SCHOOL PROJECTS

Empathy Mural Hannah Elementary School, Beverly, MA

Empathy Mural

This mural included a reading list of books with animal protagonists, that explored the theme of empathy. Book titles were: The Trumpet of the Swan, Rabbit Hill, Charlotte’s web, the Story of Ferdinand, the Cow That Went Oink, a Dog’s Life: the Autobiography of a Stray, Black Beauty, the One and Only Ivan, A Seal Called Andre, the Ugly Duckling, Humphrey the Wayward Whale, Pigs Might Fly.

Empathy Mural

details from Black Beauty, A Dog's Life, Pigs Might Fly

Empathy Mural

details from the One and Only Ivan, and The Ugly Duckling.

Empathy Mural

details from Charlotte's Web, and The Cow That Went Oink.

Empathy Mural

details from The Trumpet of the Swan,

and The Story of Ferdinand.

Empathy Mural

details from A Seal Called Andre, and Humphrey the Wayward Whale.

Lights of Lawrence Wetherbee School, Lawrence, MA

Lights of Lawrence Mural

Wetherbee School, Lawrence, MA

This mural features two poems by Emily G. Wetherbee, a former principal of the school. The poems are, The Bells of Lawrence, and The Lights of Lawrence.

Lights of Lawrence Mural

detail of Emily G. Wetherbee, her poem The Bells of Lawrence, wildlife from the Merrimack River, a textile factory, and child laborers.

Bread and Roses strike, Lawrence taxi cab,
lines from the song Bread and Roses by Judy Collins

Lights of Lawrence Mural

detail of Bread and Roses strike, Lawrence taxi cab, tenement.

In yellow /orange band: lines from the song Bread and Roses by Judy Collins.

As we come marching, marching

In the beauty of the day

A million darkened kitchens

A million mill lofts grey

Are touched with all the radiance

That a sudden sun discloses

For the people hear us singing

Bread and roses, bread and roses.

Lights of Lawrence Mural

Details from the mural include a fire station, Ayer Mill Clocktower,

local festivals that celebrate ethnic heritage, bridge over the Merrimack River, police badge, early train and gas lamp, soup kitchen, and verses from Emily G. Wethebee's poem Lights of Lawrence

Lights of Lawrence Mural

Wetherbee School

Lawrence, MA

Renga Mural and Mosaic Stapleton Elementary School, Framingham, MA

This project combined art and writing in a collaborative classroom experience.

Behind the Stapleton Elementary School in Framingham, Massachusetts, there is a nature trail named after a former principal. Classroom groups went for walks on the Carol Getchell Nature Trail and recorded their observations. When they got back to class, students wrote haiku poems about what they had seen, heard, or felt. Then they worked in groups to combine the poems into a single, linked poem that told a story of their walk on the trail. These poems were used top make drawings and then a mural and mosaic that included their writing.