We are so excited to announce a new mural here at in collaboration with the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA)!
The mural, entitled “Grow As We Go,” is inspired by the growth and evolution of West End House over the past year, and especially by the addition of the Teen Tech Center and the Freight Farm to our facility. In creating this piece, we wanted to incorporate the use of modern creative tools such as Virtual Reality during the process.
The design of the mural began in late spring, where teens from our Pathway Artist Program drew up potential themes with our Visual Arts Coordinator and our Community Muralist partner, Phoebe Warner. Once the final sketch was selected, members used Virtual Reality headsets from the Teen Tech Center to enlarge the paper-sized sketch and virtually project it onto the outside wall of the building, where it could be traced. In selecting the color scheme, younger West End House members were given coloring sheets of the digitized sketch to explore different colors and get ideas for the mural design.
In total, 137 West End House members aged 7-18 years were able to work on the design for four days a week, along with four artists that are part of Next Step University, a teen leadership program. Attendees at our Biggest Fun Ever event were able to get the first look at the finished mural in August.
We are so proud of the hard work and dedication of the youth, staff, volunteers, and community partners involved. Thank you especially to Phoebe Warner and Annie Muller, our MFA liaison, for their partnership with us!
Our partnership with the MFA Community Arts Initiative has reached its 25th season, and we couldn’t be more thankful for their engagement and collaboration with West End House youth. For more information, please reach out to our Visual Arts Coordinator Ilyssa Pachao at ipachao@westendhouse.org.
