Students work together to design and create a large-scale painting to decorate surfaces at the school for years to come! The process of making these collaborative works of art is a community building experience for students and staff, and develops confidence among young artists.

Mural themes can be chosen by the school. These residencies work well with one or two grade levels, and can be reoccurring each year so all the students have an opportunity to contribute. We can also spend a few months working with the entire student body.

Session 1:
The artist will give a presentation on mural making. Then the class will discuss the theme of the mural and view images to begin to inspire ideas. Finally, each student will submit a design for the mural. Students will be encouraged to be as creative with their design ideas as possible.

After the artist has collected all of the students' submissions, she will compile all the ideas and layout the mural by using elements from everyone's ideas.

Sessions 2-4:
Classes will view images of each step of the process. Then the artist will pull segments of each class to paint the mural. This process may look a few different ways, depending on the size of the painted area and number of students contributing to the mural. The mural may be divided into a grid, with each student painting a single box within the grid. Students may also work in layers, adding more and more details as they go. No matter the method, the artist will work closely with students as they paint, developing painting skills to create a cohesive final product. Students will have the opportunity to reflect on the process and see the collaborative large-scale piece transform the school's spaces.