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‘It’s not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept and celebrate these differences’
Paige Anderson, Sports Editor
Originally published October 25, 2019
Skye McDonald
It’s hard to miss the vibrant, intricate mural that’s now displayed in the library’s foyer. The piece was a production of numerous students and staff members work throughout the summer
It’s hard to miss the vibrant, intricate mural that’s now displayed in the library’s foyer. The piece was a production of numerous students and staff members work throughout the summer and the beginning of this school year.
The Idea
The making of the mural started spring of last year when graduates Marlowe Barrington, co-president of Black Student Union (BSU), Diego Ortiz Villacorta San Juan, member of Latinx Student Union (LSU) and Ezra Bantum attended a Martin Luther King Jr. rally at Garfield High School.
“We were really struck by the murals at Garfield which told stories about different communities in the Seattle area,” Barrington said. “What stuck with us was that community and the celebration of black and brown people.”
The students then attended a Race and Equity Team meeting and presented the idea of a mural. This is where Botany teacher, India Carlson, first got involved.
Carlson always wants to ensure that students feel heard and supported. That’s why she believed so strongly in the mural.
“If it helps our students feel more connected to school, the more that they have a place at this school, then I’m all about that,” Carlson said. “I’m just here to facilitate what the people want, it’s not my vision, it’s the students.”
As BSU, LSU and Multicultural Club wanted to collaborate and create a mural, senior Grace Sanderson, founder and president of Art Club, wanted to fill the blank walls around the school with student art.
“In Art Club, we were trying to think about what we could do as a club and we thought a mural would be cool,” Sanderson said. “Little did we know other students were thinking the same thing.”
The students then all agreed to collaborate, and with the help of Carlson and art teacher Matthew Harkleroad, the mural would become a reality.
The Plan
After the idea was in place, the group started to plan how to physically execute the mural.
First, they wrote a grant to present to the PTSA to get financial support. Students presented the grant and explained why they wanted the mural and why it would be important to the school.
After they received their grant, Carlson connected the team with Urban ArtWorks, an organization based in Seattle that works with groups to create large scale artworks and murals.
At the end of August, Urban ArtWorks sent Mari Shaboya, who helped plan what the mural would actually look like and what the students wanted out of it. They spent three and a half days brainstorming ideas and creating sketches.
“She sat with a handful of students and facilitated a really deep process of figuring out what those students wanted in the mural, what they wanted to express, what they wanted it to look like, who they wanted to include, everything,” Harkleroad said.
“Instead of using difference as a point of division, there’s beauty in difference. There’s things we can learn and embrace in other people and it makes the world more beautiful and interesting as opposed to ugly and scary.”
-Art Teacher Matthew Harkleroad
The Creation
After it was designed, they started to sketch it out on three four-by-eight foot pieces of wood.
It was painted in four days with the help of numerous students, including some from Garfield. Eventually, on Sept. 18, 2019, Urban Artworks hung it up.
Barington explained that the mural highlights two things that really speak to an overarching goal of representation.
“In the foreground you see different people from different communities who we felt had made positive and profound impact on their communities,” Barrington said. “We tried to choose a diverse group so that hopefully any student could find commonality and feel some pride in their own identity, and maybe feel inspired to learn more about them.”
Even the background of the mural is significant, it represents various cultural patterns and traditional symbols.
“In the background we chose different artworks and styles of different cultures,” Barrington said. “I think we all had a wonderful opportunity to learn about the Scandinavian culture of Ballard, but we wanted to also celebrate other cultures who make up the fabric of our community.”
The students also wanted the mural to be inclusive and provide some context of the many cultures within the school.
“It’s important that everybody that walks through the doors of Ballard High School feel seen and feel that some part of them is appreciated and embraced by the whole school,” Harkleroad said. “Having a mural like that hanging up begins to do that.”
The Reaction
Many people may not realize that the mural was driven and created by students. Most of the art pieces already hung up in the school were created by alumni.
“A lot of people like that we finally have students artwork,” Sanderson said. “It makes the school more student-friendly and it’s going to be our mission to bring more student art to the walls.”
