Ceramic mural project designed to highlight Renton’s diversity

Published 11:47 am Friday, May 13, 2016

Meena Merchant spends most of her weekdays at Maplewood Heights Elementary School where she serves as art docent. It’s her second year volunteering and it’s safe to say she loves it.

“I love teaching art,” she said. “The idea that kids wouldn’t have access to art as part of their education from an early age seems really crazy to me. I get a lot of joy just by going in and doing my lesson plan… and teaching really young kids about very sophisticated subjects.”

But Merchant’s story isn’t one about the redemption she’s found through promoting arts education and advocacy. It’s one that expands beyond the walls of her classroom and elementary school, and into the heart of the city itself.

Merchant is spearheading what she calls “The Owl Project.” It’s a project that was birthed when Merchant and some of her friends came together, wanting “to explore art” and transform the city.

It’s an attempt to create a public mural, created by elementary school students in order to “promote inclusion, celebrate diversity and enhance the lives of residents of Renton.”

“This brings my worlds together,” Merchant said. “The idea of doing public art, bringing kids into the loop and allowing them a chance to express their individualism, but have it be a part of something bigger.”

The project aims to get all elementary students in the district, including students from Renton Academy and the H.O.M.E. home school program — which adds up to nearly 7,780 students — to utilize the school district’s multiple kilns to create ceramic mosiac owl murals in public spaces.

“The owl symbolizes wisdom and education,” said Merchant on why the owl is central symbol to the project. “Plus owls have been depicted in children’s literature and child-oriented things and product in a fun and whimsical way. The owl is associated with wisdom and the pursuit of knowledge. I like the way that a bird requires so many feathers that need to come together to make one thing. That was a nice segue for many people coming together to create this thing.”

While no plans have formally been made as to the sites where these murals will erected, some suggestions Merchant’s team have been contemplating include new elementary school that is to be built at the Sartori Education Center site and the building at 226 Main Ave. S.

Currently, Merchant and her team are en route to enlisting endorsement and cooperation from the city, school district, Renton Chamber of Commerce, Renton Municipal Arts Commission and other prominent organizations and businesses in town.

Mayor Denis Law gave his seal of approval following a Merchant’s presentation of the project at the City Council meeting on May 9.

“What I really like about [this] plan is making a huge note about the diversity of our community and having everybody involved in it and creating something,” said Law. “I think it is a wonderful project.”

“I think it’s really neat and innovative to get our youth and the city involved in something we don’t often think about,” Councilmember Ed Prince said at the meeting.

One of the core aims of the project is to highlight the diversity of the city, and it’s a message that hits Merchant deeply.

“For so long, I thought I was living here by default; it wasn’t a conscious choice for me,” said Merchant. “But in the last two years, I have been creating a lot of connections and feeling of belonging here. Knowing that this place is so diverse… this place doesn’t represent that diversity, necessarily. What would it mean to have an entire class of kids – 8,000 kids – each contribute to something where they get to be who they are and it comes together to be something huge. Then they can come back and bring their kids and say, ‘I did this. I feel like I’m a part of this city.’ It’s something I really feel strongly about.”

Merchant said that she was surprised to find that a 2015 WalletHub study ranked Renton to be the sixth most diverse city in the country. The 2016 study places Renton in the 16th spot.

Merchant and her team are in the process of not-for-profit status and has plans that expand beyond the mural.

“Many of the schools don’t have PTAs and the PTA funds the art docent program,” she said. “The underlying thing that’s really exciting for our whole team is that once we do this, maybe the schools will get excited, maybe the parent communities will excited and know that art can be at their schools. And our hope is to then get a funding for a district-wide art docent program that will be volunteer-run.”

“We’re very ambitious. What started as a tiny idea has become very big. We’re creating an organization around this initial project and we want it to be the first of many.”

According to the current timeline, the creation of the ceramic pieces themselves will begin in January of 2017, and an instillation and unveiling of the mural to happen sometime during next year’s Renton River Days.