Students at Maple Avenue Elementary School in Sussex received the rare opportunity to watch a professional muralist transform a school library wall into a work of art. The final product was a collaboration between artist Emily Balsley and the students themselves. The new mural will officially be unveiled at the Maple Avenue Art Crawl on February 22.
“I wanted my students to get to experience a visiting artist so that they could see that there are lots of possible ways to be an artist when they grow up,” explains Maple Avenue Elementary School Art Teacher Christine Woywod Veettil, Ph.D. “A lot of them tell me they want to be art teachers. But I want them to know there are possibilities, like being an illustrator or graphic designer or a muralist. That’s part of what they’ve experienced with having Emily Balsley here,” she adds.
Emily Balsley, owner of Blue Star Ink, visited the school every day from February 3 through February 7. Students had several opportunities to watch Balsley paint and ask questions, tracking the mural progress in real time. Balsley said it was heartwarming to be able to provide students with this opportunity. “The fact that they get to see a working artist and see that this is something that they could possibly do when they get older, that just makes me really happy because when I was younger I loved art,” says Balsley. “But I didn’t really actually know what it meant to be an artist.”
Maple Avenue fourth grader Lillian Harding enjoyed seeing the many colors that were used. “I love the wide color scheme,” explains Harding. “It’s not just the normal colors you see in a crayon box, which just makes it so unique and beautiful.”
Balsley first met students at Maple Avenue Elementary School when she visited in January for a school assembly. During her visit, Balsley explained who she is as an artist and how she creates murals. They discussed the upcoming mural project and how the theme would be “where the wild kids grow.” Then she asked all students to do their own drawings of what that theme looked like to them. “I took home a stack of 450 drawings that I got to go through and kind of pulled out different themes that I was seeing a lot of,” says Balsley.
“I saw a lot of trees, a lot of butterflies and reading. A lot of kids drew reading books, so I had to incorporate that,” she adds. “Then I tried to take those themes and pull them together into one big scene.”
Maple Avenue fourth grader Ellie Wakefield enjoyed watching Balsley paint the mural. “I think it’s very satisfying with all of the lines just coming together and making the areas full,” says Wakefield. “I definitely think my favorite part is the girl standing on the mushroom house. She’s going to be holding a watering can, watering a flower which I actually did for my idea!”
Hang Kin Leo Lee is also a fourth grade student who enjoyed watching the mural take shape. “It’s surprising how quickly she progresses and it’s so satisfying when she adds new colors and the blank spaces just fill in,” he shares.
“I love everything about this mural,” exclaimed fourth grader Ellie Kraus. “It is very beautiful and it really adds a pop of color to this wall because I feel like before it was just so boring and now it’s beautiful. It really brings out how our school is an amazing place!”
Dr. Woywod Veettil said the experience exceeded her expectations. “Part of what made that week even better than I could have anticipated is that students really slowed down and looked and noticed different things emerging in the mural as it came to life in our building and the conversations have just been outstanding,” she adds.
The artist in residence mural project was made possible through the Hamilton Education Foundation (HEF) Grant for the Arts and Maple Avenue Home and School.