Collaborative Murals

I was so excited to see this beautiful mural installed on Thursday, February 17th, 2023! A wonderful addition to the library's entrance wall of Broadneck Elementary School. The design is based off their mascot, the bee. Bees are incredible creatures and an essential link to our food chain. I wanted them to be our foundation to the mural and since this was a library a perfect place to have a honeycomb hive was in a book! So I put the two together and planned a beautiful flourishing garden above with the help of the bees working together as a community, surrounded by the Magothy River and the Chesapeake Bay. I may have designed the initial mural plan yet it is filled with hundreds and hundreds of flowers all individually designed and painted by 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 sketched the outline, and 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, the pages of the book, (yes that's a huge book! But only half of it...the other half will be coming soon!) Then students designed their flowers and painted as many details as they could before the residency ended on April 8th, 2022. The panels were brought to my studio so I could fine-tune the work, add a few bees and the large sunflower detail. On April 20th, 2022 I was diagnosed with breast cancer and needed to step away to focus on treatment.  I returned 8 months later with the help of a few friends 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 plan for the opposite wall which will be created by the current 3rd graders this coming March so stay tuned! One last note - Can you spot the tiny little caterpillar in the flowers? There is only one and I hope you can find him! Enjoy!