Twin Valley Elementary Center students designed and painted a new school mural featuring the theme “Kindness is Magic.”
“The purpose of this project, like most community projects, is to engage physically with creativity and expression,” teaching artist and muralist Katie Trainer said in a statement. “The idea behind it was to have everybody comfortably able to participate to whatever level they were comfortable to join. Basically, the purpose is to engage in physical creative expression with a permanent result.”
All grade levels at the elementary center participated in both the design and painting on the parachute cloth. The mural panels were then mounted on a wall in the school’s large group instruction room. The completed mural, standing about eight feet tall and 25 feet wide, was recently unveiled during the school’s Evening of the Arts event on May 8.
“Through this experience, students gained insight into the creative process behind a large-scale mural and had the unique opportunity to work alongside a professional visual artist. The project enriched the curriculum, promoted art as a process, and fostered creativity, collaboration, and problem-solving skills,” Twin Valley Elementary Center Principal Craig Sell said in a statement.
The Millersville University artist residency project with Trainer was funded by the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and the school’s parent organization, PIE.
Previously, Trainer has worked with nine teaching artist residency programs. Since 2017, she has worked hands-on directly with 6,000 students in 16 different school districts. She is a certified teaching artist and recently became a certified arts in health professional.
“I did two murals with elementary schools in Boyertown and one in Honey Brook and was invited to host a mini mural class for the teachers at an in-service day and, well, it all unraveled from there,” she said.
This is Trainer’s 115th mural. One of her more recent projects was a 70-foot mural at the Blue Mountain Service Plaza, designed and painted with Shippensburg Area High School students. Another was the Reading Liederkranz Oktoberfest Mural.
Before the residency began, TVEC art teacher Samantha Potylycki introduced students to Trainer’s artwork, sparking conversations about how to represent the school and community through a collaborative piece of art, explained Sell.
“Each class had two to three sessions with Katie during art class to help bring the mural to life,” Sell said.
About 420 students in kindergarten through fourth grade shared their favorite activities and elements of the community through sketches. She combined their ideas into a final mural design that was painted on parachute cloth.
“This is called a parachute cloth mural and is like customizing your own wallpaper so the parachute cloth material was drafted out with the students’ ideas by me and then set up in the room for them to fill it in like a giant coloring book,” said Trainer.
Then, Trainer mounted each panel to the wall with a UV-resistant, thick-bodied gel.
She hopes students learned about color theory, gained tactile dexterity and were inspired to see the world differently.
“The ability to see their hands able to make the world a more beautiful place and to understand that at a young age,” added Trainer. “And to feel excited and ambitious to participate in some creative form of expression in the future.”
This mural project was part of a larger school-wide initiative called the Kindness Collaboration, where concepts of kindness and community are integrated into the related arts curriculum. The program is led by music teacher Melissa Ebeling, librarian Rachel Klemmer, physical education teacher Heather McHugh and art teacher Samantha Potylycki. The theme for this year’s collaboration was “Kindness is Magic.”
“I just happen to be a mural artist that is a former magician as well, so it was a perfect fit,” said Trainer.
While doing this mural, Trainer said this project was a great way for her to tap back into that mindset of being a former magician and juggler. She really appreciated the inspiration to get back to the thing that started her in murals in the first place, being a magician.
“Katie’s work with the students was exceptional. She welcomed their ideas, encouraged artistic exploration, and celebrated each student’s individual creativity,’ said Sell. “As a fun bonus, Katie, who is also a magician, concluded many of the sessions with a bit of magic and juggling, making the experience even more memorable.”
Source: Berkshire mont