This mural is located on the exterior of the Abate Elementary School in the Niagara Falls National Heritage Area. It is painted with acrylic on aluminum panels, and has added bas-relief shapes created in glass mosaic.
The story begins at the top left section of the design, where Harriet Tubman leads a young boy to freedom. The suspension bridge connecting the United States and Canada is behind her. Below the bridge, water from Niagara Falls snakes downward through the design, cascading through Harriet Tubman’s dress and the book a young boy is reading, and winding through the design until it reaches the upper right hand corner. Here it turns from water to a river of stars, blue and gold, the colors of Abate.
The large star in the upper right hand corner is the North star, and Harriet Tubman is moving toward it. To the right of Harriet Tubman, two girls play hopscotch, one black, one white, symbolizing the future that she is moving toward.
In the center of the design, a child holds a telescope, symbolizing exploration and discovery; the core of education and learning.
At the bottom left corner of the design, a child looks at a drop of water under a microscope. An enlargement of this circular drop shows the tiny diatoms that inhabit the Great Lakes. A girl is sketching on a piece of paper; next to her is a child’s drawing of the Discover Niagara shuttle in front of the Aquarium. Above this is a majestic sturgeon that the Aquarium is helping to restore to the Great lakes. The nature theme continues to the right, with a girl looking at a dandelion through a magnifying glass. The indigenous Tuscarora called dandelions, sturgeon, in their own language because they bloom when the sturgeon begin to run.
A circular enlargement reveals a tiny fly on the dandelion flower. To the right, a monarch butterfly rises above a milkweed plant.
The water pattern winds upward to enclose a section from the Abate school song. A boy plays a flute, and a cheerleader completes the scene at the top of the mural, wearing the Abate shirt with the mascot Harry the Wolf on it. She is holding two blue and gold pom-poms that book-end two neighborhood houses. Other children in the mural include a girl skipping rope, and another who is drawing geometric designs on the ground with chalk.
The design conveys that Abate students learn in an area rich with history and resources, and access these resources through their teachers, museums, and cultural landmarks.
