Mesa Verde Middle School

This massive 1080 square foot mural was made possible by the incredible folks at ArtReach who provide visual arts and mural programming to San Diego County schools. Partnering with Mesa Verde Middle School, ArtReach invited me on board to work as the lead artist for this project.

As part of the school’s science curriculum, and nature immersion days, students were given the opportunity to explore the many native species that live in the canyon lands just behind their school. This mural is a visual culmination of their studies, and a celebration of the rich biodiversity of this habitat. Pulling from student ideas and sketches, I designed this mural to include (from left to right) an acorn woodpecker, coast live oak, California poppy, California lilac, bobcat, Cleveland sage, green sweat bee, lupines bicolor, California buckwheat, gnatcatcher, alligator lizard, tule reed, and cattail.

The mural kicked off with a community paint day, where over 100 students and their families showed up to add color to their campus and was later wrapped up by myself and the Art Reach team. Due to its large scale, this was the first mural that I blended gradients using a paint roller rather than a brush. It provided a challenge, but was an amazing opportunity to level up as a muralist and learn a new skill. Huge thanks to everyone that made this possible!