This is the sixth in a series of Legacy Posts about projects that happened early on in my art classroom. Recently I was able to tap into some archived photos that I thought had long ago disappeared. I’ve decided to write some blog posts incorporating these photos to share the memories and/or inspire others to try these projects. Some are very dear to me because I took risks with my students and the end result was big learning for all of us, especially me. Also, in my nineteenth year of teaching now, I realize that ideas, projects, and programs come and go, and sometimes come back again. These art projects are just a memory now, and I believe they are worth remembering and preserving. The first post in the series can be found here, and the rest of them follow. Simply search Once Upon A Time in the categories on the front page of the blog.

This is the first mural we undertook in the Leave Your Mark exploratory class during the 2006/2007 school year. I remember planning the mural to purposely work in a pretty quiet place that had few interruptions during the day. There were also no classes nearby, so we had the place to ourselves. This is the ramp leading from where the buses dropped off (that sight has since been moved) into the school. It seemed a perfect place for a welcome mural and a cheerful rainbow to follow up the ramp.

Since this was our first mural, I wasn’t yet taking chances and designed it and sketched it out so all the students had to do was the painting. We used a regular school supply acrylic paint that was unfortunately not nearly opaque enough, necessitating several coats. This is the last time we used this brand.  It was an easy mural to keep lots of painters busy at the same time. It was fun and a really different activity for the kids. This mural was also glazed with a gloss medium to make it last for eternity.