Collaborative Mural for Mental Health

On Tuesday, November 3rd, the West New York (NJ) Public School District Art Teachers gathered for a full-day Professional Development (PD) virtual workshop, entitled “The Collaborative Mural,” conducted by Arts Horizons Teaching Artist Michele Baldwin. Michele said it was “so much fun to engage the teachers,” who also enjoyed the experience. Throughout the day, the K-12 Art Teachers got the opportunity to actually DO art, something every artist enjoys. They identified and explored a similar theme – mental health, then worked as a whole, in pairs, and individually, to create the beautiful mural below.

The collaborative mural project allowed the group of educators to respond and reflect upon issues of mental health specific to this period of pandemic – for both educators and students alike. How may we utilize the arts to combat social isolation and support healthy social relationships? How may the arts support development of new coping mechanisms to manage emotional, family and school/work related challenges? How can educators most effectively guide opportunities for creative expressions and provide healthy forum to process these difficult times like we are experiencing now? The collaborative mural project allowed the group of educators to participate in this very process and develop methodology and curriculum for our youth.

About the artist: Michele Baldwin is an American, multi-talented creative artist: Actor, Writer, Award Winning Producer/Filmmaker and overall Inspirer with over 20 plus years experience in the Entertainment field that encompass all aspects of the business: Film, TV, Theater and the Internet. Believing strongly in doing whatever is necessary to get the project done, Michele has worked as an actor, producer, director, writer, editor, camera operator, stage manager and in varying crew roles on film and TV production sets, as well as serving as a teaching artist, motivational speaker to secondary grade school children, producing consultant, acting coach/teacher and contributing writer to several trade magazines and blogs.

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To learn more, please contact Stephanie E. Bostic, Manager of NJ Programs, stephanie@artshorizons.org, 201-567-1766 *114