The Silverlake mural project was created for the Early Learning Center in SilverLake, CA and is the result of the artist in residence program with The International school of Los Angeles. The objective for this art project was to bring beauty to the campus while providing a positive collaborative experience with the young students who participated in creating this large scale work of art. Due to the age range of the collaborators (3 to 11), a special working process was designed to provide an inclusive and joyful creation experience for each child while producing a beautiful mural.

The approach was abstract forms and soothing color palettes to counter-balance the frenetic energy of the surrounding play area. Each student began by first doing study drawings with crayon on paper. Then in groups of 5, they would come to the paint mixing area to select the colors they were drawn to and were provided a smock, brush and paint. Classical music was playing throughout the painting process to sonically stimulate the ambiance.

Each student was painting on the wall in tandem with Jude and I. We would inter-weave our brush strokes with each other, exercising a process of collaborative inclusiveness. The success of this project is not limited to the aesthetic improvements that were made to the campus. Probably many thought to themselves that it could be a recipe for disaster to empower  young children with loaded paint brushes and a large white wall.  Ultimately, the artwork depicts the implementation of “inclusiveness” in art form and the world we live in.