“Legacy” by Dustin Hunt w/ Dwight Rich School of the Arts students // Summer 2021

6031 South Martin Luther King Jr Blvd // Lansing, Michigan

Approximately 53’ W X 12’ H // latex and spray paint

Working with a small and mighty group of soon to be 8th and 9th graders, we were tasked with creating a mural centered around the theme of Legacy. Our early conversations included familial traditions, leaving our mark in the world, traits passed down to us, recognition in our field of work, etc. When asked to envision the future, several students drew up ideas that put them in nature, in forests and in mountains. We noted these ideas for our final design. Conversations continued to include mention of loss of loved ones, especially in the past couple of years. We noted this too for our final design. In the end we came up with a student looking into a forest, a student pulling a book from a tree of wisdom, and a couple of symbols related to loved ones who have passed. We also included black walnut trees and milkweed. The design peeks into the rings of the trees to show their age and wisdom, shows the interdependence of nature, suggests we are able to pull knowledge from nature, and embeds symbols of people that have impacted us. We acknowledge the past, present and future. Our signatures form inside the rings of a fallen tree and include the hands that helped support this project, people that have had a major impact on us, and those we have lost and wish to remember. This is just the forward facing aspect of this mural.

We want to recognize the time and energy students and volunteers dedicated to this project. For two weeks they showed up bright and early ready to help, ready to support, ready to learn, and ready to paint. They swept up debris and cobwebs, weed wacked plantlife overtaking the wall, practiced their can control, rolled base coats with bucket paint, and painted the wall.

We want to recognize the support and expertise of Liv, our teaching assistant. Liv brought her whole self to the wall each day and students immediately recognized this and took a liking to her. Each morning Liv lead us in a series of movements designed to get us tuned in and energized in our bodies. Liv also created space for us to reflect on daily prompts to get our minds prepared for our work for the day. For our final day together, Liv facilitated a ceremonial mobile making activity in which we wrote down affirmations, highlights, and hopes for the future, and folded them into origami butterflies to be strung to branches we found on site.

We want to recognize the teachers and staff of Dwight Rich School of the Arts for supporting students along the way, ensuring we had the equipment and supplies we needed, funding this project, coordinating transportation for students, and showing up to paint! We want to recognize the people and businesses that brought us delicious lunch each day we worked on the wall, especially Sweet Encounters, Wing Heaven, and Mancinos. We want to recognize Kingdom Life Church for maintaining the grounds and allowing us to paint their building.

Special thanks to Lady K for bringing her vision to us and supporting the project every step of the way.

As always, thanks to McShane Photography for the great snaps.

Every mural takes many hands to complete. To all the hands involved in this project, thank you.