Part 2

Some Final Tips for Teachers

Kick the mural activity off by going on a mural bus tour of local neighborhood murals. The Internet has several sites on L.A. murals and the Venice-based public arts organization, SPARC--Social and Public Arts Resource Center is an excellent resource.

* Do not forget to video and take photos of the mural making process.

* Build up the mural unveiling to a school-wide event and invite parents and the media.

* Collect old shirts for smocks or ask students to come with their own.

* Keep reflective journals throughout mural process. Reflective questions can be pulled from Seven Great Things Murals Should Do.

* The mural should not be seen as something added extra to the curriculum. Use every opportunity to tie in the Language Arts, Social Studies, art history/criticism, current events, and anything else you can think of. For example, students can write about their mural ideas, make oral presentations, and conduct student mural tours.

* Do not forget that the collective process of making the mural is as important as the mural itself. Giving ourselves and students opportunities to dream, express ourselves, and work together to build something bigger than we could have done individually, are what really make the paint come alive.

Materials

* plywood panels: Available at larger hardware stores and retail wood stores. Plywood come in standard sizes such as 8’x4’ and smaller precut 4’x4’ and 2’x4’ sizes.

* acrylic paints: Available at any art stores. Nova Colors in Culver City sells quality factory-directs acrylics.

* brushes: Available at schools or can be ordered through District supplies. Fine hair watercolor brushes are too small and flimsy for acrylic paints. Stay with flat edged 1/2 and larger brushes. When painting the white primer (gesso) base coat, use 2-4 inch paint brushes or a paint roller for larger murals. For the final clear coating use a quality 3 to 4 inch house painting brush.

* art supplies: crayons, markers, rulers, pencils, scrap paper and tracing paper.

* overhead projector and transparencies

Resources

Baca, Judy. "Public Art in a Multicultural Society." SPARCplug. Vol. 2, No. 3 May 1992, pp. 1, 12-14.

__________, "Whose Monument Where: Public Art in a Many-cultured Society," in Saber Es Poder/Interventions, Urban Revisions: Current Projects for the Public Realm, Adobe L.A. 1994.

Blum, Paul Von. The Art of Social Conscience. New York: Unsivere Books, 1976.

Cockcroft, Eva Sperling and Holly Barnet-Sanchez. Signs from the Heart: California Chicano Murals. Venice, California: Social and Public Arts Resource Center, 1990

Environmental Communications, Eds. David Greenberg, Kathryn Smith, and Stuart Teacher. Big Art: Megamurals & Supergraphics. Philadelphia: Running Press, 1977.

Goldbard, Arlene. "Postscript to the Past: Notes Toward a History of Community Arts." High Performance. No. 64, Winter 1993, pp. 23-27.

Gordon, Eric A.. "Murals: Art or Mere Sociology?" SPARCplug. Vol. 2, No. 3 May 1992, pp. 5, 14.

hooks, bell. Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center. Boston: South End Press, 1984.

Houn, Fred Wei-han. "Revolutionary Asian American Art: Tradition and Change, Inheritance and Innovation, Not Imitation! East Wind. Vol. V, No. 1 Spring/Summer 1986, pp. 4-8.

Iwataki, Miya. "Asian American Art and Culture: A Melody of Resistance." East Wind. Vol. IV, No. 1 Winter/Spring 1985, pp. 11-14.

Kiang, Peter Nien-chu. "Asian American Resource Workshop: Art and Culture for the Community." EastWind. Vol. 2, No. 1 Spring/Summer 1983, pp. 11-14.

__________. "Transformation: The challenge facing the Asian American artist in the '80's." East Wind. Vol. IV, No. 1 Winter/Spring 1985, pp. 31-33.

Lee, Feelie. "People's Art." Bridge: An Asian American Perspective. Vol. 2, No. 4, April 1973, pp.42-43.

Leong, Russell, editor. Moving the Image: Independent Asian Pacific American Media Arts. UCLA Asian American Studies Center and Visual Communications, Southern California Asian American Studies Center, Inc., 1991.

Lim, Genny. "Kearny Street Workshop--A Story of Survival." Bridge: An Asian American Perspective. Vol. 3, No. 5 May 1975, pp. 28-30.

Lim, Happy. "Literature, Art and Practical Struggle." East Wind. Vol. IV, No. 1 Winter/Spring 1985, pp. 18-19.

Omatsu, Glenn. "The 'Four Prisons' and the Movements of Liberation." In The State of Asian America: Activism and Resistance in the 1990s. Ed. Karin Aguliar-San Juan, Boston: South End Press, 1994, pp. 19-69.

Schwarzman, Mat. "It's About Transformation: Thoughts on Arts as Social Action." High Performance. No. 64 Winter 1993, pp. 32-35.

Wong, Bill. "A Day at the Mural." Bridge: An Asian American Perspective. Vol. 2, No. 1, September/October 1972, pp. 29-31.

Updated: 7/7/03

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