Since the scholastic year of 2007 began we embarked on a new adventure and have been volunteering and teaching the art of painting large scale murals at our local Palm Beach County High Schools. It was a new experience for us to teach in a classroom setting and we soon became aware that it was a mutual experience for the students as well.
The first class began at Santaluces High School with thirty two student volunteers for the mural project , but as they began to experience their new challenges, nearly one third of the class dropped out. Several other students couldn't keep up with their studies and eventually, they too no longer came to class. The remaining few students who did came on a regular basis become known as the “Muralists.” They, and the later art devotee developed a mutual sense of confidence about being artistically creative, while doing their best to keep in balance their school grades. I must also interject here, that each student earns a Community Service point for each hour he or she devotes to the mural project.
The murals we create are no ordinary scribbles on the walls. They are designed with personal touches, not only by the Muralists, but also with the help of the school body and their teachers. The latter act as models, and later the Muralists incorporate their true-to-life likeness in each mural. Thus the murals become in part an historical record and project school pride.
Learning our simplified techniques in creating large scale true-to-life art became an instant success once we began to paint our first mural - Jazz it up. By then, once the student body saw their fellow students and teachers represented on the wall, nearly everyone on campus wanted to join our after school class. Our student volunteer roster grew to approximately seventy five plus students who continued to devote much of their talent and time throughout the school year.
This page on our studio web site will be updated and remain available for a brief period for the involved students and their families. We sincerely hope everyone will take the opportunity to view the wonderful artistic work created by our past and present, Muralists.
We have been recently working with the students of Spanish River High School.
Please click on the school logo to view
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