After more than 3 months of work, the mural in front of our school was finally unveiled this week! CHAH students worked with Groundswell, a youth development organization devoted to working with professional artists and young people to create public artworks that foster a sense of community. Their mission with public art displays is to “link personal expression to community activism,” which is a major goal of our school.

Groundswell’s lead artists for the mural, Crystal Bruno and Leola Bermanzohn, started by researching images in our neighborhood and nearby murals to get a sense of the surrounding community.

Images were used from CLOTH and CHAH events to formulate the ways the student participants could identify and discuss what they thought the mural topic should be. Students drew these images by free-hand, learning about how symbols represent different aspects of their community.