This mural is in Ansonia and features Annie Oakley.  This image is from Ohio.org. https://ohio.org/travel-inspiration/articles/ohio-art-barns 

Art and storytelling are crucial elements to humans, starting with the earliest drawings in caves and historians also have noted works in a cave on Sulawesi Island in Indonesia that appears to be 45,000 years old (McDermott, 2021).  Archaeologists have found paintings in a cave in Chauvet, France, which is thought to be 30,000 years old.   

Throughout history, murals are often associated with religious art, including the work on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel by Michelangelo.  Murals have been discovered in Indian, Egyptian, and Mayan civilizations.  

As noted in the video, the late 1890s and the early 20th Century led to a growth of what are often referred to as modern murals, including the work of Diego Rivera. 

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) accelerated the mural movement when they commissioned murals for federal buildings including post offices and many other sites as part of putting individuals back to work during the Depression.  This led to murals becoming part of public buildings across the nation.  The guide studies two muralists from that era, Diego Rivera and Georgette Seabrooke Powell.   

In the 1960s and 1970s, murals also became part of community activism.  The Chicano Mural Movement depicted the Mexican American culture through paintings on buildings, churches, and housing projects.  Murals and street art became part of the messaging about protests related to the Vietnam War and Civil Rights. 

Murals have also become part of revitalization of cities and neighborhoods.  Communities have looked at murals as way of creating beauty in urban places.  Murals are present in rural areas as well.  Barns across Ohio have featured paintings of quilt blocks and other rural scenes or in the case of the barn in Ansonia, historical figures.  

Living muralists included in this guide include Victor Ving, Danielle Seewalker, Stephard Fairey, and others.  These are artists with different cultures and views that influence their work.  This guide will also look at some of the wonderful murals in Dayton.  

McDermott, A. (2021). What was the first “art”? how would we know? Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118(44). https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2117561118

This is a mural from the North wall at the Detroit Art Institute.   This mural and the image at the beginning of the webpage is taken from Diegorivera.org.  https://www.diegorivera.org/diego-rivera-murals.jsp#prettyPhoto[paintings]/18/ 

Discussion: 

What do you like or dislike about the DAI murals by Diego Rivera? 

Diego Rivera embraced a world view that said that laborers and poor people were being exploited.  During the depression that was a controversial viewpoint.  Would this view be controversial today and why?  

Activity: 

Use paint, color pencils or markers or a collage of pictures or your choice of individual or mixed media to create an additional panel for the Detroit murals. 

Diego Rivera was born in 1886 in Guanajuata Mexico. He studied art throughout his youth and traveled to Europe where he was involved in the cubist art movement. 

While in Europe, Diego also examined the religious art of Italy.  Diego Rivera returned to Mexico and began to combine his interest in the Italian Renaissance murals and his passion for depicting the life of workers.   He depicted scenes from Mexican culture and the Mexican Revolution.  

As his influence and reputation grew, the Detroit Industry Murals were completed as frescos from 1932-1933.  Frescos are made by painting with dry powder pigment and water on fresh, wet lime plaster.  As the paint dries, the pigment becomes part of the wall.  

Commissioned by the Detroit Art Institute, the murals depicted Ford Motor Company workers and other scenes, including vaccination of a child and soldiers in gas masks, a memory from WWI where mustard gas was used as a weapon in fighting. 

The panels are considered a masterpiece now and the Ford family, workers, and Detroit Institute of Art were pleased with the exhibit then. However, clergy  objected to what they saw as irreligious content and suggested that the panels be whitewashed. 

Diego Rivera had a work commissioned by the Rockefeller family.  However, the family objected to the political content in the mural and the work was eventually destroyed.  This event created controversy for both the Rockefeller family and Diego Rivera. 

Diego Rivera is also known for his marriage to another famous artist Frida Kahlo.  

Read more about Diego Rivera's life and art here at PBS.   https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/diego-rivera-about-the-artist/64/ 

This video by Daytona Beach News Journal is a retrospective on Georgette Seabrooke Powell and her works. 

Discussion: 

What challenges do you imagine Georgette Seabrooke Powell faced as the youngest, female and Black artist, working on the Harlem Hospital mural. 

Activity: 

Create a mural celebrating the everyday lives of people you know.  Use any media or mixed media. 

Georgette Seabrooke Powell was a Black artist, art therapist and a nonprofit chief executive.  Born in 1916 in South Carolina, Georgette Seabrooke Powell moved to New York City and studied art and eventually attended Cooper Union Art School.  She later obtained a BFA from Howard University.  

She painted a mural for the Harlem Hospital that was part of the WPA program as the youngest female artist.  Despite the beauty of the work, which depicted  Black Americans in ever day life, reading, singing in a choir, dancing, and having a picnic, the Harlem Hospital was displeased.  A court battle vindicated her right to create the mural, which exists today, although it has been damaged. 

Married to a doctor, Georgette Seabrooke Powell has received many awards and accolades for her work, including a lifetime achievement award from Cooper Union Art School and awards from the Library of Congress and the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts.  

Read more about Georgette Seabrooke Powell here at the Cooper Union site. https://cooper.edu/about/news/pioneer-profile-georgette-seabrook-powell-a37 

Watch video about the Four Seasons Mural  

Discussion: 

What do you think about mosaic murals made out of stained glass compared to painted murals?  Do you have a preference? 

Activity: 

Make a mural out of stained glass, tile, or even  different colors of paper.  You might even use a paint sample chips on paper to create a mural with a range of colors.   

Marc Chagall was born in Russia in 1887 and studied art in St. Petersburg at the Imperial Society for the Protection of Art from 1907 to 1910.  He later traveled to Paris, and his is first solo show was in 1914 in Belin.  Chagall later returned to Russia and then later moved to Paris where he was active in modernist, expressionism and surreal art movements.  As a Jew, Chagall feared for his life in France and eventually fled to the Nazi's and came to the United States in 1941. 

Chagall's art hangs in the famous art galleries throughout the world, and in addition to painting, he also designed set scenes and developed large public murals.  He returned to live in France.  

Read more about Marc Chagall's Four Season Mural here. 

https://chicago.suntimes.com/murals-mosaics/2019/11/8/20952413/chagall-mosaic-four-seasons-downtown-chicago-murals-quatre-saisons-loop-chase-tower 

Discussion: 

Do you think that Wiley will be successful in painting 50,000 bees across the globe in murals, and if so, why? 

Activity: 

Create artwork using any type of  media that depicts your favorite pollinator.

Create a mural that depicts an event of historical or cultural importance about your heritage or the Appalachian heritage. 

Pictured above is one of the murals on the Appalachian Trail that depict historical or cultural sites of interest. 

This video by Denver Public Schools includes an interview and explores her art. 

Discussion: 

Why do you think SeeWalker might have covered the young woman's face in the above painting? Would you make the same choice as an artist or do you have another idea for how to communicate the same idea. 

Activity: 

Create artwork that depicts your thoughts about your culture or a culture in your community. 

Danielle Seewalker mural.  https://www.seewalker.com/murals 

Explore the AAWAA mural here.   https://www.aawaa.net/generations-of-hope 

Discussion:

How have artists used the elements of graffiti, e.g., stylized lettering to make art?  What are your thoughts about the work of the AAWAA and Victor Ving Fung? 

Activity:

Work on art that combines letters or images or a combination.