PS 327: Soaring High

Welcome to PS 327’s “Soaring High,” made possible by NYC Council Members Darlene Mealy and Alicka Ampry-Samuel! This mural features the school’s Eagle mascot soaring through the skies of New York, along with students riding eagles and books. The mural also includes monuments from all over the world and the eagles themselves as students.

Peach Tao, one of art directors and teaching artists, saw the students grow throughout the mural process.

“This is my second year. I do enjoy working with the kids even though there are a lot of obstacles. You do have the rewarding feeling in the end, and also it’s getting me more organized.

Painting murals with a bunch of students is definitely a good thing to go through. For our career as artists, we’re still figuring it. For me right now, I do enjoy having this sense of community work combined with creativity.

Art does for sure open up your creativity. For the kids they need to be more daring and know that art is a place for them to make so-called mistakes. They shouldn’t have to fear the consequences of their experiments and our class is definitely a good class for that. It’s really encouraging them.

Most of the street artists that I talk to [say], ‘Oh you work with kids, that’s really great! We all wish we had that when we were kids.’ Most important, the murals are telling stories and humans are naturally storytellers. We are drawn to stories, and I think murals are a great way to record their heritage, aspirations and ideas and things they like. Thrive is doing a good job in working in schools with different groups.”