Creative Change of Public Space...

In the Public Eye... Flockworks' Mural making...

It has been an exciting few months, bringing three large scale mural projects to completion.  The murals each combined art & science, aiming to inspire and engage participants and viewers in  the overall theme of the projects. Two projects undertaken with schools involved over 500 children in the hands on process. The end results reflect the creative energies of many, yet present an overall story and creative whole.

Dunbar School is the oldest public school in Sonoma County and serves about 250 children k-5.  Surrounded by premier vineyards and tasting rooms, most children come from from families hard pressed by economic, language and cultural challenges. Principal Melanie Blake leads a dedicated staff and children are eager and enthusiastic learners.  

WATER!  In Our Lives, Dunbar School, Sonoma

Flockworks Artist Janet Self has been a visiting artist Dunbar School since since 2010 with one or more  school wide creative projects each year.   

This year, the focus was WATER!  WATER! WATER... Exploring Water in Our Lives.   Every child takes part in creating the whole with a process offering everyone a chance to make their special mark.  This Mural was made possible with support from the Sonoma Plein Air Foundation.  

Water on the Farm, the Forest and Town...

Visit the Farmers Market in Town Square

Fire Truck Roars by

In the Dunbar School Garden

Diagram of the "Water Cycle" ... evaporation, condensation & on...

Back home in Mendocino, thanks to the 2014-15 AD Abramson Visual Arts Award for Art in Public Places from the Community Foundation of Mendocino County, a major mural project at the Mendocino k-8 School was also recently completed.  Entitled ENERGY OF MOTION, the project explored concepts of energy from the playground to the stars, from friendship to quantum theory.  The School's Gym has been transformed with two 30 ft panels, one by the entry way into the main gym and the other across under the score board.  Children from kindergarten to 8th grade took part in mural from start to finish.  Working in small teams, the children discussed concepts of energy, drew related ideas and helped plan out the figures in the mural.  Tracings of children in 'action' poses became the basis for the design. Two weeks of intensive work brought the project from concept to completion. 

ENERGY OF MOTION... MENDOCINO K-8  

ENERGY OF MOTION ...

  

TAG!! Mural Panel created on the Playground

Simple building, before.

This year, City of Fort Bragg received that AD Abramson Visual Arts Award for Art in Public Places from the Community Foundation of Mendocino County and Flockworks' mural project was selected for a bathroom building Noyo Headlands.  

Our Mural entitled "Currents and Waves" was a collaboration by  Artists Janet Self and Ariela Marshall. "Together, we spent a delightful month out on the new walking trail by the Noyo Center for Marine Science, transforming the simple bathroom into a celebration of the ocean." says Self.

The design wraps the entire building: the front explores the layers and depths of the oceans, while the back leaves the building partially exposed as though the wave is just crashing  around the sides.  

Unfolding Materials and supplies became a
daily ritual setting the tone of each day. 

The Artists hosted many visitors to the project, talking about the underlying concepts and discussing technical aspects of layering on the design to create depth and movement. 

 "Between daily walkers and visitors from all over the world, the energy of collaboration, and the changing beauty of the site itself, it was a glorious place for creating art."  

Flockworks has begun a related project, creating Banners with children and youth that continue this celebrate of life in the ocean. They will become part of a large scale installation.

Artist Ariela Marshall at day's end after clean up.