Jen Stark Inspired Collaborative Murals
“Chromatic Cascade” by Jen Stark, Los Angeles
Parking Garage Mural by Jen Stark, Los Angeles
Jen Stark is a Los Angeles based artist known for her psychedelic, brightly colored public murals, many of which feature layers of drip-like forms. I found a middle school lesson online in which individual students created single drip paintings, which were then collaged into a bigger collaborative mural. Here’s my version of the lesson!
We began by looking at a lot of Stark’s work. Check out her website: jenstark.com
Also, take a look at this cool video!
I showed them that the neatest way to paint each section was to pull the brush along the edges of each section, outlining a small portion, and then fill in the middle. Always try to keep the wet edge of the paint moving!
Cutting out our completed and dried drips.
Cutting out our completed and dried drips.
Another hallway in our school, awash with color!
A drab hallway bursting with vibrancy! (Early finishers made the “splat” shapes for extra credit!)
A completed class mural. We kept these hanging over the summer and into the beginning of the following school year— No empty bulletin boards to start September, hooray!
NOTE: Tempera paint would be a great medium for this lesson too, and would yield smoother, more consistent results. I chose watercolors because I wanted my students to improve their color mixing and controlled painting skills.