Chesapeake Academy Art Murals, 2014-15
Each fall middle school students start the year by planning and painting murals that portray the theme for the school year. This year’s theme is responsibility. Each grade uses a key word to focus their interpretation of the theme into their lives.The 5th grade’s keyword is physical, 6th’s is academic, 7th’s is social, and 8th’s is ethical.
5th Grade
The fifth grade mural is based on physical responsibility. After a discussion about what Physical responsibility means to us, we came up with the idea of creating an illustrated reminder note to ourselves on how to keep ourselves healthy and happy. Some of the ways that we take good care of ourselves are eating healthy nutritious foods, getting plenty of exercise and sleep, taking time to relax and enjoy life and to treat ourselves kindly.
6th Grade
The sixth grade mural is based on academic responsibility. We chose to paint a scene of a student hard at work finishing up homework. Being academically responsible means to remember to take home the necessary materials to complete homework, writing down the homework assignments so they are not forgotten and working at a steady pace on long term projects so that we don’t procrastinate. Our painting is done in the style of Pop artist David Hockney.
7th Grade
Seventh grade students have social responsibility and we chose to focus on the aspect of acting in a socially responsible manner and recycling and reusing materials. We painted a lush landscape that portrays a clean, healthy Earth where plants and animals flourish. We embellished the painting using recycled bottle tops and container lids to add textural interest. We have used trash to create art!
8th Grade
8th grade students created a collage mural based on the work of artist Keith Haring. He got his start as an artist in New York City’s subways by making chalk drawings on the black paper that covered unused advertising space in the subway stations. The idea being that art should be accessible to all people, not just those who could afford it. He was a social activist who fought for the fair treatment of all people The use of bold lines and active figures send a visual message of helping those in need, lending a helping hand. The keyword for the 8th grade mural is Ethical Responsibility, so we thought this was a great way to portray our message promoting the ethical treatment of all peoples and animals too.
