School Murals

I am so excited to see this beautiful mural installed for Broadneck Elementary (BES)! (more photos below)  A bright sunny library entrance says it's full of bright ideas!  The mural focuses on their bee mascot with a few hidden creatures.  A little 'seek and find' to add to the fun with a little caterpillar, ladybug, butterfly and damselfly hidden among the grasses and waves.  This "game" has turned out to be a favorite of the students. This, as well as the entire mural, was inspired by the students.  In 2020,  Mrs. Walsh saw the potential to have her 3rd graders create an art piece for this vast blank wall.  Then, the pandemic hit and this vision had to wait until 2022.  Thanks to the Arts in Education grant through the Arts Council of Anne Arundel County, Mrs. Walsh was able to obtain the funds needed to begin the right side.  Matched, with the help of the Broadneck Elementary PTO, her dream of painting a garden mural with her students began to take shape.  A legacy project with the 3rd graders is tradition at BES. Not only do they create engaging work to share with others, they are able to enjoy it for their remaining years at Broadneck.  Except, the current 4th graders missed this opportunity due to the pandemic.  Mrs. Walsh and I wanted to include these students so every 3rd grader had the opportunity to share their creativity with future generations.  We began planning a beautiful flourishing garden to include them all in the creative process.  Since this was the library entrance, adding a book to the foundation was a great start and a perfect location to create a honeycomb hive for their bees to be nestled in.  The garden flourishes with the help of the bees working together as a community, surrounded by the Magothy River and the Chesapeake Bay. The right wall panels are filled with hundreds and hundreds of flowers all individually designed and painted by every one of the 284 -3rd and 4th grade students during a 3 week artist in residency in April 2022.  Art teachers Mrs. Walsh, Ms. Councill and I had a fantastic time working with all the students.  We spent the first week painting the water, grasses, sky, and honeycomb. The second week began the details of the flowers and the bees started to form.  The third week was focused on fine-tuning water ripples, book pages and designing their flowers before the residency ended on April 8th, 2022. The panels were brought to my studio for my final touches; adding a few bees and the large sunflower detail. However on April 20th, 2022 I was diagnosed with cancer and needed to step away to focus on treatment.  I happily returned 8 months later with the help of a few high school art students and my daughter fine-tuning each of the 532 flowers. The joy it brought me was beyond therapeutic and just what the doctor ordered! These sweet flowers, honeycomb and bees made me realized we all grew together and the idea of adding the words "Grow Together" was born. This also inspired the grand plan to apply for a public art grant through the Maryland State Arts Council to allow for the entire wall to be completed by the next year's 3rd grade students and community.  In January of 2023, we were thrilled to be awarded a grant for its completion. How exciting!! I was so grateful for the opportunity to work with the Broadneck community again. This final stage completed the full design idea of "Read, Learn, Grow Together." In January 2023, I began working with the new art teachers Mrs. Cockcroft and Ms. Howe plus the 152 - 3rd grade students who excitedly inspired me to design a boat with bees on an adventure. Exploration, investigation, and inspiration led to left panels " Read, Learn" and our grand sunbeam entrance showing the library is full of bright ideas!  Our residency began in March 2023 with every 3rd grade student diving into the project and painting. Over 3 weeks we completed all the base work for me to apply my final brushstrokes adding their requests of a surfer bee, a pirate bee and a relaxing reading bee. With the help of many Broadneck High School volunteer students (many BES alumni) the entire wall was completed and installed in July 2023. I am so very grateful for the generous support of Maryland State Arts Council, Arts Council of Anne Arundel County, the Broadneck Elementary School PTO and the kind donations of Vycom, inc plus amazing support of the teachers, family and friends to make this all possible! Oh one last game ... Can you tell me what the nautical flags spell? It's a secret message!😉