Beautification Grant

    The school was so invigorated by the murals we had done that some teachers began to look for grants to continue to beautify our school.  The city of Los Angeles had a beautification program that chose us among 100 grantees to create a garden in the front of the school.  The area had been an unused gated bike yard and an eyesore for years.  Together we worked as a community of children, teachers and parents to transform the area into a garden area with a small platform for performances, benches for relaxing with a good book and planter boxes for classroom gardens. 

         The fourth graders worked on the large garden mural where parents congregate to pick up their children.  Kindergarten children painted the cracked asphalt to make it look like stepping stones while first graders painted flowers on the side wall. As a final glorious touch one of the teachers made a mosaic mural on another wall and the parents built the planter boxes.  The project gives a bright, new look to the front of the school that brings a smile to our faces.

Lesson Learned: Allow children 20 to 30 minutes turns painting no matter how enthused they are...when they get tired or bored it can wreak havoc in moments!

Will you teach art?

I no sooner put in my papers to retire in June, 2007, when the principal sat down with me to discuss the possibility of teaching art part time in the fall.  This was an amazing opportunity to return to my first love, what I had actually trained for but hardly ever got to do.  After watching elementary art programs erode over 40 years from a once a week experience with a trained teacher to an occasional art lesson with the homeroom teacher I really was excited to offer the children art classes.  Teachers were thrilled to receive the support and the children were delighted.  In part, my goal was not only to expose children to basic art skills but to demo for teachers their own collection of art lessons that connect and support everyday curriculum.  For a while this position had a special stipend but as budgets are being cut it will became a "volunteer opportunity", which I will joyfully exercise with the help of another retired friend.  One of the highlights this year was an Art Gallery for Open House for parents to see what kind of art lessons the children are receiving.

Look Mom, it's me!

Kindergarten children brightened the wall with their silhouettes with the help of their parents.  The children sponge painted the background and posed for me as I traced their bodies.  Then their mothers came to paint in their own child.  They were so proud of their wall that for years they would come by and point out their silhouette to others.

On a roll....

       
For 18 years I walked on to a campus that, to be honest, somehow looked like a post WWII detention center to me.  Back East where I grew up schools were made of brick and mortar and had style.  California must have had budget problems back in the 50's just like they do now and with the baby boom just built the most economical schools as quickly as possible.  The result is frankly depressing.  Some people believe that environment can have a serious effect on childrens learning.  It certainly affected me.  As I found my way to my room, which I always tried to make the happiest place a child could be, I had to pass 6 PK and Kindergarten room all in a row, no color, nothing inviting.  So, my next project was born just two months after we finished the big mural on the yard.  I wanted something that would identify the this area and welcome children.  The kindergarten students sponge painted the walls and I traced them in a variety of play activities.  The parents of the children filled in the silhouettes  of their own children.  I love to see the kids come by to see what they looked like when they were 5.  The transformation of the area was the spark that set plans in motion for my post retirement.

LESSON LEARNED:  When painting a background that is not wall to wall, top to bottom, always put up masking tape and check with a level to get a clean cutoff edge.

How it all began

In November, 2006 I began working on a 240 foot storytelling mural called "Reading to Succeed" with the children at Glenwood School on the concrete block wall on the playground.  Over 150 children had a chance to work at some level on the wall, from covering the graffiti with primer using rollers on extension poles, painting in shapes that I drew,  to creating their own details.  The high point was the first weekend of February when parents, staff and children from the Glenwood community came out Friday after school and Saturday morning to work together.  Over 60 people showed up each day!  It took us 6 weeks in all to finish the work and the mural transformed the playground completely.  The effect it has had on us all is something beyond any of our expectations.  It empowered  the whole school community and sent me on a new journey when I retired the following June.

LESSON LEARNED:  Always paint the background first then project the pictures on to the wall.  It is way too time consuming to paint background around figures and lettering.