Our large floral mural to end the year with a flourish!
To wrap up the school year with a flourish, our school organized a series of special workshops. Amidst music, games, and sports, we chose art to leave a permanent mark on our institute. This activity allowed us to develop collaborative skills, teamwork abilities, and to work on civic education, transforming and enhancing a shared school space together.
Materials Needed:
- Digital sketch created on iPad using the Procreate app
- Wax crayons for drawing on the wall
- Acrylic wall paints
- Paintbrushes of various sizes
- Plastic cups and containers
- Buckets of water
- Rags or paper towels for cleaning up
- Newspapers or large black trash bags to protect the surfaces
At the very beginning, we had to face a small unexpected challenge: our project was originally planned for the outdoors, but the pouring rain forced us to move inside. We didn’t lose heart, though! We decided to decorate the large, gray walls of the school’s underground garage to fill them with life and color.
To plan everything as effectively as possible, before starting to paint, I created a digital rendering on an iPad using the Procreate App. In this way, I could visualize the final result and clearly define the color areas to assign to the different groups.
To carry out the work and organize such a large number of students, I prepared many paper cups with acrylic paint so that each boy and girl had a paintbrush, some color, and a designated area to decorate. Color photocopies of the digital sketch were taped along the entire preparatory drawing, providing a clear reference for shapes and colors.
We divided ourselves into three large shifts of 30 students for each hour of the workshop. Before picking up the paintbrushes, each group attended a brief training session on how to properly dilute acrylic paints, how to apply them to the wall surface, and, above all, how to move and collaborate within the space to work safely and harmoniously together with so many classmates.
The guidelines of the drawing, made with wax crayons, were already prepared, as I had drawn them directly on the wall the day before. Immediately after the brief instructions, the paint application began: the boys and girls proved to be fast, efficient, and precise in painting their assigned floral macro-areas, taking turns seamlessly at the turn of each hour.
Despite the large number of participants, the activity took place in an atmosphere of great joy and enthusiasm. In addition to painting, everyone took care of the space and tools, showing responsibility and awareness during the final cleanup of paintbrushes and workstations once their turn was over.
In just three hours of collective work, we managed to complete many square meters of wall surface. Now the garage walls are no longer gray and sad, but burst with energy from every corner: anyone who parks here will be welcomed by bright, exuberant shapes, full of the joy that is so typical of the last day of school!
