Paint Love Project:
Austell Elementary Learning Garden
Written by: Paint Love Intern Jennie Rose Goodkin
How do you stop vandalism? At Paint Love, we confront vandalism with the same tool we use to work through every problem (be it emotional, practical, or aesthetic): art!
When Austell Elementary School, a Title 1 school in Cobb County School District, experienced repeated student vandalism in their outdoor learning garden in 2017, science teacher Ruby Sullivan thought to reach out to Paint Love to see if we had a creative solution in store. Luckily, Paint Love was able to recruit interdisciplinary installation artist Meta Gary, the perfect person to take on this job, which doubled as her community site placement for her residency with The Creatives Project.
Before: Austell Elementary School received a grant to create an outdoor learning garden, but prior to Paint Love and Meta Gary’s makeover it lacked color.
The Project
Meta redesigned the outdoor classroom, which the school had received a grant to create, dedicating 3 or more days per week for the entire semester to beautify the space, adding bright colors to the furnishings and constructing informational signs with fun facts about the natural elements of the space. Meta cleverly implemented plywood panels in order to install a collaborative mural while working within county regulations that forbid painting the exterior of the school building. Most importantly, Meta was able to involve every single Austell Elementary student in the renovation process, whether helping paint the collaborative mural panels or bricks to line the garden path, or assembling the garden. The project culminated in a grand Earth Day celebration held in collaboration with the Austell PTA, which hosted a community work day to assemble and celebrate the upgraded learning garden.
The Organization
Austell Elementary School is a Title 1 School in Cobb County. Paint Love worked with Austell Elementary throughout 2017 and 2018.
The Impact
This Paint Love project had a unique scope and practical impact; it’s not every day that an artist is challenged to incorporate an entire student body into each step of their process. Paint Love Founder & Board Chair Julie McKevitt, who helped assemble the garden, notes that “this was one of our biggest logistical undertakings and could not have been accomplished without the tireless work from Meta...It’s exciting to get to work on a Paint Love program that involves students at a schoolwide level. There is a shared pride and connection that results from working together on something greater than yourself or even your one class. The final garden was beautiful and will be a legacy for these students to leave behind.” By including every Austell student in this project, Meta was able to empower the student body, as “collaborative projects like murals help develop pride and ownership over public spaces. This helps combat problems like vandalism,” according to Paint Love Executive Director Laura Shaw.
The project succeeded! Although three years have passed since this project’s completion, the garden renovations are still intact, as there were no further incidents of vandalism after Paint Love’s work in the Austell garden. Throughout the process of building the garden students learned to use new tools and construction techniques and spent ample time outdoors, which has various benefits, including increased curiosity, empathy, and emotional regulation. The Austell Learning Garden will continue to serve as a unique and beautiful outdoor learning space for years to come!