ART-in-Education
C.S. Poppenga
Artist in Residence
Unity, Oregon
In spring 2009, I was an Artist-in-Residence for one week at Burnt RIver School in Unity Oregon. Unity is a very small community located some distance east of the John Day Painted Hills Fossil Beds and south of Baker City, Oregon.
Students in grades Kindergarten through Eighth collaborated to create a mural depicting the landscape in the immediate vicinity and show daily life activities through the four seasons. Unity School was surprisingly diverse. There were several foreign exchange students at this school--Korea, India, Netherlands and Japan are just a few of the nations represented. I found it especially fun to discover their different perspectives and pictorial mannerisms.
BELOW LEFT and RIGHT: WIth blue tape around the perimeter, the mural was begun. These two photos show it's progress after the first day of painting. Only the far right and far left of the mural are shown here, as it was difficult to photograph the mural in it's entirety from any point in the relatively narrow hallway. Far left is a winter scene and far right is an Autumn scene; spring and summer fill the center of the mural. The landscape forms flow continuous across the entire mural, while the seasons visually divide it into four distinct areas.
RIGHT: The blank wall chosen for the mural is located opposite the school library.. The only prep work required was the removal of the yellow bulletin board and spackling the screw holes left by the mounting bracket.
BELOW : The completed mural. It was necessary to photograph it in segments. The "curved" appearance is the result of stitching the several photos together in order to show the mural in the one continous form it is. The actual mural is square to the ceiling and floor. It measures approximately 7 feet high by 26 ft wide.
Students sketched, then painted the mountains shown in the background as they observed them from the school grounds.
RIGHT:
The doe seen on the mural's far right side. Surrounded by vibrant orange and yellow representing autumn, the loose form and scumbling effects indicate a sensitivity on the part of the student painting it.
RIGHT:
Sheep seen in the mural's far left winter season. A very good example of the use of scumbling to suggest the texture of sheep wool.
LEFT:
The handling of the running cow with the red ear tag is a great illustration of the phrase "less is more".
Because the detail is kept to a minimum and the brush strokes remain visible, there is a greater sense of energy and movement.
Permitting directional brushstrokes to remain visible through the layers of the snow, also creates the sense of movement.
RIGHT:
WInter storm moving across the horizon. Students learned that edges which "move away" or are more distant within the painting can be "rough" or "feathered" and less distinct----- which aids the illusion of distance.
LEFT:
A coyote runs across the winter scene. It's body form is wonderfully animated.
CLICK ON THE SMALL IMAGES BELOW TO SEE LARGER IMAGE
LEFT:
An even closer look at the coyote's head and teeth! Children's art often emphasizes certain details and provides possible insight to what is significant to the child creating the art.
LEFT:
Depiction of hunting in the autumn portion of the mural. A mosaic quality noted here.
CLICK ON THE SMALL IMAGES BELOW TO SEE LARGER IMAGE
LEFT:
A pair of racoons look with animated expressions from their tree stump home.
LEFT:
An otter (top) and a common gopher (bottom) appear in the spring/summer portion of the mural.
CLICK ON THE SMALL IMAGES BELOW TO SEE LARGER IMAGE
LEFT:
Butterflies, along with some other insects, flit across the spring through late summer portion of the mural.
RIGHT:
A barn owl perched on a fence post serves to divide winter from emerging spring in the mural's season composition.
Fluidity of line was the key to animating the owl. And varying degrees of transparancies gave it volume and three-dimensional depth.
LEFT:
An eagle located at the junction of summer and autumn "balances" the sandhill cranes that fly at the junction of winter and spring.
LEFT:
The completed mural photographed from the left side of the mural.
RIGHT:
The completed mural photographed from the right side of the mural.
BELOW: Some details from the completed mural
