New Murals At WCS

If you walk into Williston Central School any time soon, you're bound to notice some incredible new art greeting you. Teachers Julie Rogers and Sara Beeken submitted and were awarded a CVSD Innovation Grant to make this possible. Artist-in-residence, Sally Duback, worked with students to create these powerful, bright, and welcoming installations. Julie provided us with more information about the project and outlined the next phase.

The smaller of the 2 murals (4' x 6') is entitled "All Are Welcome"  and was completed by 3rd and 4th graders. It is located in the front entrance on the left as you enter the building. That space has particularly nice lighting and welcomes everyone into the building. The larger of the 2 murals (6' x 12') is just inside the back entrance to the building which gets a lot of traffic as well. That mural is entitled " Sustainable Vermont".

Students were asked to make drawings about the themes of diversity & inclusion and sustainability. Students began by discussing what the themes meant to them and then sketched designs. The student sketches were sent to Sally Duback who took bits and pieces from them, traced them onto good old fashioned overhead paper, and composed a cohesive piece with many students' work represented in each. The students took that design and using an overhead projector then copied the design onto the large wooden mural boards (1 board for the smaller one and 3 boards for the larger one). Then the painting began. First backgrounds and sky, then outlining and detail, all the while adding layers and shading. Finally they added shadows and touch up work. It was really an amazing process to watch. Sally is amazing!

We have an artist scheduled for January and another in March which center around photography and kinetic art. There is a possible 3rd artist but we haven't worked out the details for that as of yet. 

Here are some photos of the work in progess. Go see these murals; they are stunning!