Mural Painting Workshop

Background
Since 2011, Groundwork Somerville’s staff, Green Team members, and community volunteers have worked together to transform a parking lot on South Street into an abundant community farm. For two years they have enlisted the help of community artists to enliven the space with murals along some of the walls. This year, another wall of plain siding will be transformed into a colorful garden space.

Process
Murals are a way communities add color, vibrancy, and life to city spaces. The process for creating a mural follows a number of steps:

Sketching and Ideas
The artist creates a number of sketches based on ideas and concepts for the mural. For this mural, we focused on a number of design ideas: diversity, community connectedness, youth, and the vibrancy of the farm. Many of the colors were pulled from photographs from the farm produce.

Community Input
The artist chose two final sketches to present to community members at GWS’ Earth Day Celebration. 106 votes were taken by community members to determine the winning design.

Cleaning and Priming
Part of what makes a mural unique is that it is outside and open to the elements. It is very important to prep murals so that they last and remain vibrant over time. The priming and prep of the wall – cleaning of dirt and debris – is important so that the mural lasts.

Painting
The next steps are the painting of the design. The design is blocked off on a grid and then filled in with color.

Sealing
The final step is sealing the whole piece with a waterproof layer to protect from the elements. Normally this is done with spray paint. This will ensure that the mural remains water-proof, doesn’t peel or fade.

The Activity
Volunteers will help preserve the mural by prepping the wall and priming.
Volunteers will begin by wiping down the surface of the wall with damp cloths so that the surface of the wall is clean and dry.
Next, volunteers will prime the surface with a layer of white paint. Emelia can show an example of how to evenly apply brushstrokes, but it’s not necessary to be perfect. The paint will dry and the surface will be ready!

About the Artist:

Emelia Misail is an artist living in Allston and working in Cambridge at Just A Start, a community development organization around the corner from the South Street Farm. Originally from Pepperell, MA, Emelia has been a local artist for several years and completed community projects for the Pepperell Lawrence Library, Prescott Grange and three local schools. Since moving to Allston, she has been a part of the City of Boston PaintBox program and has completed large-scale commissions for acrylic and watercolor portraits and landscapes. Her work is inspired by the natural world and rural Massachusetts.

Her website can be found here:
https://emeliamisail.wixsite.com/emelia-misail