"Columbia Heights Is... / Columbia Heights Es... " Washington DC, 2008 Kenyon St between 11th and 13th St, NW.

In the summer of 2008, I taught a mural painting class with 14 high school students at the Latin American Youth Center Art + Media House. This mural was a collaborative process: it was primarily designed and painted by the students, neighborhood volunteers helped to paint, and my role was more of a facilitator. Sam Williams was the assistant teacher for the class. The mural is 117 feet long and about 5 feet tall, and is located on the exterior wall of Harriet Tubman Elementary.

The students took photos of Columbia Heights residents and asked them to describe their neighborhood. The photos were simplified and transfered on to the wall using a projection technique. We used stencils and spray paint to do the text of the mural. The students also made stencil self-portraits, next to which they put their hand prints and signatures.

Here's a slide show about the process of creating this mural:

LINKS:

www.layc-dc.org (Latin American Youth Center)

www.artmediahouse.org (LAYC art program)

www.immediatereaction.org (blog run by students of the Art + Media House)

Mural by Tim Gibbon: "Columbia Heights Is/Columbia Heights Es..." Painted in Washington DC, with students from Latin American Youth Center Art + Media House, summer 2008. Kenyon St NW, at Harriet Tubman Elementary School, near the Wonderland Bar. Community murals, silkscreen posters, silkscreen clothing, silkscreen t-shirts! Artist, activist, teacher, educator! Washington DC! Dynamite Printworks! Graphic design, fonts, painting, drawing, street art. Oberlin College. Tim Gibbon!