LYNN — Local nonprofit Raw Art Works unveiled its recently completed mural project at Brickett Elementary School Thursday. The project consists of interactive murals on the pavement surrounding the school for students to use.
The project was a collaboration between RAW’s WAM X and Artists in Action programs. Artists from high schools in the city and the surrounding area worked with apprentices from the two programs to paint the murals during the last two weeks.
According to RAW Senior Expressive Arts Therapist Alison Miller, Brickett reached out to RAW for the project to address inequities in playgrounds and education.
“We tried to make games that were both fun to get them moving, but also educational,” Miller said.
Some of the murals include a hopscotch solar system, an alphabet snail, a four-square court in the shape of a house, and an obstacle course.
“We’re on a postage stamp of concrete so there’s not a whole lot of play spaces for the students, there was really nothing on there,” Brickett Principal Shirley Albert-Benedict said.
The idea for the project originally came from Amy Butterworth of the school’s parent-teacher organization, she said. Butterworth applied for a grant from the Lynn Cultural Council for the project. It took around a year for the entire initiative to be completed, Albert-Benedict said.
“These artists were so incredibly hard-working these last two weeks that it was blazing hot, super humid, and they were out here on the pavement painting, so I just want to give them kudos and congrats,” she said.
One of the artists, Mercedes Minaya-Ubiera, worked on the obstacle-course mural. She said she wanted to participate in the project to create something for the kids, who don’t have a playground.
Artists in Action Apprentice Abigail Spillane said they created the murals to have multiple uses. For example, the four-square mural is in the shape of a house so students can play games of house as well.
“This is such an amazing way to inspire creativity,” Spillane said.
