This is the eighth 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.

The Art Club murals were completed during the 2008/9 school year, one hour each week after school. When I think about the time constraints within that last sentence, I can’t help but be impressed by the work of the seventh and eighth grade students that year. The murals featured in this Art Club Murals series were the brainstorm of small groups of middle school artists who developed and executed them from idea to fruition. The first is the Lost & Found mural located in a former closet across from the cafeteria. The second is this one, the Surreal/Optical Fun Mural in the seventh grade hallway by the stairs.

The artists working on this space wanted to bring a strong, vibrant theme to this corner space. They viewed the other murals around the school and decided to do something very different. They wanted people to walk through this space and be compelled to consider the surreal and optical events they had created within the mural. I believe they succeeded.

A art teacher’s note about this mural – when I compare the quality of paint between this, one of our final murals, and the Rainbow Mural, well, there is no comparison. The colors in this paint were vibrant, rich, and opaque, requiring two coats at most. The brand we used was Artista Acrylic Paint, which I bought by the gallon. This brand is no longer sold.