By Page Leggett

Endhaven Elementary is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, and the school’s art teacher—who’s been there since the beginning—wanted to celebrate in a big way. Katherine Hutchens applied for a $2,000 ASC School Funding Opportunities grant for a school-wide project—the creation of a massive mural visible as soon as you enter the front door.

Just about all of the school’s 730 students have had a hand in creating the nearly completed artwork that celebrates the diversity of the student body. Endhaven students come from 24 different countries and speak 19 different languages. That’s part of what makes the school so special, Hutchens said.

“Endhaven is my family. Several of us have been here for all 20 years the school’s been open,” she said. “I wanted this mural to be a reflection of all our students and to relate back to our community.”

Mary Beth Ausman, who leads ASC’s School Funding Opportunities efforts, thinks the mural goes beyond connecting to community.

“The Endhaven Elementary mural is a testament to community, but it’s also a testament to legacy,” she said. “Feeling part of community is important in the present tense, but it becomes so much richer when it connects the present to the past and future. This mural is an indelible moment for the students celebrating Endhaven’s 20th birthday, and it will be a reminder of the school’s commitment to its unique and diverse community for years to come.”

Hutchens went to the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore with local teaching artist Amy St. Aubin and the two had wanted to collaborate here.

“This was sort of a pilot program for me,” St. Aubin said. “Katherine had a vision for this project; she wanted it to be a showstopper.”

At 9 feet by 20 feet – and being the first thing visible when you walk in the front door – it will be. 

St. Aubin and Hutchens created preliminary sketches. The two artists started planning almost a year in advance. St. Aubin joined the kids in their classrooms in January.

Nearly every grade – from kindergarten through fifth grade – participated. (Endhaven has pre-K classes, too, but the littlest “littles” weren’t involved.) St. Aubin, the guest artist, worked specifically with second, fourth and fifth graders. Hutchens worked with every grade during weekly art class.

Mural mania

Endhaven isn’t the only school that reached out to ASC for support to create a mural.

“We’re seeing a lot of schools want to book artists for murals,” Ausman said. “In 2022, we funded and helped facilitate murals at four schools. This year, we have six murals completed or in the works. It’s a tremendous undertaking for schools to take on, but the impact is indelible. The payoff is beneficial on many levels. It’s something students can link back to in perpetuity.”  

Ausman said many elementary schools have fifth graders plan and paint. It’s sort of a legacy gift they leave before moving on to middle school.

It takes a village

There’s a lot of cheerleading that has to happen before students put pen to paper. Or paint to wall.

“Katherine really pumped the kids up and talked a lot about believing in yourself and your abilities,” St. Aubin said. “I didn’t see any child who was reluctant to be involved. And I was so impressed with the quality of their work.”

The mural will be a permanent part of the front entry wall.

“Katherine wanted to work directly on the wall,” St. Aubin said. “I found it a bit daunting to do that with so many students, so I suggested having the kids make a print – something they could do in the classroom on an individual basis. And then they’d affix their print to the wall and have it become part of a larger collaboration.”

It is taking an entire village to bring this mural to life. Parent volunteers helped Hutchens sand and apply joint compound to the cinderblock wall to make it smooth. Next, Hutchens primed the wall and then sketched the design she’d done on her iPad. She hand-lettered the school motto around a central cougar paw: “We are the future. We are the possibilities. We are Endhaven.”

Even in the early stages, the mural created a buzz.

“When Katherine and I were working in the hallway, a parent came by and said her daughter couldn’t stop talking about this project,” St. Aubin said.

From skyscrapers to self-portraits

Hutchens assigned each grade level a different theme, which was based on the North Carolina standard course of study:

• Kindergarteners made fingerprint insects.
• The students in first grade created patterns and then cut them into flower shapes.
• Second graders made symmetrical insects.
• Third graders chose something within the Charlotte community to illustrate. Some drew uptown skyscrapers; others drew historic Fourth Ward homes. Some drew buildings in nearby Ballantyne or even their own home.
• Fourth graders drew North Carolina state symbols or landmarks such as lighthouses, the state bird (cardinal), the state mammal (grey squirrel), the state shape itself.
• Aided by mirrors, the fifth graders made self-portraits. “Self-portraits can be a tricky thing,” Hutchens said. “Amy really guided them through the process, without them feeling nervous because we broke it down into steps and supported them together.” The self-portraits were placed in the center of the mural because, as Hutchens explained, “The children are our main focus; they are truly the center of our Endhaven community.”

Once the individual drawings were complete, students cut them out and then put them into a Styrofoam “printing plate.” Their designs were then transferred to paper using paint and a traditional printmaking tool.

“We couldn’t use traditional inks, which are water-based,” Hutchens said. “We had to use interior latex paint, which doesn’t always go exactly as planned.”  

Hutchens put down drop cloths down, and the kids were asked to wear or bring old T-shirts that could get messy.

The students grew gradually more excited as the mural began taking shape.

“I talked this mural up a lot,” Hutchens said. “I saw the wall starting to change, and the kids noticed and commented. When we started putting up color, I started hearing the oohs and ahhs.”

Feeling like an artist

Everyone made a practice print before putting their design on the wall. That was the most exciting moment.

“They would tell me they were nervous and excited,” Hutchens said. “And then, when they saw their art on the wall, I saw their little faces light up, and that to me, is what it was all about.”

Each grade level would have a moment of reflection once all their prints were affixed to the wall. Then, St. Aubin and Hutchens would instruct the students to turn around, look at the wall and think about how it made them feel to have their art right there in front of them permanently.

“They said some of the best things,” Hutchens said. “They said it made them proud. It made them happy. It made them feel like they were artists – and that was the whole point of the mural – to celebrate them as artists and make them feel important and part of our community.”

Endhaven doesn’t just feel like a family to Hutchens. She literally has family there. Her daughter, now in middle school, went to Endhaven. And her son, Bennett, is an Endhaven second grader.

“Watching him put his little print on the wall was such a special moment for me,” she said.

The two former college classmates loved getting to co-create this mural with Endhaven students. Said St. Aubin, “Working with Katherine was phenomenal. It was seamless. She rocks.”

Hutchens was equally enthusiastic.

“I loved working with Amy,” she said. “Her expertise in working with children and large projects, as well as her artistic ideas, were critical. And this could not have happened without ASC! I am truly grateful for the grant [which allows] our students to connect with artists from North Carolina.” 

Ausman witnesses those connections first-hand.

“I spend a lot of time in schools observing programs offered by ASC, and what strikes me is how often I witness students making connections – either to the programs and their providers or to each other. And often, both,” she said.

“While we may not be able to see the [immediate] impact, I believe these connections are indelible moments that help kids feel a sense of belonging. This is more crucial than ever, given the mental health challenges that plague students and teachers after returning to school from almost a year of remote instruction. When a student feels part of the school community, they are more committed to show up and learn.”