Flower Garden Mural, Safe Haven
2010, Latex paint on outdoor wall, approx. 6' X 14'
Through the youth program STARR, Inc., I worked with children aged 6-11 in evening mural workshops at a domestic violence shelter in Brooklyn. After completing a larger mural for the indoor multi-purpose room, from May-June we worked on this simpler effort to decorate the outdoor wall outside the children's recreation room of the shelter. To create this mural, I had the students first work collaboratively on big "flower gardens" on long sheets of brown paper, experimenting with mixed media to create huge flowers (see brown paper sketches). Students then traced their flowers and cut them out, and re-traced them and painted them onto the mural wall, choosing the placement and colors of their flowers. Students also painted the background with different shades of green chosen by the artist, also reflecting the diversity of plant life.
