When I came to see the school grounds at Benjamin Parker Elementary, I was taken by the way the buildings surrounded the grassy courtyard and the Koolau Mountains served as a majestic backdrop to the stage. I was told by Principal Jean Davidson that they wanted to do a mural that centered around something very unique to Ben Parker Elementary; they were the only school that celebrated May Day with the traditional May Pole festivities, using ribbons that the children held as they ran around the pole.

When asked where I thought the mural should go, it was obvious. The stage area that the whole school surrounded and looked up to was bare; it needed some color and a work of art that would tie the architectural, geographical, and the landscaping composition.

The silhouettes are past students from previous May Day Celebrations. When painting, one goes from the background to the foreground. I start with simple "lay ins" of color, like the sky first, then the mountains, then the flowers, and finally the silhouette people. I plan for the kindergarteners to go first, then the first graders, and so on. This works well because the amount of coordination for detail work increases as we get to the detail of the foreground, which is usually done by fifth and sixth graders.

This mural celebrates May Day, showing the May Pole celebrations on the school ground as the majestic Koolau mountains serve as a pyramid backdrop. The students in the mural are the May Court; the different colors representing different islands. The flowers and the mountains in the mural tie the real mountains to the foreground trees and flowers of the school's landscaping. This mural was an excellent exercise in creating depth using size, repetition, overlapping, sharpness of line, contrast and value.