Workshop 6: Our Mural is Complete!
Friday, June 15, 2012 At PS 373 – 91 Henderson Avenue, Staten Island, NY 10301
This is the day that we completed painting our Mural Project! We went through so much paint – our wall looks especially colorful! We painted our background color too!
Workshop 5 Friday, May 4, 2012 10:00-Afternoon
Let’s Paint a Mural! At PS 373 – 91 Henderson Avenue, Staten Island, NY 10301
We started painting our mural with acrylic paints. Every figure has an outline of a heart in the body, and within that heart are representations of what things we find meaningful to us and our families. Across the top of our mural, we wrote: WE HELP SHAPE OUR WORLD.
Workshop 4 Friday, April 27, 2012 10:50-1:00
Let’s Make a Mural! At PS 373 – 91 Henderson Avenue, Staten Island, NY 10301
Parents and students took the paper figures that were made in the previous workshop and taped them to the exterior wall of the school on the mural site. We traced around them to transfer the shapes to the wall. We used multiple colors to make a bright start to our mural!
While it was quite windy, we managed to hold the paper down with tape and get the paint down! We also worked inside on our ideas for what imagery will illustrate something about us and our culture! The children and parents drew images of meaningful things in their lives, and plan to fill their mural bodies with these images.
Parent/student teams will trace the outlines of their bodies onto large paper and paint life-sized self portraits. These large portraits will be cut out and used as templates for the design of the final mural.
On Friday, we invited our families to our Main Site to have some GIANT fun. The first thing we did was look at the wall space where the mural will be located. One of our students has a father who owns a contracting business. Over the April break, he brought his crew to our school. They scraped down the wall and painted it a beautiful, clean white.
Then, our parents and children learned from our resident artist, DB Lampman, about how we will transfer our body shapes to the sections on our wall. First we got our supplies: thick pencils, a large roll of paper, and scissors. We then cut large sections of paper a little bit longer than each person we planned on outlining.These were laid out on the floor and everyone took a turn being traced:
After we traced the outline of our bodies, we cut out the shapes so that next week we could begin to paint our mural!
Our second workshop in our five workshop series took place at our Main Site in Ms. Seminara’s Art Room. Parents and students from our Main and Mini Sites gathered to learn more about the vision of our mural project and create their own story panel books. Imagery and ideas from these story panels will be incorporated into our final mural on the west side of our Main Building.
We started our workshop by meeting some enthusiastic representatives from Parents As Arts Partners, a program of The Center for Arts Education. We talked about our first workshop and some of our parents shared iPhone videos of the performance. We learned about an upcoming meeting at Snug Harbor Cultural Center where parents will be encouraged to contact their political representatives to encourage future funding for arts programs in NYC. This CAE–school partnership is generously supported by the Staten Island Foundation.
For the workshop itself our collaborating artist from the Noble Maritime Collection, D.B. Lampman, conducted the lesson for making Family Story Book Panels. She showed us her example of a Story Book. Entitled “My Story” she painted a self-portrait with water colors on the cover. Inside, on the 1st page, she painted a picture of her family. The second page consisted of a list of her favorite things. And on the third page she left room for an illustration of one of her favorite things from her list.
The students and parents worked together on their story books. Together we shared stories and ideas about the project itself. We look forward to our next workshop on Friday, April 20th when we will paint Giant Self-portraits of ourselves.
Our first workshop at the Noble Maritime Collection at Snug Harbor on March 9th was an exciting kick-off to our 5 workshop series. Parents and students from our Main, Mini and 861 sites came to Snug Harbor Cultural Center to see a great performance about a woman, Annie Moore, who came to Ellis Island from Ireland in the late 1800’s. After the performance, which combined dance, song, and story telling, the families drew pictures about their own cultural traditions and shared stories with each other.
During the Annie’s Journey performance, the children got to actively participate and share in the piece. Annie talked about the things she brought with her on the boat from Ireland that she couldn’t put in her suitcase, such as stories, songs and traditions. We all sang a song called “The Bog Down in the Valley-O”. She danced an Irish Step dance with taps on her shoes. (This required an encore performance at the end of the show.) She showed us her drum, the Bodhran (it’s pronounced BowRun), and we all got to play on it. She told us stories about the leprechauns and their pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. And our students got to dress up like other children immigrating to America.
We are building toward a PS 373R Mural which will incorporate stories of our families’ traditions and each individual’s journey to Staten Island. Some drew pictures after the performance of what their families do for the holidays. Some drew pictures of Sunday dinner after church. People shared the experiences that are passed down through the generations. Everyone enjoyed the day immensely.
Because of the overwhelming response to the call and response song that we did together we are putting the lyrics below:
THE BOG DOWN IN THE VALLEY-O:
CHORUS
Oh, Roe, the rattlin’ bog, the bog down in the valley-o
Oh, Roe, the rattlin’ bog, the bog down in the valley-o.
And in that bog there was a hole, A rare hole, a rattling hole,
A hole in the bog and the bog down in the valley-o
And in that hole there was a tree A rare tree, a rattlin tree
A tree in the hole, and a hole in the bog, and the bog down in the valley-o, etc…….
On that tree there was a branch
On that branch there was a twig
On that twig there was a nest
In that nest there was an egg
On that egg there was a bird
On that bird there was a wing
On that wing there was a feather
On that feather there was a hair
On that hair there was a flea.
Workshop 1 March 9 10:50- 1:00
Annie’s Journey to America
Join Annie Moore from Ireland as she disembarks an immigrant ship and tells her story of coming to America through music, art, and step dancing. Students and parents will be encouraged to share their cultural traditions and will make a watercolor painting together that illustrates their own family story.
At the Noble Maritime Collection at Snug Harbor Cultural Center
Workshop 2 March 16 10:50-1:00
Family Story Book Panels
Parents and students will be introduced to the artistic tradition of mural-making and learn about the history of murals from cave painting to street art. We will discuss the theme of our mural and design “family story books” that will be used as templates for our mural.
At PS 373 – 91 Henderson Avenue, Staten Island, NY 10301
Workshop 3 Friday, April 20, 2012 from 10:50-1:00 p.m.
Giant Self Portraits
Parent/student teams will trace the outlines of their bodies onto large paper and paint life-sized self portraits. These large portraits will be cut out and used as templates for the design of the final mural.
At PS 373 – 91 Henderson Avenue, Staten Island, NY 10301
Workshop 4 Friday, April 27, 2012 10:50-1:00
Let’s Make a Mural!
Parents and students will take the paper figure and story book templates that were made in the previous two workshops and tape them to the exterior wall of the school on the mural site. Then, we will trace around them to transfer the shapes to the wall.
At PS 373 – 91 Henderson Avenue, Staten Island, NY 10301
Workshop 5 Friday, May 4, 2012 10:00-Afternoon
Let’s Paint a Mural!
Parents and students will paint in the shapes of the mural, filling in details, colors, and background.
At PS 373 – 91 Henderson Avenue, Staten Island, NY 10301
This CAE–school partnership is generously supported by the Staten Island Foundation.
Every Family Has a Story: Mural Art Project at P373 