendly paint).  The coordinating teacher wanted the mural's theme to be "friendship" - pretty broad, so this simple little image is what I came up with.  Bright, fun to paint, and gets the right message across.  Plus, I've been wanting to incorporate the "hanging stars" image into something for awhile now.... my own agenda!  

To spice up the project and allow for kids getting bored and needing other stimulation for the 2 hour time block I have with them, I added a collage element for the border.  Kids decorated little squares with cut paper people, pets, rainbows, hearts, etc., that we will glue all around the border of the mural.  One more Friday to go, can't wait to see this all finished and on the wall!

Sneak Peek: A Tree of Life Mural

My current work in progress is a gigantic "tree of life" in a guest bedroom.  I'm loving working with the style and colors of this piece!  I think my favorite part of this mural is the fact that it's going to be a 3-d/mixed media mural when it's all finished!  In between the branches and flowers of this tree will be framed old black and white family photos!  I can't wait to show you how this looks when it's all painted and the photos go up.  How would YOU spice up a family photo wall?

The "tree of life" is ubiquitous and meaningful to cultures and religions all over the world.  I love all the different meanings.  Check it out:

"The concept of a tree of life has been used in science, religion, philosophy, and mythology. A tree of life is a common motif in various world theologies, mythologies, and philosophies. It alludes to the interconnection of all life on our planet and serves as a metaphor for common descent in theevolutionary sense. The term tree of life may also be used as a synonym for sacred tree.^[1]

The tree of knowledge, connecting to heaven and the underworld, and the tree of life, connecting all forms of creation, are both forms of the world tree or cosmic tree, according to the Encyclopædia Britannica,^[2] and are portrayed in various religions and philosophies as the same tree."

(Wikipedia)

Posters for Zimbabwe

This blog is about a mural project (well, more like posters) done with kids that is more personal and closer to my heart than others.  Let me back up....

When I was in 2nd grade, I started taking lessons to learn how to play the marimba music of Zimbabwe.  I played off and on with different classes and ensembles from 2nd grade through high school, and sometimes when I was home from college.  The Eugene, OR. organization that I took classes from is called Kutsinhira.  If you're in the Eugene area and have been wanting to try a new and interesting musical endeavor, they are WONDERFUL.

Yesterday, Kutsinhira had their annual membership party where all their classes get together to play music for each other, eat together, and have a meeting about what's going on with the various charity organizations they associate with.  An organizer of the event wanted to have the attending kids paint posters for the 3 Zimbabwe organizations that our Eugene community is connected to, as a token of our friendship.  The organizations Tariro, Chinhoyi High School, and Nhimbe, would all be sent posters to hang in their Zimbabwe offices.

The party was held in an elementary school auditorium/cafeteria, so I set up in the hallway so the kids could still hear the music playing nearby.  Then I rounded up some kids to help me paint!  We only finished 2 of the posters during the party, but I think they turned out bright and fun.  The important part, was that the kids have the opportunity to feel more connected to the Zimbabweans who brought their music over to us, by sharing their art with them.  Cultural Competency for the win!  Another kid mural goes to Africa!  I love it.  More please!

JCHS Civil Rights Mural - FINISHED!

You guys!  It's finished!  I gotta say, I'm really proud of this one and the kids who painted it.  My last couple posts were about the process of painting this - starting out with a group brainstorming and designing session, learning about mixing paint values - now it's done!  

We had about 12 students working on this project every day after school for 11 days.  Some kids came every day, some didn't.   Teachers told me that the kids who were struggling in other ways,  connected more to the project than with anything else having to do with their school that they've seen.  It's a pattern that repeats itself over and over in my short history of being an art teacher - the kids who struggle socially and academically are often the kids who need and connect to arts experiences the most.  It is SO important.  

Not only that, but to give all kids the experience of accomplishment - of success in completing something and doing a nice job on it.  Yesterday we had a big celebration for the kids to show off their work.  There was a drawing for art supplies, snacks, and the whole staff and student body was invited, and many showed up to see the mural.  I could see on the kids' faces that they were proud.  Teachers are even planning a "gallery opening" evening event once the mural is installed on the wall, where the kids who were involved can invite friends and family.  I'm excited to go to that, too.  

Overall, this one was a really rewarding experience.  I feel like the subject matter (honoring people who have dedicated their lives to fighting to help others in some way) was beautiful and the execution of the piece was beautiful as well. I like the fact that this mural will be a good teaching tool for the school's social studies teachers for years to come.  Yay!  I want to work with more high schoolers and do mooooore! Ok, now....picture storm!

The whole thing: 4x16 feet

Susan B. Anthony

Gandhi

Cesar Chavez

 

Martin Luther King Jr.

Nelson Mandela

YES! 

Civil Rights Mural Progress

Our Civil Rights Mural is really coming along!  Take a look at these kids working away in the photos below.  

We've been working on this for 7 days after school now, and I am SUPER impressed by their energy and talent.  These kids have been working with a couple teachers to put on an assembly to celebrate Cesar Chavez.  They've booked speakers, ordered t-shirts and motivated each other to come in and paint with me everyday after school for this accompanying mural project.  At the assembly, the kids and teachers will present their work to their school. 

I must admit though that the phrases "I can't", "I'm not an artist", "Am I doing this right?, "You could do it better!" come up more in these higher grade levels (this includes Middle School), than with the Elementary kiddos.  It can be tough as an art teacher to think of good responses to these types of comments from kids.  I just try to stay encouraging and make sure to keep pointing out the SPECIFIC things that I see them doing well.  I think that's the key: not just saying "oh, nice job, I love it!" but saying things like, "that hi-light color really brings out his eyes now" or whatever it is.  The other thing I like to constantly remind kids when they are self-doubting or self-deprecating, is that to do anything well takes a LOT of practice.  It took me years and years of crappy paintings and crappy drawings to be able to do what I do now (which can still turn out crappy even still!).  You have to be patient with yourself whenever you're learning something new. 

Enjoy and stay tuned for pics of the final mural!

Idea Mapping/ Visual Brainstorming

After the last few weeks at Walterville Elementary (see the flurry of posts before this one), I moved immediately on to my current school: Junction City High School.  I am working with the kids in their after school program, to put together a mural about Civil Rights to be installed in time for their annual school celebration of Cesar Chavez, the Latino-American worker's rights advocate.  

Facilitating teachers and I set up a time to meet with involved students to discuss their mural.  The day of our meeting, the students were SO enthusiastic, creative, and ambitious! Exciting!

Here is the process I like to go through to help people figure out what they want out of a mural, and some images to start designing with.  Here's how we did it:

 I started out by asking the students to give me ONE WORD that would describe what they wanted their mural to be about.  They settled on "Equality".  I wrote that word in the middle of the chalkboard, and circled it.  I asked them to name some names of Civil Rights workers that they wanted to include in the mural.  They came up with MLK Jr., Nelson Mandela, Cesar Chavez of course, Gandhi, Susan B. Anthony, Rosa Parks and Abraham Lincoln.  I put each of those up as bubbles branching from the center equality bubble.  Then, I asked students to think of some key images that could tell the story of each of these people's accomplishments.  Those became smaller bubbles branching out from their respective people bubbles. Our idea map was beginning to fill out.

What were they trying to say with all of this? I went into my little speech about how murals are a great way to teach others about something, say something publicly and tell a story through pictures.  What did they want to tell current and future students about these people? They said the purpose would be as a reminder to fight for good things non-violently, a record/memorial piece for these people, and a teaching tool about who they were.

Once we got all the ideas on there, I asked the kids about how they wanted to organize all this information.  The first thing they did, was get rid of Lincoln and Rosa Parks. They decided it was too much, and Lincoln wasn't really into non-violence.  One girl had the idea to have protestors as a consistent element all the way across the mural, but changing according to whoever they were next to. For example, the protestors next to Chavez would be holding signs that said different things than the protestors next to Susan B. Anthony.  Genius!!  And of course, there would need to be portraits of all these people, with maybe the images that represented them behind their heads.  So many good ideas.  I went home and played around on Photoshop to combine their ideas into the sketch below:

My contribution, was the idea to have each person's section divided by different monochromatic color schemes.  All the way around the border of the mural, there will be quotes from the leaders.  The mural will be 4'x16'.  I'm so excited about this project!  Check back here soon to see how it's been going!!