Botanical Murals
Community Art
John Muir School Elementary School is a title 1 public school in Berkeley, CA. for students age 4.5 to 11.
Ongoing projects were developed in conjunction with the school’s cooking and gardening program,
After studying squash plants, parents and students created wooden fence cutouts illustrating the life cycle of a squash plant for the front of the school.
The Edible plant mural is a 200 foot long mural depicting botanical illustrations arranged in a landscape to serve the students as a seasonal foraging guide. The mural was based on the notebooks kept by the students age 4.5 and featured their written and drawn observations. Botanical illustrations indicated which plants were native, cultivated, and wild.
Students from Berkeley City College’s community arts “Artist as Citizen” class joined the project in spring of
2014. The project also included teens, older alum, teachers, parents, and staff.
