Murals

Build Community

AdvancedBuilt Environment

Introduce

Working together on a mural can be a way to grow a classroom community and foster relationships among learners. Introduce any of the many themes offered in this program. Have students work individually or in pairs at first – practicing, developing an idea, and creating an initial printing. Then, have students add to large mural paper.

This mural grew out of a professional development workshop – Integrating the Arts – for education and child development students, teachers in training, and teachers in the laboratory school at Fullerton College in California. Professor Patricia Green Pappas had the students in her classes draw buildings on the Fullerton College campus and bring them to class for the workshop. She also photographed the buildings and enlarged and printed the photos for students to use as a reference. This same idea works well in any community setting.

When constructing a community mural, students develop and practice:

close observation of structures and details as a precursor to drawing.
using observation as a tool for learning and reflecting and as preparation for curriculum planning.
using analytical and abstract thinking skills to see building structures – doors, windows, rooftops – as lines and shapes.
line printing skills – proper hand grip and body pressure for printing strong lines and shapes as well as placement, planning and spatial awareness skills.
working together to finish and unify the mural with color
building community by working together, sharing ideas, and respecting other ways of thinking and working in order to achieve a common goal.

architecture
shape
square
rectangle
triangle
construct
building
door
window

Materials

Large line tools
Small straight line tools
Large curved line tools
Small curved line tools
Practice papers – 18 X 24” (46 X 60 cm) or larger
Mural Paper
Dark color tempera paint in squeeze bottle
Trays of paint to share
For Adding Color after the mural is printed:
- Oil pastels for coloring in details
- Tempera paint in squeeze bottles – red, yellow, blue, white
- Cups – one for each student for mixing and painting
- Easel brushes – one per person – size # 6

Set-up

Paper and large straight line tool at each place
Other line tools at each place
Trays (in reserve) to hand out once students have practiced

Engage

Drawing and photography are vehicles for looking closely.

As you photographed and drew buildings on your historic campus, what did you notice or experience? (Maybe you saw some buildings or details that you had never noticed before?)

Let’s make a list of buildings that we want to include in our mural.

Professor Green Pappas helped students sign up to work on a specific building. Since there were so many students in the workshop, we asked participants to work in pairs. Each pair of students had a large piece of paper, as well as their drawings and the professor’s photos.

The Block 1971 by Romare Beardon at the Metropolitan Museum of Art – has been an inspiration for many murals over the years with students of all ages. We research Bearden’s personal history, his participation in the Civil Rights Movement and the Harlem Renaissance, and his unique use of collage, photomontage and printmaking. The Block by Langston Hughes is also an excellent resource for images of Romare Bearden’s mural.

Explore

Demonstrate the process of line printing, stressing the idea of practicing the layout, sizing, and spacing of building parts. Introduce all the line tools, and review guidelines for stopping and resting tools.

Review Buildings – Build with Shapes

Working in Pairs from Drawings and Photos

Working in pairs, students practice and print on practice paper. Here I check in with each pair, perhaps make a suggestion or two, and then, when students feel ready, we go to the mural paper and find a place to begin printing. It may not be necessary to complete an entire practice print of the building before beginning on the mural. Time considerations will always be a factor to consider.

Since everyone has the same size construction tools, the buildings stay in relative proportion to one another.

Create

Teams were placed side by side. They worked from the bottom up, one building touching or slightly overlapping another. Because there were so many students, some teams also worked from the top down. They had to figure out how to work upside down!

Add Color

At first, oil pastels were used to add color to smaller details. Each student chose a color and moved around the mural, using that color in at least 3 places.

Larger areas were painted with tempera paint. As they painted, explorers were careful to work around the strong printed lines. (Review painting tips in Getting Started.)

Each student was given a cup and began with a primary color which they painted in at least 3- 5 larger spaces. When they were ready for a new color, they could modify their beginning color by adding either white, or another primary and mixing until no streaks were showing*. They could also switch cups and brushes with one another if they liked. Painters moved around the entire mural adding their colors in several spaces to create a sense of movement and unity. Of course this necessitated working on many different buildings. As they worked, the group decided that they wanted to paint the sky a light blue, and they worked together to make sure that happened.

*In order to see what color you have made, it is important to mix until no streaks are showing.

All photos courtesy of Professor Patti Green Pappas

Sections of the finished mural

Variations & Extensions

After studying The Block by Romare Bearden and drawing buildings from the Smith College campus, students use cut paper collage as a way to create a particular Smith building. Once buildings are complete, we arrange and rearrange, adding anything else that is needed – pathways, trees, signs, people, etc., until we arrive at a pleasing composition. And then we glue!

Sequencing Line Tools and Materials

Exploring the printing process and the sequenced addition of tools and materials as a group is an easy and effective way to create a mural and build community.

group of teachers explores line printing together. First they use the large line tool to explore the printing process and to experiment with the basic lines. Participants find unique ways to respect one another’s lines. The challenge is to figure out how to respectfully combine explorations.

When the paper begins to look full, the smaller line tool is introduced and handed out. Suggest using the tool to make connections and to work inside big spaces.

Sequencing to Add Color

When prints are dry, oil pastels or crayons work well for filling in the small shapes hidden between lines with color.

Repeat each color to unify the composition.

Tempera paint works well for adding color to larger areas. Encourage painters to carefully work all over the mural. Suggest a number, such as adding each color in at least 5 places before switching colors.

Murals by other groups of teachers at the same workshop.