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Mural in the Making

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Excited to share a peek into our mural making process, creating with 118 youth, start to finish!

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To encompass a wide array of ideas and interests, we began with a HUGE brainstorm of all the things young people LOVE to do.  We chose Neo-pop artist, Romero Britto, as our “in the style of artist” for his colorful, vibrant, happy, positive,  abstract and energetic style!  Each artist involved (10-14 years of age) sketched three or more figures doing activities youth LOVE to do.  Many of the sketches included activities and hobbies they personally cherished!  Ideas ranged from biking to climbing, dancing to singing, reading to exploring, skiing to snowboarding, eating ice-cream to licking lollipops just to name a few, the brainstorm was bursting!  Using the majority of these AMAZING black and white drawings, proportional mini-models were created, arranged and organized, to create scaled versions of the final mural boards.

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A scaled model was created in black and white to guide each of the eight individualized murals.  The grid method was used to enlarge the overall plan onto each primed board.  Drawings were penciled, then sharpied and then painted using black exterior paint.

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When it came to paint, we used semi-gloss, exterior, low VOC paint, purchased at a local hardware store that was very easy to cleanup, yet guaranteed long lasting results for years to come!

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A peek at our vibrant paint table as we were moving onto color!  With a chosen color pallet, each artist made their own selection of color as they worked to create a beautiful + unified color pallet, while working to balance + represent a wide array of color.  With having so many beautiful colors we stayed with pure color, rather than color mixing.  With so many youth working on this project, having an organized supply location was key!  Spoons + cups were able to be reused each day and paint could easily be poured back into cans to conserve resources.  Daily, it was truly amazing to be part of a room full of 25+/- youth in such organized and creative chaos, completely productive and involved in the creative process and experience!

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A glimpse of color just getting underway, plus the contrast of vivid + varied black line!

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A favorite photo of an artist caught in the moment, just before cleanup!  Amazed at how beautiful the colors were captured in her hand!

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Let the color unfold.  In the process of a mural, you have a general outline of where you’ve started and where you are going, but there is pure beauty and joy in what naturally unfolds and the exciting unknown that lies ahead.

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There were days were the paint table reminded us of an ice-cream shop!  Who wouldn’t want to eat up this color?

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With a mural there is so much anticipation.  The process brings so much mystery + wonder,  you have the general game plan but the way it unfolds and blooms is magical!

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Moving into pattern we discovered each of Romero Britto’s shapes always had one pattern composed of two colors, to keep his work united + simple!  Together we looked at some of Britto’s favorite patterns to incorporate, yet also created new patterns of our own!  This addition really brought the mural to life and gave each artist an opportunity to personalize space with color and design!

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Love this capture of the continuous teamwork that this mural brought daily, it was truly a “collaborate to create” project!

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A close-up capture of a section drawn and painted by the oldest group participating in our project!  Love the details and expression put into this face!

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All hands-on, detailing with black to really pop the figures and to create definition!

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All hands on deck.  This was the first day that all eight segments were brought together into the studio to view as a whole.  Before this day, we only had two mural pieces in the studio at a time!  Bringing all mural pieces together for touch up was such an exciting event, to see it all come together was magical as it filled the room with such positive and creative energy and excitement!

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It is alway a great thing when your husband is willing to take on and complete another mural install, I’m thankful daily!

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A fabulous school + community turnout for our mid-day, late-October, mural unveiling ceremony.  The 62 foot mural was all covered, so there was great anticipation by all those gathered!  So thankful and appreciative to everyone that joined us for this special and memorable day (very thankful too, that the weather held out when rain was just above)!

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The ribbon cutting, just before the count down, 10 – 9 – 8 – 7 – 6 – 5 – 4 – 3 – 2 – 1, that led to the start of the student led unveiling!  It was incredible watching the mural go from pure black and all covered, to a stage of curtains opening inside to out, unveiling a colorful + hidden treasure for so many to enjoy!  The reactions of the children and adults present was such a highlight and worth every minute invested on this piece!  To only be able to replay it, over and over again!

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Excitement and surprise when the mural was first unveiled!  Our very own local newspaper, The Sopris Sun, joined us to celebrate!  Photo credit above: Editor Lynn Burton, The Sopris Sun.

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A collection of photos of the mural below:  DOING WHAT WE LOVE!  Inspired by Romero Britto.  Abstract + Neo-Pop + Artist + Painter.  Designed + Painted by 5-8th Grade Youth!

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Close-ups of the walls!

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Individual closeups of all eight mural boards (since a 62′ horizontal photo is a bit hard to capture)!  So proud of the investment, dedication, involvement, determination, commitment + creativity that each of these youth invested from start to finish on this piece!  My heart was touched when a teacher + friend of mine shared: “I like to pull up (to school), sit in my car and study the mural for five minutes before starting my day.  The mural is so inspirational and beautiful, the perfect daily reminder of why I am here!”  The mural across the front of the school has created a new energy + beauty + message, on the traditional brick building.  There is now an AWESOME + CREATIVE + POSITIVE ENERGY that touches everyone that passes by or enters into the school!  You can feel the energy + passion + dedication + excitement + creativity + love that each child put in to this piece!  THE POWER OF:  coming together to create, communicating visually, child as artist, community collaboration, transforming old spaces into new places!

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A “distance capture” of the entire mural project all together, it takes on a colorful + mosaic-like feel!  Absolutely LOVE how the mural made the building feel so much more kid-friendly and welcoming!

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Have you taken a peek at our  mural SEASONS, capturing spring to summer to fall  to winter also created by youth?  This piece, which is half  the size of our mural DOING WHAT WE LOVE, is located in Historic Downtown Carbondale across from the Village Smithy on 3rd + Main Street actually on another historic + beautiful + brick building!  Both murals are in town, be sure to stop by and take a peek!

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