ML Students Enhance Campus with Large Format Paintings

By Head of Community Engagement Gordon Mathis

In tech theatre teacher Liz Whalen's Large Format Painting class, seventh and eithgh grade students learned technical theater skills such as creating backdrops, planning a set painting, and working with drop cloths. 

Students created 5’ by 5’ paintings to enhance the interiors of the learning cottages on The Blue. Working in groups of 2 or 3, the students chose their topics themselves. They researched their topics using the primary image resources at the Library of Congress. They drew small drawings, then scaled them to fit in the final 5” x 5” painting.

For a Spanish class, the image is a llama in the Andean mountains; for the theater class, the students created a Broadway-themed painting; and for the 8th grade American History class, the students painted images reflective of the history of Civil Rights. They chose to depict the Navajo Code Breakers from WWII, figures evocative of the Japanese internment during WWII, and iconic images from the Civil Rights era, paralleling the contemporary Black Lives Matter movement. 

These backdrops, which are bigger than many of the students, will be on display in the learning cottages to show off the students’ work for the remainder of the year.