Upper School News

In 2019 I thought of starting a community project with my high school art students. The idea was to involve schools or hospitals, but we soon realized there was a wall space right under our noses that was in need of color. It was the Adolescentro youth center and clinic next door. We engaged the center's staff and they loved the plan. So with my two high school art classes we choose a Brazilian bird theme and began drawing gigantic birds, macaws, toucans, parrots, you name it. On our first day of painting, we noticed people waiting in line at the clinic staring and smiling at us.

Some would come up and ask what we were doing. So we decided to offer brushes and paint to whoever wanted to paint with us. And it became a truly collaborative project, with the center's families happily joining in. Each day the students painted with different children and even some of their parents. It was heartwarming to see EAB students teaching little kids to paint, showing them how to hold the paintbrush and create birds with different patterns. This went on for three weeks, and then our mural was done. My students were thrilled with the experience and the exchange with the community outside of EAB.

At the youth center and clinic, they were overjoyed with how we had transformed their space. And so, this year we decided to repaint the mural as the colors had faded since 2019. This time a new group of students painted the mural. As their theme, they chose the flora and fauna of Brazil. The students were keen to get outside the school walls and paint with children from the clinic, once again transforming the community space with color and beauty. Such is the power of art.

Artfully,

Fiona