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“First Impressions”: Students, Mural Arts Educators Team Up To Create New Mosaic At Local High School


  The last time I took an art class was in middle school. Our final project was pottery. I worked hard at it for a few classes, designing, molding, spinning, and hardening my clay creation. Once the project was finished and the grade had been counted, I had a nice takeaway to remind me of the time and effort I put into creating that clay pot — a memorable keepsake. (For the record, that little pot is still at my parents’ house, currently serving as a pencil holder.)

  That’s a sweet memory, for sure. But imagine if that final art project involved designing and creating a large mosaic that was to remain in one of the neighborhood’s public schools for years to come. Sounds like a tougher project than pottery, but it really isn’t. It’s a pretty easy assignment if you consider the previous project you took on was painting an enormous mural in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art during a heat wave. A 36-square-foot mosaic? No problem.

  While it might be a very trying time for the Philadelphia School District and those who attend its schools, a group of students made this all a reality during their Mural Arts Education summer class. After helping Mural Arts all-star and local art teacher Brad Carney paint a huge, colorful mural at the Eakins Oval earlier in the summer, students used a wall atop a stairwell at Kensington Creative and Performing Arts High School (KCAPA) as their canvas, creating a mosaic emblematic of the school’s core values and focus on art.

The Mural Arts Education summer class runs every summer. It is a Philadelphia Youth work-ready program, meaning the objective of the program is to teach students work experience through mural education. Students are expected to work four hours every day for six weeks. This year’s crop of 16 students exceeded those standard expectations.

  The first project on the summer agenda was painting a giant 33,000-square-foot mural at the Eakins Oval at the foot of the Art Museum. The mural was named “Rhythm and Hues” and was designed by Carney. After finishing The Oval, Carney and his students reconvened the following week and asked themselves, “What’s next?” The group brainstormed a few ideas and went through a few iterations of a mural design before settling on a concept to execute.

Oval Ribbon Cutting Ceremony

The Oval Ribbon Cutting Ceremony/Patrick Clark

  “We decided to do something that would represent the school,” Camille Erskine, one of the students, said. “Before we drew anything, we got the idea for this [mosaic] by walking around the school and talking about how the school was made, the growth of the school, the people here and the classes. We decided to jumble all of that up to make some very different, difficult drawings. We kept simplifying it, and simplifying it, until we got this.”

  The mosaic features many elements. A snare drum and drumsticks represent the school, its drumline and art-focused classes. Three child-like figures are superimposed in front of the drum, which students from the group modeled for the design. Carney took a photo of the posed students, threw it in Photoshop, and an early design was born. After tweaking the idea a little bit and trying a few different designs, a final design was settled on.

  “It took a long time to find our voice,” Carney said. “[The mosaic] is a response to what students do here. And most of the students are not from here, only Kyree Haynes is, so we had to keep asking him and the teachers here: ‘What are you all about? What do you guys do?’ It’s a gift from other students to represent students.”

  Haynes, 18, graduated from KCAPA a few months ago. As the only KCAPA student in the group, his perspective was greatly valued in putting the piece together. He had worked with Carney during the school year and was happy to be part of the Mural Arts Education summer class.

  “This mosaic is actually on the same level as working on The Oval,” Haynes said. “This is still something that nobody has ever done before [at my school]. People have told me that this [mosaic] will be my legacy here. It feels really good to hear that.”

/Max Pulcini

/Max Pulcini

  Haynes had never painted before this summer and credits Carney with teaching him the skills he learned over the course of the program. “Brad is a really good teacher,” Haynes said. “He’s thoughtful with his skills. I learned almost everything I know about murals from him. I learned how to paint, create mosaic tile… everything from Brad.”

  Haynes will be attending college in the fall at the Hussian School of Art, and plans on pursuing graphic design.

  With Carney providing the technical know-how and Haynes providing the context, students began completing the mosaic on a 36-square-foot wall — a huge change from the behemoth, 33,000-square-foot outdoor mural they made at The Oval. The mosaic is titled “First Impressions: The Art In Me.”

  “None of us knew how to do mosaic tile, so we followed Brad’s lead,” Jaleel Jones, another student, said. “We’d break a few tiles to make the inside of the bodies, we made flower petals for the inside of the drum. We used white tile and black tile in the bodies to create the music notes, microphone and camera inside the figures. We used mirrors to reflect the students passing by the hallway in school each day. After making the mosaic on a table, we took it up here and started sticking it to the wall using a special type of glue.”

  Anyone who’s done backsplash tiles for a house knows that this process sounds very similar. Carney brought this up, reinforcing the idea that this program provides work-ready experience for enrolled students.

  “[At the Oval], the kids were just painting with rollers, running around,” Carney said. “It was the biggest macro you can do. But when we sat down at a table with tiny, fingernail-sized pieces of tile, students learned that it isn’t size that matters; it’s how you plan out the process.”

/Max Pulcini

/Max Pulcini

  As the the mural was being unveiled, a large group of students from another summer program approached the staircase. “Stairs!” Carney said to his group huddled by their work. “‘Stairs’ is code for ‘kids are coming.’ When we were making this mural we had a student stationed by the stairs just to let us know when people were coming. It’s like the guy at a construction site holding the stop sign, directing traffic. Everyone is important at a job. Even if you aren’t working on the mural, you’re working.”

  Students got involved with the Mural Arts Education summer class by signing up through the Philadelphia Youth Network. Additionally, students who had worked with Mural Arts Artrepreneur program were eligible to enroll.

  Jamie Grigsby, 25, is currently Carney’s assistant teacher. A decade ago, she was one of the students enrolled in the Mural Arts Education summer class. For Grigsby, it’s special to be teaching now, as she sees a bit of herself in the kids she works with today.

  “It’s crazy, really. Seeing them grow up, it’s life-changing,” Grigsby said. “I definitely enjoy this and giving back to Mural Arts any time it’s possible, especially since I was a student not too long ago.”

  Grigsby went on to attend Hussian for graphic design, just like Haynes is planning to do. She stands as proof that inner-city kids can achieve their dreams and career goals — even in the arts — if they try for it.

  “Since many of these students are trying to achieve something in art, I’m trying to teach them in advance so that way they’ll have the right type of experience and understanding when their time comes.”

  Grigsby’s message to kids in the neighborhood? “Don’t be shy. Be creative and open to new experiences.”

The following students worked on “Rhythm and Hues” and “First Impressions” this summer: Camille Erskine, Jada Gibson, Ailisha Goodwin-Dancy, Khyree Haynes, Julio Hector-Santos, Jaleel Jones, Zamir Levy, Britney Lewis, Stacia Lightfoot, Marcus McNear, Briana Padilla, Tyrik Ransom, Shakira Santos, Tyler Sheppard, Sumayyah Moseley

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