This fall, students in Professor Kim Martinez’s Urban Artworks class (ART 4185) have teamed up with the Beverley Taylor Sorenson Arts Learning Program (BTSALP), Murray City, and Murray School District to create nine portable murals for the students and community of Murray.

To start, students from the Murray elementary schools were asked to draw what they felt being a part of their school represented. After this exercise, university art students and art specialists from BTSALP met with students to talk about their drawings, and came up with ideas for designs for murals unique to each school. Junior and high school students made additional design suggestions and composed the color palettes for the murals.

Then the painting began, with help from Murray School District students and the community. The portable murals were set up for painting in Murray Mansion over the second half of fall semester.

All nine murals will be set up and open to the public during Murray High’s Martin Luther King Jr. Concert, January 21, 2019, 6:15pm to 8:30pm. All are invited to come and check out the murals that were created and painted with the help of over 2,800 elementary and secondary students in Murray City. After the concert, each Elementary School will be given their mural. The murals will all be back together again during Murray Fun Days, 2019, and will be set up in Murray Park throughout the days festivities for public viewing. At the end of Murray Fun Days, the murals will once again be returned to the Elementary Schools for permanent care.

To read more about the “We Are Murray” murals, visit the BTSALP blog and Murray City website. To read more about the murals class, visit the Urban Artworks page on our website.