Advanced Art Lab Mural

While not entirely an arts integration project, this mural involved a lot of cross-disciplinary learning. The 8th grade focused a lot on metaphor, figurative language, and symbolism in many of their classes this year. Twelve students in the Advanced Art Lab full-year elective course took these ideas all the way to the completion of a large-scale mural based on the journey through middle school. They used metaphor and symbolism in the images and the narrative of the mural itself, as well as in their narration. Here is a video we put together, which explains the mural's meaning, and shows a cool, time-lapse sequence of the work they did throughout the year. The video was used in a dedication assembly we had this week. Enjoy!

The Outsiders Graffiti Wall

Language Arts 7

Students created a graffiti wall in the classroom of Language Arts Teacher Bill Kartechner, centered around their study of The Outsiders. The classes viewed clips from Style Wars, a documentary film that follows a group of graffiti artists in 1980's New York. There are uncanny parallels between the characters in The Outsiders and the artists portrayed in the film, which lead to rich discussions on group culture, loyalty, identity, slang, and conflict.

Students were shown examples of graffiti. They identified the characteristics of graffiti-style letterforms, and practiced creating their own. Further discussion on The Outsiders identified the key themes, ideas, images, and symbols from the book. After determining which words and ideas should be emphasized on the wall, students began working individually and in pairs on their final designs.

The project allowed students to make parallels between the world of the Outsiders characters, and that of other groups on the margins of society. It required them to recognize, analyze, and evaluate the importance of themes and ideas in the book, while coming to collaborative agreement on visual considerations, such as size, placement, color, and style.

Mural / Community Public Art Guide

The Community Public Art Guide, from the Chicago Public Art Group is a great resource for your large-scale group or community projects. It offers tips, lists, and guides for creating murals, mosaics, sculptures, and public spaces.