In the summer of 2019 Mrs. Le asked me if I would paint a mural at CPES and, without any details, I said yes. I later learned that the original idea had been a games-based mural with sensory experiences. This year’s 4^th graders created the idea when they were in first grade as part of a school-wide Project Based Learning (PBL) activity. However, before I got get too far along on designing the mural, the pandemic hit and there wasn’t an opportunity to do it.

This past summer the PTA President, Erica Lee, reached out to check in on the mural. Building on the original idea and with a budget for paint from the PTA, I drew out my plans. The first thing to consider was the long snaking shape of the sidewalk and how to use the narrow width of a sidewalk with so much length to the advantage of the design. I knew right away that one large curve would be a mermaid and another large curve would be a dragon. I wanted a welcoming mermaid and thought of the Statue of Liberty and how she welcomes everyone to our country. Influenced by Keith Haring’s Statue of Liberty in color choice, I decided that she would be holding a female cardinal about to fly away and be releasing a male cardinal into the sky, in order to incorporate our mascot of the Cardinal. The rainbow crown is a shoutout to the color wheel we use in the art room.

At the beginning of the mural, I created a raindrop hop, where students can hop from one rain drop to the next. In the clouds I considered our youngest cardinals in PreK, K, and 1^st grade who are learning the alphabet and put the alphabet in the clouds. I also use text in my personal artwork, so this was partly influenced by that. The rainbow background of the clouds is a reference to art.

The road came to me as a fun interactive element and it’s so joyful to see students following the road. I even put a round-about like the one we have on Park Street in Vienna. The heart and square hopscotch is a straight forward interactive element.

The starry night section is a symbol of the art room and all my current and former artists at CPES.

The monarch butterflies contain hidden pictures which some students suggested when I gathered their ideas for the mural. The hidden images are really very apparent: coffee cups for the teachers, the Liberty Mermaid (as she has been named), “Vienna” and other words, and a cardinal.

There is another section with big lemon slices outlined with green, which are intended to be lemon lime “twists” where students can twist on the arrows around each circle.

Then there is a nature inspired trail of leaves and flowers leading to the elephant near the playground. The elephant, leaves, squirrel and some other features are black and white, sort of like coloring pages that students can color in with sidewalk chalk.

Finally in my own artwork I always incorporate my poetry and frequently use yellow ruled paper. The sheets of yellow legal paper sprinkled throughout the sidewalk tie together the design, invite students to think about writing which Cardinals love, and creating their own written work.  It’s always fun to see students come up with other ways to interact with the mural.

It has been such an opportunity and privilege for me to do this mural and I appreciate the artistic freedom that was given to me by Erica Lee, the President of the PTA and Mrs. Le, our principal, and I hope that CPES and town of Vienna will enjoy the mural throughout the coming seasons.