Our theme for the mural is, "We have the power to shape our community." After discussion and activities about positive things and problems in our communities, students made drawings based on these themes. I then compiled and outlined the students' drawings to project onto the wall as a basis for our mural.
Jessie and I traced the buildings onto the wall and had the students get to work with painting. We chose an overall pallette but the students had freedom to decide which color went where, with the exception of sky/ground colors. The auditorium is very poorly-lit, so we shine these floodlights on the wall that make for really dramatic photos...
Next, students added details and texture to the houses with black paint.
Next, we put the actual mural-makers into the mural. My vision for the mural from the beginning was to have the neighborhood that the kids created be the basis for the scene, and for Jessie and I to go in and add two or three images of some of the actual students from the school into the mural.
Going with the theme of the mural--"We have the power to shape our community"--I wanted the images of the kids to be giants, picking things up from the scene and moving them around (cars, buildings, etc). So we did a photoshoot of our fifth graders posing in certain positions. They loved it.
They were so, so excited that we were taking photos of them to put them in the mural. They did an excellent job modeling, too. I ended up going with three photos that had the best lighting and facial expressions, and that came out the best when I posterized them in Photoshop.
One of these students had been having a difficult time focusing during mural class and seemed to be losing interest in the project, but after we added their image to wall, their dedication to the mural was completely renewed. It was great to see.
In our final reflections during our last painting class, that student said, "I liked painting the mural because I don't think most people really see the real me. But if they see this mural, they will see me up there and they will know me a little bit more."
Next, Jessie and I traced the kids onto the wall and made up a code for which section corresponded to which color/value. It's been tricky, but using that style has created exactly the effect that I was hoping it would.
D=Dark, M=Medium, L=Light, and B=Bright.
Next we started to paint in the kids, and this is what they are looking like so far...
And here is the whole span of the wall is it is right now...
We will be finishing it up in a couple of weeks. We're looking for volunteers to help add some lettering to the mural and put finishing touches on everything, so if you're handy with a paintbrush and live in the Baltimore area or are willing to make a trip, let me know!
