Digital Positivity Murals
This lesson is an in depth week long study of murals. Throughout the lesson the study becomes more and more focused on community. It starts very broad with talks of international muralists and the process of mural creating. It dials in to community murals are where they are located with an incredible found resource - the Milwaukee Mural Map. After that there is a more focused discussion on inspirational murals themselves. As we look at more specific examples of positivity murals design questions arise.
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We used Pixlr to complete ours though there are a lot of programs that this would work with, as I only required students to use layers and repeated shape designs. We also investigated text study and created personal text archives to assist us in choosing a quote. This is designed to be a part of a larger project where students collaborate with other students and subject areas to write a pitch and choose a location for their mural. It is also important to mention the argument which opposes murals.
Learning Objectives and Rationale
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We will look at a wide variety of murals and a video which will help us understand how murals can have the potential to positively affect community. Looking at examples of basic design, we will use Pixlr to create an individual mural pattern design and implement a quote from a piece of writing. Students will use critical reading and analyzing skills to choose a short, inspiring quote for their mural. Objectives: 1) Create a digital mural out of basic shapes and design elements. 2) Connect art to another subject area (english) and 3) To learn first hand the effect a mural has on its surroundings
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Tia Richardson Video
student examples
Learning standards
District Standards:
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D.1. Know basic public art knowledge in reference to community
K.1. Connect knowledge and skills to art in other areas (English)
C.10. Develop personal responsibility
for learning and creative processes.
success criteria
I will have this completed when I studied the examples of murals and then created my own ORIGINAL mural design in Pixlr and have integrated an inspiring text quote.
Artist Inspiration
This lesson was inspired by local Milwaukee artist Tia Richardson.
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Richardson collaborates with student age hired interns from the community. The students and Richardson then host community meetings where they poll the members in order to use their ideas in mural making. It is an incredible opportunity for the driven and artistic students and helps to eliminate many concerns people who oppose murals
Lesson Resources
Mural Negative Effects (?)
It's within my beliefs that we must always acknowledge opposing sides of an argument. In my resources section there is a link that states some of the arguments of people who oppose murals. One of the most alarming and more valid ones is the mention that there are links to famous artists outside the community creating art which attracts new people to the area leading to possible gentrification. For this reason, this lesson is inspired by Tia Richardson a community based artist who reaches out and makes sure the community takes part and is comfortable with the imagery.
