A brief introduction:

        Since the beginning of the scholastic year of 2007 we have embarked on a new adventure and have been teaching the art of painting large scale murals at Santaluces, a local vocational Palm Beach County High School. 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.

         We began with a class of thirty plus students who had volunteered for the 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 came on a regular basis have become to be known as the “Muralists.” They are a group of art devotee with a mutual confidence about art and who do their best to keep in balance their school work and grades while learning the techniques in creating large scale art works. However, once we began to paint our first mural - Jazz it up - nearly everyone in the school wanted to join our after school class and eventually, our roster grew to approximately seventy five plus students who devote as much of their talent and time as they can.

     It is also fair to say that from the beginning the students had to overcome the obstacle of “thinking big” since their idea of big, meant poster size. In addition, the school faculty was also apprehensive to let us tackle any prominent wall on campus; and then there was the usual "funding" that became problematical when we needed art and paint supplies.

     The eventual donation from a local hardware store gave us a temporary solution when we received the desperately needed paint and brushes just as we were ready to tackle our first wall. Nonetheless, it was the students who made it all work by coming to class and absorb the large scale mural concept as I explained how it could be done based on my working experiences of nearly fifty years at my studio. The murals seen on this page were created for the most part due to the effort of the students who came on their own time to artistically create a unique work of art for their school and best of all, to be shared with the rest of the community.

     At this point the students were like ducks taking to water and realized that painting murals in large scales, was to be a fun experience. Their next assignment was for each student to layout on paper an original mural rendering, the subject of the murals was to depict their fellow students while they attended class or school activities. Thus the first four murals represent Fashion Designing, Culinary Art, Music and Color Guards with a flag. Each of the now completed eleven murals are approximately 12Ft. high by 24 Ft. long; by the end of the school year - 2007/2008 - the Muralists have completed more than 100 yards of original art work. The models as they are seen in these school activity murals are the actual students and / or teachers at Santaluces High School.  

      It was ironic how once the mural designs were sketched on the blank walls and seen by the rest of the school body, our class attendance increased. I then immediately used a different approach in my instructions saying that, "...when painting a mural it's as easy as painting in a child's coloring book,...and it's only the scale that becomes larger."

      This relation to an earlier simplified art experience removed any apprehension the new students to the project may have had and they soon picked up a brush and began painting. After a while they saw how well they had done and immediately one could also notice a sense of accomplishment in their faces and body language. Eventually, the blank spaces on the wall were being filled with various shades of basic color and later the Muralists stepped in to complete the mural by adding the shading and many fine details. Until now, the only problem we have experienced is caused by the texture of the wall itself. The wall is made of cement blocks with a coating of uneven rough pop-corn stucco finish, in some areas as deep and large as one half inch -- definitely not the ideal painting surface for young artists.

    We had projected to complete the remainder of the murals by the end of the school year and send these final up-dates by the early part of summer. These predictions came to fruition as planned, thanks in part to the devoted students who came voluntarily each week and accomplished what they themselves at first thought impossible. It is however fair to say, that the Muralists had become so confident in the task at hand that at times it seemed we were not painting fast enough while looking forward to our next mural to begin.

The french have an expression when describing an artist who is able to "fool the eye," they call it, "trompe-l'oeil." I wanted the Muralist to experience this technique and turn a most mundane environment it into a striking visual deception. The entrance to the Little Chiefs day care training center was the perfect area to develop this new concept. I should also mention that housed daily within this section and school program there are three to five year old children who are in part helping to train their high school counterpart to become teachers. Nonetheless, our first task was to develop an original mural theme; then take several pictures of the preschoolers and re-create them into the illusion of being storybook characters on the wall. ...Please click on the thumbnails below for the rest of the story,...

I hope you have enjoyed this brief presentation of the "Muralists" updates at Santaluces High School, Lantana, Florida.

Both Emily and I have immensely enjoyed this past school year and will forever remain grateful for having had the opportunity to have worked with such creative and delightful young people.

They will never be forgotten.

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Note:This page will remain available for a brief period for the involved volunteer students and to let their family view the wonderful artistic work that was created.

Many thanks, ... Giovanni