An elementary school in Pitt Meadows has undergone a colourful transformation.
Artists have painted murals both on the inside and outside of the school to help beautify Pitt Meadows Elementary school.
Parent Danielle Spraggs, will say she is not an artist by any means, but that didn’t stop her from starting this project in November of last year.
She painted fairy wings in three different sizes on one of the school’s wall for children – of all ages – to pose in between them for pictures.
“Everybody was really happy with the wings but the backdrop is just kind of this really yucky brown,” she said.
So, this year she decided to do the backdrop as well. Spraggs designed the background and got to work painting, but ran into trouble when she didn’t know how to finish the mural off.
Spraggs called a friend – a professional mural artist – to give her some tips.
Instead, artist Nelida Saganai volunteered her time with Spraggs to finish the work.
The pair spent more than 17 hours over the weekend, April 9-10, painting.
They painted an adult panther, the school mascot, and two cubs – with one cub leaping after a butterfly, and the other running.
“The idea with the running one is a kid could stand in front of it and pretend he was being chased,” explained Spraggs, who wanted the piece to be interactive.
They also painted a cherry blossom-style tree with a rainbow coming out of it in all the different colours, which flares out into a kaleidoscope of butterflies.
The mural was a PAC initiative, said Spraggs.
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Artist Jason Kraft painted a mural inside of the school, welcoming guests to the building. One scene in the mural shows a lone salmon leaping out of the water of a meandering river with a backdrop of snow-capped mountains. Another a pastoral setting with a red barn, windmill, cows, and a tractor in a field. An eagle soars through the sky over another red barn and underneath the front display case is a selection of wildflowers and butterflies.
Within the mural Spraggs and Saganai have been working on is a dedication to past PAC president, Kristen McDonald, who recently passed away: the infamous phrase “Smile and the whole world smiles with you” was painted in a sign by the front doors of the school because, Spraggs said, she was a very “smiley” person.
Spraggs and Saganai are hoping to finish the mural this week.
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