The Power of Mural Making with Adolescents in Community-Based Art Programs

摘要

Mural Art can play an influential role and be a powerful educational resource for adolescents, especially adolescents identified as in crisis or at-risk. In this thesis I tell the story of my work as a mural art educator with The Philadelphia Mural Art Program (PMAP). For one year, I worked with the PMAP and served as the lead teacher and mural artist for an after-school arts program and mural commission in the Ethiopian community of West Philadelphia. In analyzing the rich data I gathered during my tenure, I demonstrate how community-based art programs, like those offered by the PMAP, contribute to both the social and artistic development of adolescents and also benefit the wider community in which these programs are embedded. As part of my qualitative research, I reached out to the young adults who once participated in the program I directed, young adults who have since left high school and are now in college or working, and gave them an opportunity to reflect on their PMAP experience and analyze its impact. I conclude that community-based art programs for adolescents, especially those that culminate in the production of a major public art project like a mural: 1) foster positive identity development; 2) promote artistic development; 3) raise community awareness; 4) improve learning and motivation in other areas, and 5) provide ongoing and transferable life skills.