The new mural at Miller Elementary has been so well received! From students to staff, teachers, to parents, everyone has great things to say. Ten teachers filled out an impact survey and provided feedback about how much they learned from the educational material that accompanied the wall art. 50-100% of students learned something new and 90% of the responding teachers learned something new as well. The hallway is bright and kids are talking about the environment: mission complete!
On Wednesday, April 10, 2024 the mural was available to walk by and touch. The following handout was given to every teacher in hopes that they would talk about the mural's topic with their students and possibly tie into Earth Day / Earth Month activities. We welcomed teachers to take their class to the mural to view and discuss.
The mural is finished! Students at Miller helped paint in 30min increments, 10 at a time, on April 4th and 5th, 2024. The Muralism team was outstanding! So professional and patient. They finished touch-ups on Tuesday, April 9, 2024. The students, teachers, and staff at the school are very happy with the new addition. Huge thanks to the mural team and other PTA parents who helped supervise the student painters and provided snacks for Muralism.
Mural rendering on the wall!
This is the most up-to-date artwork we have, though some details may be adjusted.
Update 3/12/24 - Muralism submitted final artwork in January, which only needs a couple adjustments before it's ready to be transferred to the wall.
Paint days are scheduled for Thursday, April 4 & Friday, April 5, 2024. Prep work will begin April 2nd.
ChangeX granted us an extension to submit an Impact Report by the end of April 2024.
Update 11/28/23 - Message from Muralism team that they are still working on the artwork and will reach out sometime this week.
Update 11/01/23 - Muralism was provided guidelines to draft artwork for two walls.
Wall #1 (across from restrooms)
- Words: Kindness to Earth - Kindness to Animals - Kindness for All
- Art: Variety of nature, landscape, and animals
- Ideas: could include student artwork here (esp diff flowers & butterflies). The point of this one is to show that we are all connected and we'll be teaching students about biodiversity so great to have mammals, insects, lizards, amphibians, birds, etc. along with a jaguar mascot slipped in there but no people in this one.
Wall #2 (above tree mural)
- Words: Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Rot
- Art: Continuation of draft artwork Ernie shared at 11/01/23 meeting
- Ideas: foreground kids are separating trash (black bin), recycling (blue bin), and food scraps (green bin); background activities are bike riding, picking up trash, planting trees, harvesting food (along with flying a kite, jumping rope, or other fun play)
Here's the artwork submission form, provided to all students K-5 during Spring 2023.
The principal at Miller Elementary, Mrs. Hession, has met with Muralism's Ernie Merlan and Project Lead, Melissa Thompson to determine a timeline for the project: September 5 - 15, 2023. Proposal of 2 paint days involving special needs students and 5th graders on September 7 & 8, 2023, in groups of 8 students, from 9:30am - 2pm in 1/2 hour intervals. All students at Miller in Spring 2023 were invited to submit artwork and hundreds did, learning a bit about how to show Kindness to Earth in the process.
The seed funding for this project will primarily go toward printing costs and refreshments during paint days. The inclusion of a second wall requires additional funding of $2,000 which Miller will cover through PTA and/or Miller Jaguar Fundraising.
The theme of our murals are 'Kindness to Earth' and 'Earth is our Home', reminding us that there are many ways to nurture nature and that our planet is one we all share. 5th grade students will be invited to participate in painting the walls along with students of all ages who are differently-abled both mentally and physically. Our goal is to spread awareness about how we can work together, not despite our differences, but because of them; learning more about our land, our community, and ourselves makes us stronger together.
The mural walls are in the main hallway from the office: one across from the restrooms and the other closest to the stairs near Cedar Ave pick-up. These walls are in a highly trafficked area and the 'Earth is our Home' mural will also be visible from the courtyard and Cedar Ave.
