A brief introduction:

Unexpectedly we embarked on a new adventure when the scholastic year of 2007 began, by 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.

Our first mural class began at Santaluces High School with thirty two student volunteers, 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, they become known as the “Muralists.” They, and other 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 credit for each hour he or she devotes to the after school mural project. One could also notice a sense of pride among the Muralists, as well as the rest of the student body when they walked by our working area during the change of class.

The murals we have create are no ordinary scribbles on the walls. They are designed with personal touches, not only by the Muralists, but also with help from the student school body and their teachers. The latter act as models, while the Muralists portray their likeness true-to-life in each mural. Thus the murals become in part, an historical record while projecting 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 - on the wall. By then, the student body realized that their fellow students and teachers were represented on the wall, and nearly everyone on campus wanted to join our after school class. Our student volunteer roster then grew to approximately seventy five plus students who continued to devote much of their talent and time throughout the school year.

These pages on our studio website will be updated and remain available for a limited period to be viewed by the involved students and their families. We sincerely hope everyone will also take the opportunity to continue to view the wonderful artistic work created by all our past and present, Muralists.

As for us, working with students who love art as much as we do, brought us back into being creative and renewed a sense of life’s fulfillment. We too seem to have discovered a new experience now that we are retired, and find joy in meeting new students who at first believe they can't paint a realistic mural; yet after a few tries, they find themselves saying, “...I can do this!” ...And a new artist is born.

This year we were hopeful to receive a small grant, but it’s still not available, in part due to our economy. None the less, we will continue our mural project in our local high schools when possible.

Many thanks,

Giovanni

	Our deepest THANKS is given to Valerie Pleasanton who in conjunction with Ace Hardware in Boynton Beach, Fl., has devotedly donated ALL the necessary paint, brushes and other materials thus enabling us to continue our School Muralists Projects.