GeJiu Service Trip-Part 4: Painting the Mural #1
The Kunming International Academy annual spring service trip, a
chance for our high school students to obtain service hours (a
requirement for graduation), took us to an orphanage outside the city of
GeJiu, about a five-hour bus ride south-southeast of Kunming. This is
the fourth installment in a series of picture about that trip. This
particular set of photos looks at how our KIA students served the members of orphanage by beautifying the entrance with one of three murals.
Sometimes, all a place really needs to make it feel new is a new coat of paint. In the case of the entrance to the orphanage, the students designed and created two murals. The first found its way onto a 100 meter wall that lines the south side of the orphanage properties entrance. This was probably the largest single project our students completed during the week, and it required the bulk of our student body to come to fruition.
Before the new mural could be started, the wall needed to be cleaned and whitewashed. This process took more than just one day; actually, these first two steps took the better part of the two days. However, when they had completed the whitewashing, the wall was prepared to accept its beautiful new design.
Once the walled had been washed and had received a thick coat of white paint, the real design began. The entire wall received a new color. As nice as white is, sky blue actually made the wall look new. Plus, it made it easier to see the mural from the opposite side of the orphanage property, approximately 200 meters away.
The day after the blue covered the wall, strange reindeer-like figures started appearing on the wall. These dark brown figures looked a bit like some kind of Martian life form, or maybe some type of extant alphabet. Although rather eerie looking, the project still looked better than when we arrived.
However, a blue wall with bizarre dark figures was not to be the final product of the week. To complete the last phase of the mural, many hands came to the wall to help give more shape to the dark figures. At first, many of the hands had no idea what they were doing, but when they started to come together, the overall design of the mural came to life.
On the final day, before we hopped back into our buses to return to Kunming, the entire student body took a picture with Mr. Wajda (in orange), the American volunteer at the orphanage and Mr. Duan (in the blue shirt), the government head of the orphanage. In this photo, one can see the final product on the wall in the background: the trees display the change of seasons, and all those hands are actually leaves on the trees.
After the original grey, the color of the mural really brightened the entrance to the orphanage. Someday it will need to be replaced, but hopefully we will be able to bring more students to create the new design in the future.
Sometimes, all a place really needs to make it feel new is a new coat of paint. In the case of the entrance to the orphanage, the students designed and created two murals. The first found its way onto a 100 meter wall that lines the south side of the orphanage properties entrance. This was probably the largest single project our students completed during the week, and it required the bulk of our student body to come to fruition.
Before the new mural could be started, the wall needed to be cleaned and whitewashed. This process took more than just one day; actually, these first two steps took the better part of the two days. However, when they had completed the whitewashing, the wall was prepared to accept its beautiful new design.
Once the walled had been washed and had received a thick coat of white paint, the real design began. The entire wall received a new color. As nice as white is, sky blue actually made the wall look new. Plus, it made it easier to see the mural from the opposite side of the orphanage property, approximately 200 meters away.
The day after the blue covered the wall, strange reindeer-like figures started appearing on the wall. These dark brown figures looked a bit like some kind of Martian life form, or maybe some type of extant alphabet. Although rather eerie looking, the project still looked better than when we arrived.
However, a blue wall with bizarre dark figures was not to be the final product of the week. To complete the last phase of the mural, many hands came to the wall to help give more shape to the dark figures. At first, many of the hands had no idea what they were doing, but when they started to come together, the overall design of the mural came to life.
On the final day, before we hopped back into our buses to return to Kunming, the entire student body took a picture with Mr. Wajda (in orange), the American volunteer at the orphanage and Mr. Duan (in the blue shirt), the government head of the orphanage. In this photo, one can see the final product on the wall in the background: the trees display the change of seasons, and all those hands are actually leaves on the trees.
After the original grey, the color of the mural really brightened the entrance to the orphanage. Someday it will need to be replaced, but hopefully we will be able to bring more students to create the new design in the future.
posted by Roland at 11:35 AM
1 Comments:
I love this <3
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