While many Blake students were packing up and heading out for vacation this summer, a group of students encompassing all three divisions of our school, alongside Middle School art teacher Seexeng Lee, returned to school to work on an art mural in the Middle School tunnel. During the rigorous five day process of working on the mural, students collaborated their individual ideas to design, plan, and paint what is now a focal piece at the Blake Hopkins campus. The mural was Lee’s effort to join all three campuses with a unique art piece that will be relevant to any student at the Blake school. When discussing the art mural, Lee stated, “For me my background is always about authentically capturing the individual, but then yet when pieced together you can see the large whole. But then you don’t lose the sense of one, and the work is a living piece, not just a dead mural.”
Even though it was hard work, all of the students enjoyed their experience while making art and connecting with students from other grades. When discussing her favorite part of the process, Linnea Krig ‘21 said, “I liked getting the chance to meet new lower school kids, and also middle school and upper school students and working together instead of being separated into groups”. As Krig explains, the process was completely student-driven, allowing for each individual to contribute their own artistic talents. Moreover, both the younger and older students gained knowledge as they helped each other complete the piece. The experience was an opportunity for high schoolers to lead and teach younger students about art. As Ashley Allen ‘17 stated, “I really liked incorporating the kids’ ideas and managing the whole thing.”
The mural at the Middle School incorporates all three campuses in its design
With this mural, Lee intends to create a “living art piece” that all members of the Blake community can contribute to in the coming years. Lee said that, “My hope for this is so that kids can walk by, and when we do the event [Legacy Day] it’s living, every year there’s a new component added on. And every year kids can walk by and say ‘I did this, I’m a part of it.’”In fact, the mural inspired this year’s Legacy Day theme of “branching out and embracing all”. All students will have the opportunity to add to this piece during Legacy Day this fall. Next time you’re at the Hopkins campus, be sure to check the mural out!
