“Our Favorite Things”
A mural project by the Normandale Elementary Class of 2024
In the spring of 2024, the 5th-grade class of Normandale Elementary School in Edina, MN left a colorful legacy in one of the school’s flex learning spaces. Inspired by their “favorite things,” the students crafted papercut collages that were then translated into a large-scale mural in the space.
What began as a seed of an idea for creativity in the classroom, blossomed into a fruitful creative project that included more than 100 students, 12 gallons of paint, and more than 375 square feet of blank wall. The 5th-grade class of 2024 is truly leaving their (very colorful) mark at Normandale.
First, we brainstormed a theme for our mural!
What is the story we want to tell? What is important to us? What inspires us? What legacy do we want to leave?
Our Favorite Things
The Theme
We then created original artwork that would become the mural design.
Using papercut collage and mark-making to express a “favorite thing” each student contributed an art piece.
Scroll on to view all the original art that inspired the mural design, process photos, and finished mural pics!
Then, we designed the mural to fit on the unique walls and pillars in the flex learning space and the adjacent hallway.
How could we tell stories using vignettes that combine elements from the students’ artwork and ideas?
Artist and mom of one of the 5th graders, Kim Senn, digitally recreated each of the 100+ individual pieces of art, measured the available walls and pillars in the flex space, and designed the mural to suit the space. Using only the kids’ artwork, leftover scrap paper with unique cuts, and smaller elements of the designs, Kim created a collection of vignettes that surround the space.
There is a fun element of discovery as you view the murals throughout the room – each time you’ll notice something new or find a detail that delights.
After the design phase, we needed to transfer the digital mural design to the walls as outlines.
We projected the design onto the walls and traced each shape with a pencil, creating a “paint by number” style plan. There was a lot of “creative problem-solving” in this phase!
8th Grader Hugo Senn creating outlines from the projected design.
Now the fun begins!
Armed with paintbrushes, paint, and a plan, the students began adding color to the walls. We included reference printouts throughout the space to ensure the correct colors were used in the mural.
C’est Fini!!
Wowza! We finished! Every student contributed their time, talent, energy, and passion to making this inspiring project come to life.
Click on an image below to zoom in and get a closer look! Finished project photos by Chelsie Lopez. (Merci, Chelsie!)
Merci beaucoup!
A project like this is only successful with collaboration and trust. Thank you to everyone who believed in this project, embraced uncertainty, rolled with challenges, and stepped up to help make it come to life. The student artists showed creativity, focus, energy, and flexibility as we navigated the creative process together with the support of so many people in our community.
A huge thanks to Ashley Mary for providing the inspiration (and generous initial guidance!) for our project. Her talents and kindness are unmatched.
We are grateful for teachers like Sarah Kiel, who helped steward this project from idea through completion. This project would not have happened without her vision and leadership.
We hope creative projects like this become common in schools as arts programs are scaled back or eliminated. More than anything, this shows how capable our students are when engaged in a project requiring creativity, teamwork, trust, adaptability, and comfort with uncertainty. They not only embraced it but thrived throughout the entire process.
~ Kim Senn, Parent Volunteer/Artist/Project Leader
Normandale 5th Grade Teachers + Interns
Sarah Kiel, Katie Stengel, Molly Swiderski, and Josephine Tritsch
Maëllis Dubois and Camille Schmitt
Admin Staff + Custodians
Principal Chris Holden, Anne Anderson, Maria Sepulveda, and the entire building custodial staff during the week and on weekends!
Parent Volunteers
Parent volunteers run the world, and 17 of ours stepped up to help manage the energy of 25+ kids painting on walls at one time. They washed countless brushes, refilled water buckets, helped with spills and drips, and gave endless encouragement to the kids as they created!
Community Painting Helpers
Sarah Blackwood, Meghan Figueroa, Hugo Senn, and Marty Senn
Photographer (Finished Mural Photos)
Parent Volunteer, Artist, and Project Leader
For more information about this project, please contact Kim Senn at kimberly@sennandsons.com.