Artwall.

Artwall

PREHISTORIC PAINTINGS FOUND on the walls of caves in Lascaux and Altamira continue to convey a sense of the hunt with their overlapping forms, bodies elongated in flight, and heads down as death takes over a powerful body. The Stone Age muralists responsible for these images did not realize that what they had started would be continued throughout the centuries which followed.

The history of murals began as symbolic wall paintings and extended through the mosaics of the Romans and later, the early Christian churches, through the frescos of the Renaissance, to the Depression-era WPA projects, and today to murals found in subway stations, renewal projects, church halls, government buildings and schools. What is necessary, it seems, for a mural is a large, blank wall, an idea and many people. Southwestern Middle School had these three components and "Artwall" was the result.

Our middle school and high school buildings are connected by an enclosed overpass, a necessity due to the nearly 150" of snow we receive each winter. While much of this overpass has windows, 32' (97.5 m) of it was, until recently, a blank, light green wall. At a fall parent/teachers meeting the idea of "Artwall" was presented with a scale model and an estimated budget of $140 for the project. The mural was to be entirely planned and painted by students in grade six, seven and eight. It would be installed by the maintenance staff only when all the panels were finished. The parent/teacher group was enthused and immediately agreed to finance the project.

Creating the mural All interested students met for an introduction to the project. They received directions on the proper use of a simple 35 mm camera, and a two-day schedule for using the cameras to photograph life in the middle school. Students volunteered to take photographs based on what type of learning situations they encountered in their classes. The schedule was posted on the window of the middle school office and students picked up and returned the two cameras like clockwork. We discovered that the tremendous energy and enthusiasm of middle school students can be channeled as four rolls of film were exposed.

We also found that our film contained many good unposed photographs showing a variety of daily school activities. Students photographers had captured the lively action of a basketball game, teachers and students working together quietly, teachers in active lecturing situations as well as in contemplative postures, students at lunch, in the library, working with science models and computers. It was difficult to select shots from the contact sheets we made because there were so many outstanding images.

We felt, given the 32' (97.5 m) of horizontal space, that we could reasonably choose five images. Working after school, the novice photographers made 8" x 10" (20 cm x 25 cm) enlargements of the images selected for the wall. Next, by laying acetate over these enlargements, students created line drawings with markers and, using an overhead projector, enlarged the images onto eight primed 1/2" x 4" x 8" (1 cm x 10 cm x 244cm) sheets of hardboard. This proved to be an exciting part of the Artwall because students could see their ideas take shape on the grand scale.

The most exciting art, though, occurred as colors were selected and mixed and applied to the panels. For easy clean-up we used Latex wall paint in primary colors, plus black and white, and foam brushes. The panels were laid on the floor, shoes were removed, and we all started to paint. Each afternoon that we worked we had a sign-in sheet and at the end of the project those students who had put in twelve or more hours had the honor of making their names part of Artwall. As I walked among the panels and busy students, I'd often see an area where a color needed a second coat or a different shade or where an edge did not match up with an adjoining panel. Students soon began to see these same things and make the alterations and corrections themselves.

In order to intensify the colors and also to project the surface, the last coats were of polyurethane varnish, applied with rollers. Afterwards, students carried panels to the overpass and watched while our maintenance staff installed Artwall, panel by panel, with screws and wall anchors. Artwall was finished!

Evaluating the project The individual panels offered several advantages over direct painting on the wall. Obviously, it heightened the surprise and mystery element, something inherent in a project that no one sees until it is finished and installed. Most importantly, though, is that in future years with new students, one or more panels can be removed, re-primed and a new image painted. In this way, the mural will be forever changing and forever involving more students. Of our eight panels there is one single-image panel, two images which occupy three panels and two images which take up two panels each. The design allows flexibility in choosing how much of Artwall to change each year.

Three major goal of the Artwall project was to involve students across several grade levels in something which represented an extension of the ancient form of wall painting into their contemporary world. Additionally, the mural adds a dynamic piece of student-generated design to an otherwise unnoticed area while providing a visual record of students' impressions of their daily life at school. Artwall offered a range of technical, aesthetic and evaluative experiences within a group project. Students who worked on Artwall felt a sense of ownership, partnership and pride in a project done on the grand scale. Achieving such goals was wok, but the enthusiasm of the students made Artwall worth every brushstroke.

PHOTO : Thirty-two feet of wall space definitely demands a wide angle lens.