Students Co-Create Murals with Famed Artist
Chabot and Vannoy Elementary School students recently collaborated with famed muralist Charlo Garcia Walterbach to create new murals at their respective campuses.
The monochromatic murals include symbols, letters, and lines. Hidden themes and messages are tucked away in the densely packed compositions, allowing viewers to find their own sense of meaning from the works or be delighted by the meanings provided by the artist.
According to both Principals, the purpose of the mural projects was to give students a hands-on art experience with a professional artist and co-create permanent artwork for each school.
"This would allow students to give back to the school and community while beautifying the campus, to collaborate as a whole school on a significant project, and to learn about one of many art careers," Chabot Elementary Principal Delnaz Hosseini told the Forum.
An artist from Mexico, Walterbach became a muralist after college, where he majored in graphic design. Originally posting on the app Nextdoor to paint murals in Santa Fe, he started by painting garage doors and eventually, in collaboration with Nextdoor, did a mural in front of the New York Stock Exchange.
Fifth graders at Vannoy Elementary collaborated with Walterbach by learning from his experiences working as an artist and creating their own murals on the wall. Vannoy is a Spanish Dual Immersion school, so they added Spanish words to their mural.
“Students were able to learn about Charlo and his experiences as a muralist from Mexico," said Vannoy Principal Doris De La Torre. They also created their own mini murals and had an opportunity to add to the mural that was created on the side of one of our classrooms.”
At Chabot Elementary, students were also able to participate in the hands-on art experience by drawing out their own designs and cooperating school-wide with positive behavior words, shapes, and symbols.
“The goal was to ensure that all of our students had the opportunity to contribute to the mural in a meaningful way,” said Chabot Principal Hosseini. “Our students really enjoyed participating in and contributing to the painting of the Paw Power murals.”
For more information on Walterbach, please visit his website: https://www.charlo.studio/.