In summer 2024 I was chosen to collaborate with Kinard Middle School students in painting a transformer cabinet mural for the City of Fort Collins Art in Public Places program.
This is the first collaborative mural I've done for the APP program. The process was a bit of a rollercoaster but I learned a LOT, and in the end I'm glad I accepted the challenge!
The transformer cabinet at the southeast corner of Kinard Core Knowledge Middle School property was pretty unattractive before being primed by the City.
Kinard art teacher Greg Vizzini agreed to help facilitate the process. I visited his Art Service E.L.O. (Extended Learning Opportunity) class to introduce the project and present some options for the mural. We took the students on a 'field trip' to visit the newly primed cabinet on location.
I presented a few small design sketches to the students. Their favorite concept was the pollinator (bee with flower), followed by the river + mountains scene. We decided to combine the two for this transformer cabinet mural.
I've included some of the students' pollinator sketches that were incorporated into the mural design. Mr. Vizzini's teaching philosophy and years of experience were indispensable during this phase of the project!
With less than a month to complete the mural, and only a couple hours per day for the students, we went straight to work! The biggest challenge was finding room for each student and helping them work around each other.
I'm so proud of the students' work and the way we were able to pull it all together into a cohesive mural. The transformer cabinet mural will stand for many years to represent Kinard Core Knowledge Middle School, the importance of the arts in public schools, and the collaboration of the City of Fort Collins Utilities and Art in Public Places. I hope the experience was as rewarding for the students as it was for me!
Please click HERE to see my full album along with descriptive captions on the Collaborative Mural page of my website.
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