At Whittier Elementary, where once jagged and broken mosaics adorned the wall extending the entire length of the playing area, now (as of last Friday) a whimsical mural has come to life.

A cheetah wearing sunglasses, a cat wearing a ballerina suit, grim-faced bees with heavy brows and jutting jaws, a swarm of red ladybugs of all different shapes and sizes are just a few of the characters you’ll see adorning the wall. The mural is a garden of colorful and cartoony flowers and creatures.

And it was all painted and drawn by children. One of the main jobs for parents was merely to complete the tedious task of painting the background blue. The teachers were mainly responsible for guiding the children, and maybe making sure they didn’t splatter or drink the paint.
Parent and volunteer Caroline Zizza, whose child will soon be going on to middle school, said taking part in this project was a way to give one last thing for the school.

“Every single kid has painted on this wall,” Caroline Zizza said, adding that there are over 450 students at Whittier Elementary. “The community spirit of doing this project together -- it’s kind of great.”

An artist herself, Zizza said that she believed children needed more contact with art. The mural was a great way for all the children to collaborate on one big project, she said.

“I think it (art) is really important to kids, and I think we haven’t had enough of it in schools,” she said.

Artist-in-residence Jan Harvey-Smith said the process for the mural started in April. They had to powerwash the wall and put on two base layers of paint before they could start painting the mural itself.
Students had a drawing contest for the cats that ended up on the wall. (Whittier Elementary’s mascot is the wildcat.) Out of over 50 entries, 14 entries were selected. Harvey-Smith said she loved them all and had to give them to someone else to decide because it was too hard for her.

When the weather permitted, groups of about 25 kids were brought out to work on the mural. For the finer details, like adding stripes to a bee, smaller groups were needed. “It’s a little chaotic, you can imagine, 25 kids with a paintbrush,” she said.

Fellow artist-in-residence Nina Crampton poured credit on Harvey-Smith whereas Harvey-Smith tried to talk as little about herself as possible.
“This is all her fault, this whole mural is all her fault. She is the mover and the shaker,” Crampton said.

Follow Ballard News-Tribune on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ballardnewstrib

And Twitter at http://twitter.com/ballardnewstrib