Materials:

Handouts
Overhead projector
Pencils
Large piece of paper (for mural template)
**various materials depending on the type of mural created**

Procedure:

Brainstorming and Planning Session:
       

• Discuss with students the types of murals they’ve seen.
• Use Collaboration Handout 4.1 to brainstorm as a class. Students must select a theme for their mural as well as four supporting ideas.
  
  For example:

• Schenley students chose “Schenley past and present” as their overall theme.
• Their four supporting ideas, reflecting the theme, were: Schenley students past and present; Schenely clubs and activities; the closing of Schenley High School; Public opinions on the closing.

• After breaking students into groups, assign each group to one of the four supporting ideas that reflect the chosen theme.
• Use Collaboration Handout 4.2 for the groups. Each student should fill out his or her own handout as their groups discuss ideas with one another.
• Bring the class together to present all four components (keeping a list on the board), then have the class decide as a whole which ideas to use.
• Decide on the mural’s size. (The teacher may need to predetermine size in advance.)
• Have students research and print imagery, words, and symbols for the mural.
• Choose between making a painted mural or a clay tile mural.

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Bellefonte students painting mural.

Option 1: Painted Mural

Procedures:

1. Present and discuss the Bellefonte Middle School mural image gallery.
2. Hang up all collected images, texts, and visual elements for the mural.
3. Discuss composition and layout and make final decisions as a group.
4. Make photocopied acetates of the images.
5. Divide students into either a “Pop Art” or a “Graffiti Art” group. 
6. Tell students that the Pop artists will follow the style of Andy Warhol while the Graffiti artists will follow the style of Jean Michel Basquiat.
7. Let the Pop artist group go first.
8. Using overhead projectors, students should project their images onto the canvas, altering the size of the images by moving the projector closer to or further away from the canvas. Students should trace their images, and then turn off the projector and paint.
9. After the Pop Art group is done, the Graffiti group should repeat step 8.
10. After both groups have had one round of painting, gather the class to discuss the mural, keeping a list on the board of “Next Steps”:
    1. What is successful about the mural? Why?
    2. What is unsuccessful?  Why?
11. Have students carefully plan their next steps to improve the mural.  They should consider:
    • Content: images, words, symbols
    • Composition
    • Color choices
12. Once the list is made, each group should repeat steps 6-9 to finalize the mural.
13. Hold a class critique after the last group is done.

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Detail of Tile and Mural created by Schenley High School students.

Option 2: Clay Tile Mural

1. Present and discuss the Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild and Schenley High School tile mural image gallery.
2. Present and discuss Monoprinting and Silkscreening with artist Paul Wandless video clips.
3. Cut a large piece of paper the size of the planned mural, then draw a grid on the paper that corresponds to the size and number of tiles for the mural. (Mark a number on the back of the tile and write a corresponding number on the paper template.)
4. Arrange all collected images, texts, and visual elements for the mural.
5. Discuss composition and layout and make final decisions as a group.
6. Make photocopied acetates of the images.
7. Divide students into a “Pop Art” or a “Graffiti Art” group and remind them that the Pop artists will follow Warhol’s style, while the Graffiti artists will follow Basquiat’s style. 
8. Using overhead projectors, students should project their images onto the paper, altering the size of the images by moving the projector closer to or further from the paper. Using pencils, students should sketch their images.
9. After all of the images are sketched on the paper, cut the grid and give each student a tile. Use pencils and graphite paper to trace the sketched images and text directly onto the individual tiles.
10. Students should next use underglaze to paint in the color.
11. After both groups have had one round of painting, gather the class to discuss the mural, keeping a list on the board of “Next Steps”:
1. What is successful about the mural? Why?
2. What is unsuccessful?  Why?
12. Have students carefully plan their next steps to improve the mural. They should consider:
    • Content: images, words, symbols
    • Composition
    • Color choices
13. Once the list is made, each group should either work on the tile mural together or break into groups again.
14. After students are finished underpainting, the tiles should be sprayed with a (lowfire/cone 05) clear glaze. If spraying is not possible, dip the front of the tiles into a shallow dish of glaze. 
15. Group should decide if the mural is finished. If not, students can:
    • Use the underglazes again to add/paint over the tiles to improve the mural.
    • Use the toner transfer process or silkscreening on clay <<how-to handout>> to incorporate digital and photographic imagery. 
16. Fire the tiles one last time, then place the tiles together and critique them.
17. Mount the tiles and hang the mural.

Assessment

• Review learning objectives from the unit to evaluate student performance.
• Hold a class critique.