This year was Projectivity’s first time working with PS 53 and we completed 4 murals working with 3rd-5th grade students. For this project we started by finding out which books were most prominent among the grades, having all the students from 3rd, 4th and 5th grade illustrate or list there favorite books! From there, Jodi Dareal brought the designs to life and we started working on the 3 walls with a smaller group of students in each class (totaling 15 kids ready to paint!). Not only was watching these younger kids follow direction and paint the flats and prime excellent, watching them be able to open up and work as a team during the program was amazing. And the pride they got to feel from being selected by their teachers to paint something that will be in the school long after they graduate will hopefully help them to keep striving to do well and enjoy all the opportunities they will have in the future.
Sponsored in part by the Dept of Cultural Affairs in collaboration with Thrive Collective.
Art Direction: Jodi Dareal @jodidareal
Assisting Artist: Shawn McArthur @sketchghoul_shawn
During a 12 week afterschool program, Jodi worked with 15 students during an afterschool program through the CASA Initative with support from the DYCD. They designed and painted a 100ftXft mural in the courtyard that is accessible to the community afterschool until dark and on weekends.
Special thank you to former Council Member @cmdebirose
