Sunday, November 7, 2010

Classroom Mural

This week I have only one art class, so am using the time to clean up my laptop desktop a bit.  I came across this picture of the mixed media Underground Railroad mural that my 2nd graders did last year in our regular classroom.  Based on Jeanette Winter's book, Follow the Drinking Gourd and F. N. Monjo's, Drinking Gourd, it took several weeks to complete with children working in teams on various sections.  The first team was responsible for laying in the background with tempera.  They did this on a big piece of butcher paper outside (as the mural was probably about 9 or 10 feet long).  Next, each child created his or her own "safe house" log cabin out of cut, notched construction paper "logs" that they assembled much like Lincoln Logs and the people who lived in it.  Each safe house had a "secret symbol" to designate whether or not it was a part of the Underground Railroad. Then groups of 3 or 4 kids worked together to plan their sections of the mural and execute the collaged parts.  We had a group for the plantation, one for the stars, forests, roadways, Lake Erie, etc.
One of our parents photographed the finished mural at Open House and posted it on a webpage.  He and his son created it so that when you drag your mouse over certain areas of the mural pop-ups explain the significance of that spot.  Soooo clever!! Here is a link to that page: http://www.interactivehank.com/docs/otherhank/FollowTheGourd.html
I would encourage classroom teachers who haven't done this recently to give thought to trying out a mural project, perhaps linking the subject matter to a social studies or literature unit.  It isn't something I am likely going to be able to accomplish in our Art Studio this year, but it is such a fun learning experience for kids. I like that it interjects art into the curriculum, but even more, I love the spirit in the classroom when everyone is working together on a project like this!

10 comments:

  1. Fabulous mural. I have a question though, for all of us who've made murals with our kids. What does everyone do with their murals when they come down off the wall?

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  2. That's a good question that I always struggle with. One year we had a drawing and the winner got the mural -- but I wasn't ever happy with that. For this mural I told the class at the outset that we would eventually be cutting the mural into pieces and that they would get their own log house and part of the team's portion of the mural that they created. Knowing that, the kids positioned things in such a way that it really was easy to divide it up in the end. It also helped that the dad made the website with the image of the whole mural. It was (and still is) linked on our class website so kids would return to it ALL the time. Everyone seemed quite pleased with this solution, although it was hard for me to cut up something so meaningful to us all!! I don't know what the perfect solution is.

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  3. Looove this! Sometimes I wish I was in a more permanent setting so I could do murals! Really nice! I am off to hunt around your blog. Adding you to my blogroll too! :)

    Erin

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  4. Lovely mural. It turns individual attempts into collective art. Excellent for a class.

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  5. I adore your mural. It's truly a piece of folk art. I'm so glad you photographed it. I'm going to check out that link!

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  6. Thanks for the kind words. I forgot to mention that the same family that created the mural website also gave me a framed photograph of it as an end of the year gift last year. It hangs in my entry way and is the first think I see when I come into my house!! Isn't teaching just the BEST!!!

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  7. This is wonderful! I'm going to show it to our art teacher at school.
    Thanks for your visit to my blog today. What a beautiful background you have here on yours.

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  8. Thinking about Phyl's question...wouldn't it be lovely to donate these larger pieces of art to a hospital. I bet a pediatric wing would be happy to something so cheerful.

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  9. It is a beautiful mural!I will have to try doing this! I would LOVE it if a parent showed even the slightest interest in my students work. Art teachers need validation. I think that one of the reasons that I LOVE blogging. What a lovely thing to do and I am sure you treasure the sentiment!

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