Caring, Rising, Soaring: Girard School Murals
The goal of the mural designs is to carry this theme throughout all the sections of the murals around the playground and building. The murals feature many of the Girard student drawings that were created when every student in the school got a chance to explore the theme through various drawing prompts. The students’ drawings featured themselves playing in a new magical playground and imagining their futures and flying towards their dreams. The students also made lots of drawings of giraffes and animals that leap or rise and garden imagery. These drawings provided a host of good ideas that were poured into the mural designs, as well as some great individual drawings that are featured as images in the murals.
Descriptions of the murals follow:
Because the architecture of the building contains all straight lines and right angles, the mural designs aim to soften the exterior boxiness with an overall motif of circles throughout the designs. Rounded arcs break out of the rectangular shapes of the bands of murals that wrap around the building, circles and arcs in the backgrounds highlight key elements or movement within the design imagery, and in some sections the circles act as bubbles gently floating (to emphasize the “rising” part of the theme). The softening of the architecture is meant to make the young students feel welcomed and embraced as they play in the playground or enter the building.
18th Street Wall
There is a sizeable and highly visible wall on 18th street near the corner of Passyunk Ave. The mural design for this wall will feature the three-part theme of the mural. In the center of the design is a crest with a rooster crowing. There is a scroll rolling out across the bottom of the crest with the words CARING, RISING, and SOARING emblazoned across it.
Above the word “caring” is a blossoming tree branch (symbolizing the young students who blossom as they learn and grow) with a nest in it. A mama bird is feeding her young chicks – representing the nurturing of young minds that is at the core of what happens at the Girard school on a daily basis. Behind the tree branch is a sun (symbolizing the light of learning) and just below is a row of houses representing the neighborhood – symbolizing how the children are nourished by a partnership between their school, family, and community. Winding its way up through the “caring” scroll is a flower in full bloom, and springing up from it is a wonderful set of drawings that students made that feature a girl flying with wings holding hands with a smaller girl – as if an older student is teaching a fledgling kindergartener how to fly.
In the center of the wall, above the word “rising,” the crowing rooster symbolizes the awakening of young minds rising to start a new day of unlimited possibilities. A student’s drawing of a baby bird taking its first flight highlights this. Above the crest is a radiant sunrise with rays emanating from it (symbolizing the optimism and immense potential that is ever-present in youth). Three student drawings of themselves flying toward their dreams rise above the crest.
On the right side of the design, another flower in full bloom winds its way upward through the part of the scroll that says “soaring.” A student’s drawing of a girl riding on the back of an eagle rises from the flower, and to the right is a larger soaring eagle above a majestic mountain landscape with a rising moon and star filled sky – representing the third key part of the theme – that in a caring and nurturing environment, students rise through learning and obtain the tools that will allow them to soar into their limitless futures. Among the stars in the sky is the Giraffe constellation (to include the school mascot in this mural in a subtle way). Below is a field of flowers and student drawing of a girl flying with wings – representing a pollinator – that can take all that is learned and spread it to others – taking us back full circle to the caring and nurturing of others as we soar, so that others can rise and soar as well.
Playground Walls
As one enters the schoolyard from 18th Street, the mural designs will feature children at play in an environment of learning, quite literally. The designs feature a mixture of students at play interacting with various numbers and letters – which are the basic building blocks for young learners – and also with various symbols of the arts and sciences and more advanced fields of learning.
In the center of the walls that face the playground and Snyder Avenue, there is a door that architecturally stands out because of the vertical stretch of concrete above it that separates it from the rest of the brick façade. The design on either side of this door will feature a glowing aura – as if to suggest the door is an entrance to enlightenment. To the left and right of the aura is an eagle and a heron flying towards the door – representing the young minds of students being drawn to the light of learning.
On the exterior of the gym wall, which is to the left of the central aura area, there are images of kids at play running, climbing, swinging, jumping rope, and cartwheeling, accented by student drawings of themselves at play. There is a dynamic arrangement of numbers and letters that the playing figures are interacting with, and there are some stripes to contrast all the round shapes of the background and to help accentuate the motion of the physical activity. A large arc pushes upward in the center of the gym wall, featuring a sequence of drawings that illustrate the power of dreaming big. There is a student’s drawing of himself as a football player, behind which is a larger image of a girl playing football (potentially on the new turf that will be part of the playground transformation), and behind her is an image of a Philadelphia Eagles football player. All three figures are running toward the aura – toward the goal line of learning and all the possibilities it brings with it. The trio of drawings shows how the dream of taking on a challenge (the student drawing) can become a present day reality by trying and stretching to achieve (the girl image) which can then become the future success attained by applying the knowledge and experience of the ongoing process of learning and reaching goals (the NFL player). To the far left of the gym wall, welcoming folks into the playground is a nice set of student drawings of a friendly giraffe with a boy riding high on it’s neck, showing how this is a safe and supportive place to play and try new things. There is the letter g next to the giraffe – as a way of helping young readers associate letters and words, so in this case “g” for “giraffe.” Similarly, there is a “j” next to a jump roper, a “c” near the cartwheeler, an “r” behind the kid running, and an “e” behind the Eagles player.
To the right of the aura door, the same type of interplay between kids playing and letters and numbers continues. To the right of the soaring heron is a girl sliding down a helical slide with a large “s” that stands for “slide” and also in this case mimics its curving shape. There is also a mixture of students’ drawings of themselves playing mixed with the other illustrations of kids sliding and kicking and having a catch. At the far right of the mural, a boy in a wheelchair is catching a ball, representing the school’s diverse population and how the space is safe for all, no matter what their level of physical or cognitive ability may be.
The large stretch of wall that faces the playground and 18th Street features illustrations and student drawings of children at play intermixed with symbols of more advanced areas of learning. In the center is a light bulb with a glow radiating from it. This represents the “aha” moment of ideas and true understanding coming to light in the learning process. To the left of the light bulb are symbols of science and technology. Kids playing with a basketball or with hula hoops are mixed with an atom and molecule (the basic building blocks of life sciences) and gears and robots and a circuit board (symbols of evolving technological advances). To the right of the light bulb amid kids playing volleyball and football is a drum (symbolizing how the arts and math come together in learning the basics of beats in music), a globe (representing how our world widens as we learn), a clock with roman numerals and a dinosaur fossil (representing history and how we measure time), a sankofa (representing both the importance of learning from other cultures and also the importance of learning from the past), and a chess piece (showing the importance of strategy in moving toward one’s goals). At the far right of this wall’s design is a large giraffe with it’s tongue outstretched grabbing a stalk as is nourishes its body (and mind) with its leafy nourishment. The giraffe is accompanied by student drawings of a giraffe and kids climbing on its neck – reinforcing the idea that the playground is fun as well as safe and supportive to all.
Huge Wall
The largest mural wall of the building is the playground wall that is closest to Dorrance Street that faces Snyder Avenue. The designs for the mural on this wall feature a quote from Maya Angelou: “I rise. I rise. I rise. And still I rise.” It speaks to both the optimism and hope of young students, and to the challenges that they will inevitably face and overcome. Above the quote, on either side of the entrance door are illustrations of a young boy and girl leaping into the air. These rising figures emerge from a background sky-pattern of bubbling effervescence, and a cloudlike wave of birds flies circuitously around these upward moving students, with a leafy organic wind swirling behind them. In the inset panel in the concrete band above the door are drawings that students made of themselves flying and of birds in flight. These student drawings inspired the composition and subject matter for this section of the mural. All the various species of birds represents the diversity of the school and the community, bringing a sense of welcome and belonging. The inset panel at the top center of the mural features a sunburst pattern representing dreams and inspiration, and there are sharp highlights dappling the leaping students and all the birds that are rising and soaring toward their dreams.
Dorrance Street Wall
There is constant neighborhood parking on the sidewalk right up close to the walls of the building along the entire stretch of Dorrance Street. There are also a lot of windows that make the most paintable areas of this wall fairly low behind where the cars park. As such, it doesn’t make sense to spend the resource to make murals along these walls with the exception of the area around the main entrance to the school – which would greatly benefit from a colorful mural to warmly welcome all visitors into the space. So the central part of the Dorrance Street murals are around the main entrance door – with an image of blazing sunshine emanating all around the door. To the left of the doorway is a large giraffe, with a bird perched on the top of his head. The bird is chirping out the words “We rise by lifting others” across a scroll that spans above the door and sunshine. This establishes both a theme for the mural and the function of the school itself – educating the youngest members of the community makes the community better and stronger in the future. It also encourages students to help each other on their journey through the learning process. In lieu of spots, the giraffe has a pattern of birds flying upwards – so the giraffe represents the school itself – a supportive, nurturing, peaceful entity that encourages others to rise and achieve. To help echo this, there are students’ drawing of a giraffe with a bird on its head on the right side of the door – and of a kid soaring on the back of an eagle above it. At the center of the sunburst, in a panel inset just above the entrance doors, the name of the school will be featured – with student drawings of a sun and butterfly to help decorate it.
Extending on either side of the door, under the windows that stretch down the length of the building on this façade, will be a series of bubbles floating on top of a leaf-like breeze. Inside these bubbles are student drawings of what they want to be when they grow up (featuring everything from a construction worker to a nuclear physicist, including a chef, a football player, a basketball player, a singer, an astronomer, a scientist, a robotics engineer, a computer technician, an astronaut, a doctor, and a helicopter pilot). These glimpses of the future are meant to inspire both teachers and students that as they enter the space, that any dream accompanied with learning and hard work can become a reality – and that we are all rising and floating upward in our pursuit of our dreams. On the far left of this mural section is a caterpillar, and to the far right is a butterfly, which underscores how transformational the Girard School is to young learners.
Passyunk Avenue Walls
At the corner of Passyunk and Dorrance, around the entrance to the school auditorium, there is an existing mural representing the neighborhood houses. That section will remain as is, with the addition of some blue color in the sky above. The short blank walls immediately to the left and right of the wide doorway entrance will feature two additional buildings. To the left of the entrance doors will be a house, representing the students’ home lives in the community. Emerging from the house’s open door is a student’s drawing of a girl with wings flying upward. Behind her is a large sunflower – representing how the children are like blossoming radiant flowers. On the right side of the door is a school building with a student’s drawing of a child flying out of the open doors with a large compass behind them. The compass represents how education can help young students find a sense of direction on the path towards achieving their dreams.
Just to the right of the entrance, the wall turns and faces 18th Street and an expanse of grass that serves as an outdoor classroom. The mural on this façade of the building will feature a mosaic Giraffe head in a crest that will be made by mosaic tile artist David Woods. It will use mostly repurposed tile that will emphasize the importance to taking action to preserve the environment. Around the mosaic giraffe crest will be a painted mural. Above the giraffe, on its head, will be a chirping bird, with a scroll wrapping above and around the crest saying: “Rise above it all – it’s time to soar.” To emphasize this, large wings sprout out from either side of the crest and blooming flowers push up from below. Student drawings of themselves soaring – on rockets or planes or with wings or in a balloon or on a dragon – drift with bubbles toward a bright sun.
The wall turns again and faces Passyunk again and serves as the backdrop for the outdoor learning garden. This area will feature mural designs that explore the CARE acronym. The far left of the design features a student’s drawing of a giraffe draped with a scroll that says “At Girard, We Care.” A student’s drawing of a bird is lifting the scroll into the air and the bird is flying toward a large letter C and the word “compassionate.” Inside the C is a deer with a patch of fur on its chest in the shape of a heart. In its antlers is a bird’s nest with a mama bird sitting on some eggs. The deer providing a safe, protected space for the bird to raise its young is both a symbol of compassion and metaphor for what the school does for the community. To the right of the deer is a large letter A with the word “accountable.” An elephant using its trunk to wash some mud off its back (cleaning up its own messes) symbolizes this. A large R with the word
“respectful” is next, with three different kinds of birds sharing berries from the same bush (symbolizing how diverse members of a community space can share and cooperate and help each other grow and thrive). Next there is a large letter E with the word “engaged.” A student drawing of a squirrel collecting a nut illustrates the importance of staying engaged and on task to build for ones current and future needs. Also, just to the right, to further illustrate this, there is a flower with a caterpillar engaged in munching on the leaves in order to stay nourished for the transformational journey ahead, and this is indicated by the leaf-like breeze that floats toward a larger butterfly, which in turn is flying towards a flower garden further to the right (that features some lovely student drawings of flowers). Next to the caterpillar there are also students’ drawings of a gardener watering some flowers – encapsulating the idea of CARE because like flowers, blossoming young minds need to be and nurtured and well tended.
The last section of mural in the Passyunk Avenue grassy outdoor classroom area will be on the section of wall to the far right closest to 18th Street. The wall currently features a mural painted quite a few years ago that features a garden scene (in front of some actual raised bed gardens). This old mural will be replaced with a new mural that represents a cultural garden – that features large flowers that represent major areas of the world with various cultures thriving together. The plethora of cultures from Central and South America are depicted by a hibiscus flower, which is a prominent colorful bloom native to Central America and the Caribbean. African cultures are represented by a cluster of African violets. Asian cultures are represented by a lotus flower – a prominent symbol in many Asian traditions, and European cultures are represented by a large rose in bloom – with many countries traditionally cultivating roses and adopting them as significant symbols of their heritage. Mixed into the culture garden are student drawings of a diverse group of flowers of various colors and shapes and sizes. There is also a variety of pollinators – some of which are student drawings – including a grasshopper, a bee, a dragonfly, a beetle and a butterfly. Pollinators symbolize how students pick up knowledge and cultural information from their homes and spread it by sharing with others in their school or community.
The project is sponsored by The Philadelphia Eagles.
Since 1999, the Philadelphia Eagles (as the Philadelphia Eagles Youth Partnership from 1999-2015) has funded an annual Playground Build that includes the entire Philadelphia Eagles organization, including players, coaches, and staff members, with a Philadelphia school community to transform asphalt school yards into beautiful, imaginative and safe spaces for play and recreation. Mural Arts Philadelphia joined this partnership between the Eagles and the School District of Philadelphia in 2002. Mural Arts leads the development and production of the murals and mosaic tables that are part of these projects. Once a school is selected, Mural Arts leads an introductory pep rally at the school, as well as drawing workshops and after-school art programs with students to involve the school community in developing a theme for the project. Murals are then designed around the theme, often incorporating student drawings and artwork. The projects also include installations of play structures and a mini Eagles turf field in addition to the colorful murals and mosaic tables.