• Remind children not to paint over anyone else’s work
Enlisting painters for the final
afternoon of the project Write down the names and classroom num- bers of any particularly talented children you would like to help with putting the finishing touches to the mural. Depending upon how much finishing work remains, you could have four to eight children in the group. At the end of the day on Thursday or early on Friday morning, have a volunteer go to these children’s teachers to ask whether you can borrow them for part or all of the afternoon. You may find you have more talented
children on your list than you actually need, but bear in mind that some of your choices may be unable to come due to having special classes to attend, going on a school outing, or being away sick. If you have too many children for one group, you can split them into two groups and halve their time.
Adding details
By Wednesday afternoon, you should have the background and most of the larger areas painted, and may have already started on the more detailed work. This is the time when people tend to panic because two-thirds of the five-day project have been spent paint- ing only half of the mural. Don’t worry because the details usually go faster than the background. Now would be a good time to have any artists in the local community, or students from your local high school or art school come to help out. When the subject material for the mural is carefully cho-
sen to reflect a simple need, such as the addition of colour in an otherwise drab outdoor school environment, it will have more meaning for the children and the community, and will also provide a useful learning tool for teachers. Other needs/purposes for the mural may include outdoor educa- tional activities such as composting, area biodiversity, local geography, the impacts of development on local species, and cultural and historical aspects of the community. For example, the school community at Blessed Kateri
Tekakwitha Elementary Catholic School chose to depict some of the 48 at-risk species in Ottawa. The school’s research prior to starting the mural showed that a large num- ber of amphibians, reptiles, insects and plants on the City of Ottawa’s endangered, threatened and at-risk list all depend upon wetlands for their survival. They were horrified to discover that all six of Ottawa’s turtles are at risk. A wetland habitat was subsequently chosen for the mural to help raise awareness on the plight of wetland species. Due to limited space and time, not all species could be included, but the mural now serves as a springboard for follow-up educational activities on, for example, the consequences to area species
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of draining wetlands for residential development and roads. No matter how small the patch painted by a child, every-
one seems to remember having painted the entire mural single-handedly, perhaps because the mural was painted by all of the children working together as one body with a com- mon goal. Whatever the reasons, participants become enor- mously proud of their artistic achievement. And perhaps this is the most satisfying aspect of all, because the more chil- dren gaze at their painting the more meaningful it becomes, and the more the educational activities surrounding it are reinforced.
Ann Coffey lives in Ottawa, Ontario, where she has been a school grounds greening designer and practitioner for 22 years. Currently an associate with Evergreen, she has enjoyed working with Nicole to create 10 murals in Ottawa schoolyards.
TO SEE COLOUR PHOTOS of completed and partially-completed murals, visit
www.greenteacher.com and click the link to the table of contents for this issue (Green Teacher #93, Summer 2011).
GREEN TEACHER 93
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