The Nathan Hale School Mural ; ©2011 James Hobin

The Nathan Hale Elementary School is on Fort Hill in Roxbury, Massachusetts. The Nathan Hale School Mural is located on an exterior wall in the playground at the front of the school property. The mural is one hundred feet long and seven feet tall. The mural was reproduced on separate panels that were assembled on site to complete the overall mural dimensions.

The design process began in the classroom, where the artist conducted a series of drawing exercises and worked with students to generate original artwork. This material was collected after each class and stored in an archive of student drawings. The student archive was the source of all the graphic designs that were integrated into the final mural composition.

This mural is about unity and participation. The objective was to include everyone, so that all 186 students in the school could point to a spot on the mural and claim it as their own. The methods used to create the student drawings were traditional, but up-to-date technology was needed to bring it all together.

The process of transforming the classroom sketches into a unified work of art was done with the aid of the computer. It took months of production to achieve a design of this scale and complexity. The digital files representing the mural comprised approximately six gigabytes of information. After proofing, the mural was printed full-scale and then laminated on twenty-six high pressure laminate panels. A specialty digital service bureau fabricated the mural as per specifications.

	The Nathan Hale School Mural; © 2011 by James Hobin



	THE NATHAN HALE SCHOOL MURAL PROJECT OVERVIEW OF MURAL DESIGN AND PROCESS The Nathan Hale Elementary School is on Fort Hill in Roxbury, Massachusetts. The Nathan Hale School Mural is located on an exterior wall in the playground at the front of the school property. The mural is one hundred feet long and seven feet tall. The mural was reproduced on separate panels that were assembled on site to complete the overall mural dimensions. The design process began in the classroom, where the artist conducted a series of drawing exercises and worked with students to generate original artwork. This material was collected after each class and stored in an archive of student drawings. The student archive was the source of all the graphic designs that were integrated into the final mural composition. This mural is about unity and participation. The objective was to include everyone, so that all 186 students in the school could point to a spot on the mural and claim it as their own. The methods used to create the student drawings were traditional, but up-to-date technology was needed to bring it all together. The process of transforming the classroom sketches into a unified work of art was done with the aid of the computer. It took months of production to achieve a design of this scale and complexity. The digital files representing the mural comprised approximately six gigabytes of information. After proofing, the mural was printed full-scale and then laminated on twenty-six high pressure laminate panels. A specialty digital service bureau fabricated the mural as per specifications.
	Mural Design…………………………………… James Hobin Design Tech……………………..……………..Mark Millstein in collaboration with students of the Nathan Hale School KI, KII, PTC, & Grades One through Five School Year 2010 - 2011 Nathan Hale School 51 Cedar Street Roxbury MA 02119 This project was made possible by a grant from the Edward Ingersoll Browne Fund, a public charitable trust administered by theTrust Office of the City of Boston. Thanks to Roche-Christopher Architecture Mystic Scenery Quinn Graphics