A special thanks to our post author Alfredo Ratinoff for this wonderful mural project designed for grades K through 5. And to Laguna Distributor Tin Barn Pottery (email: tinbarnpottery@aol.com / (703) 330-1173) for working with Alfredo to provide the Versa 5 glazes to students for the project.
The Beginnings of the School-Wide Mural Project
Glebe Elementary (Arlington, VA) students have just completed a wonderful art journey. Under the guidance of artist Alfredo Ratinoff, what began as a first grade drawing game, became four, 8′ x 4′ tile murals permanently installed in the school’s courtyard. Glebe art teachers Stacey Lewis and Lynn Westergren were teaching an integrated unit on Force, Energy and Motion in the work of American painter Elizabeth Murray. As part of this unit, students made collaborative shape drawings. The results of this drawing game were surprisingly beautiful and Lewis and Westergren felt they were the perfect designs for a proposed mural project for the school courtyard.
Work Plan Created for a 400 Student Mural with Variation for Age Levels
Lewis and Westergren contacted Alfredo Ratinoff , whom they had worked with before when a 26ft x 28ft mural was created for the school lobby. Alfredo created a work plan that would allow all 400 Glebe students, K – 5, to have a part in the creation of these courtyard murals. Alfredo also crafted a design that recreated the 1st grade drawings in hand built clay slab relief and encased these pieces in dynamic glazed mosaic shapes. Kindergarten and 1st grade students glazed the quarry tile used for the mosaic with Versa 5 colors from Laguna Clay Company – Alfredo worked closely with Laguna Distributor Tin Barn Pottery (located in Manassas, Virginia) to obtain the Versa 5 glazes for this project.
The versatility of the Versa 5 Glazes allowed us to mix the glazes to obtain a beautiful subtle palette that set off the bright hues of the hand built slabs. Second and Third Grade students created the mosaic from broken glazed quarry tile. Using an enlarged map of the first grade drawings as their guide, fourth and fifth grade students sculpted the relief on shaped clay slabs and glazed these piece using the Versa 5 primary hues.
Mural Installation
Ratinoff and Westergren oversaw the installation of the four murals by Arlington County Public Schools tile installers. When Glebe students return this fall they will get daily enjoyment from the fruits of their year of work on this project. We want to express thanks to the Laguna Clay Company for creating such an outstanding line of glazes, that are simple enough for students to use, but consistently create marvelous professional grade results for outdoor projects.
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