The Wolfe Street Academy (WSA) playground took flight in late summer and fall as WSA parent and artist Jessy DeSantis created a new mural on the playground wall at the elementary school.
The stunning visuals—two children laugh and interact with three colorful birds—are engaging to the PreK-5th graders who play ball and various games each day.
The mural’s subjects tell a much more colorful story that embraces the school community of the Upper Fells Point neighborhood charter school, operated by Baltimore Curriculum Project (BCP). DeSantis chose the subject matter to represent the WSA student body, which is 86% Hispanic, to embrace inclusivity and diversity. DeSantis, who was born in Nicaragua, typically includes birds in their art to represent heritage and spirituality.
The final piece of the mural also celebrated the WSA community in a very hands-on fashion: the students and parents helped to paint a humming bird to represent North America. This collective creative expression and community celebration was on Nov 1st.
WSA’s mural is a “first,” too. It’s DeSantis’ first mural—she’s a self-taught painter—and the first-ever outdoor mural for the school. For 20 years, Principal Mark Gaither has been staring at a blank playground wall. For just as long, he has dreamed of a mural.
He has some of DeSantis’ art in his office and approached them about designing a mural. Together, they wrote a successful Maryland State Art Council grant. Students and staff provided design feedback, and DeSantis finished the mural—with the exception of the community’s artistic addition—before the students returned to Wolfe Street for the start of this school year.
DeSantis knows seeing the mural every day is a lasting, teachable moment. In an interview earlier this fall with WMARNews, they said, “This is going to be a teaching tool for the students. It’s to show children that work doesn’t only live in a museum or in a gallery, but could live on the streets in public facing communities like here at Wolf Street Academy.” .
Earlier in the fall, DeSantis spoke at the Walters Art Gallery as part of a panel on public art in Baltimore. Read more about artist Jessy DeSantis and in the Bmore Art Magazine feature article.
Watch a video of the WSA mural.
Watch the mural unfold in our Photo Gallery.
