Sonoma Valley students rock and roll with 80-foot mural

Edward De La Torre dipped a paintbrush in a jar of bright red paint and began painstakingly filling in the outline of a star in a mural taking shape at Dunbar Elementary School in Glen Ellen last week.

Stars, sunflowers and waving children race across the mural in blazing oranges, yellows and reds against a blue background with the message, “Welcome to Dunbar School,” on the 80-foot-long mural that wraps around the building where the school’s multipurpose room is located. The mural was completed Oct. 5.

“It’s all about welcoming the community to Dunbar,” said Principal Jillian Beall. The principal helped paint the mural, as did every child at the elementary school.

Working in teams of four or five, the children pressed actual sunflowers daubed with paint onto the wall, leaving a print of the sunflowers. They also painted using more conventional rollers and brushes.

Artist Janet Self designed the mural and supervised the work along with fellow artist Beth Biermann. The mural took nine days to complete.

The mural is especially significant because the school was damaged in the October wildfires. In the spirit of generosity that has dominated Glen Ellen and the Valley since the fires, money and in-kind labor were donated to pay for the mural.

Principal Beall expressed gratitude to the Lasseter Family Winery for its contribution to the mural. Also, Self’s organization, Flockworks, a Mendocino-based nonprofit, donated her services.

“Once the wall has been primed and it’s all just a big white canvas, the artist does a drawing in tape that will come off later on,” and the children paint around the tape, Self said.

“At the end, the tape is taken off and the white space that’s left defines the mural,” Self said.

Socorro Shiels, superintendent of the Sonoma Valley Unified School District, mentioned the technique as a standout.

“What my eye loves in the mural is the white lines. It makes the beautiful colors pool and I can feel the joy of children emanating from it every time I pass by,” Shiels said.

Email janis.mara@sonomanews.com.