Point Reyes Trip Immortalized in New Mural

Those of you who read our Spring 2009 newsletter know how unforgettable the five-day Point Reyes field trip is for our 6th-graders. Thanks to a new mural outside Miranda Spang and Amy Stauffer’s classrooms, if the students ever want to bring that memory back into colorful and sharp focus, they need only walk down the hall and watch the whole trip unfold before their eyes.

“They all knew a mural was going to be a goal that we’d complete for Expo to tell the story of the trip,” says Spang. To that end, the kids had art classes at Point Reyes, doing observational drawing, foreground and background study, and more.

Back on campus, bringing the trip to life in mural form – complete with a key that elaborates on each individual painted scene – was a labor of love for Art Teacher Miranda Bergman and the 6th-graders.

“We saw a lot of cool plants and animals in Point Reyes, and we drew them from close-up,” says Jose, now in 7th grade. “We drew a lot every day, so when we came back we had it in our heads what things should look like. The hard thing was making everything the exact color to make it look real.”

In the ASCEND spirit of arts integration, all of the mural work was aligned with state science curriculum standards. Math got in the mix, too, when the kids used proportions to transfer their small drawings to the long wall.

“Everything was small and then we had to enlarge it,” says Sergio, explaining how the kids transferred their drawings to the mural. “We drew squares in the wall and measured every little square.”

7th-graders Selena and Emonee explain the care it took to render everything faithfully. “If you look at the mural,” says Selena, “you can see the horse looks to scale. Of course in real life the horse is giant. Ms. Bergman really helped us do this right.”

“They also learned the difference between individual and collaborative art,” says Stauffer. “They were creating something that would belong to everybody.”

“When we finished the mural the principal cut the ribbon and we had a ceremony,” says Cesar. “I felt joyful because we persevered through the work, and we were so grateful that we had the chance to go to Point Reyes and also have the experience of making the mural. It was a great opportunity.”