Help Bataclan brainstorm ideas for the mural

Bataclan was commissioned by the Igo School PTO to create a mural in the school cafeteria. But his creation is not just his own work and vision.

Unlike other artists, Bataclan works with the students to create art that becomes an extension of the school community past, present and future. During his recent presentation to students and their teachers in the school library, Bataclan provided an overview of his street art project, taught his audience how to draw some of his characters and planted a seed to spread art and happiness.

Bataclan began by asking the young students, "Do you want to draw a dog or a turtle?" He took his direction from the students and began by drawing a turtle with fifteen spots because Bataclan's birthday is Feb. 15. He shared how he often uses the magic number 15 in his artwork and encouraged students to be creative with numbers.

More questions followed such as, "do you want to draw a penguin or an octopus?" "A shark or a horse?" Each time he let the students vote by a show of hands which character to draw next. He playfully demonstrated how students can use their own first and last names for inspiration by drawing a character using the letters in his first name.

As part of his presentation, the artist shared a video clip of a story that appeared on the CBS Evening News back in 2009. In the story, reporter Michelle Miller described Bataclan's project as "Spreading hope one painting at a time." She also shares how the artist went through his own transformation during his street art project. Bataclan always leaves a handwritten note with each of his paintings.

When he first started leaving street art, his note encouraged the finder to smile more at strangers. After the recession hit, the message changed to, "Everything will be all right."

Over the past decade, Bataclan has left his paintings on Wall Street in New York City, Alaska, Las Vegas and almost half of the 50 states for lucky finders of all ages to discover.

"Sometimes, family and friends leave the paintings for me," he says, joking that "I did not travel to all of these places. I am a fulltime artist and not independently wealthy."

Bataclan moved to Massachusetts to teach at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and he is the first to say he did not plan on being a fulltime artist. He lives in Cambridge, but grew up in San Francisco where he saw a lot of street art.

No vandalism

During his recent presentation to a group of third grade students at the Igo Elementary School, he recalled, "When I was ten years of age, I started doing my own non-vandalism street art."

He followed that up by asking the students if they knew what vandalism is.

Bataclan admits that he has always been a big fan of graffiti, but he would never vandalize public or private properties. And he has always had a passion for art.

"When I was two years old I picked up a pencil and have been drawing ever since," he told his Igo audience. "It's a passion of mine."

It is Bataclan's passion for art, coupled with what first-year Igo School Principal Michael Stanton calls "Bren's tremendous ability to connect with others," that led to the artist's first visit to Foxboro. Stanton had the opportunity to meet the artist and see his murals in three elementary schools in Walpole. Stanton was the principal at the Boyden Elementary School in Walpole where Bataclan painted a mural in the computer lab with a technology-based theme.

This time around, Stanton said he met with Igo teachers and staff to discuss where the mural would be painted and ideas for a theme.

"We wanted to brighten up the walls of what used to be a high school to make it look more like an elementary school," he said.

The staff decided to adopt "The Igo Way" as the theme. Doing things "The Igo Way" is something that Stanton has introduced to the Igo School community to dovetail with their Caring School Community program.

"The Igo Way is giving it one's best every day and being kind without expecting anything in return," Stanton said. "You never know how a small act of kindness can make a big difference."

According to guidance counselor Kristen Siddle, when it came time to help Bataclan brainstorm ideas for the mural, "students focused on all the values we promote as part of the Caring School Community with a special emphasis on our own twist we call The Igo Way."

Younger students concentrated on the letters in important words such as kindness, honesty, responsibility and respect. Bataclan showed the students how even a letter can become a character. Students in the older grades got to the heart of illustrating values such as teamwork and The Golden Rule.

Bataclan looks at all the drawings students create during their workshop with him, although he cannot use all of them as part of his final creation.

His color palette of choice is the warm, tropical colors of the Philippines. In fact, Bataclan mentions on his website that he likes to collect books by Filipino-American authors and use those books as a source of inspiration for his artwork.

Smile Project

Bataclan also shares that he usually draws from the neck up and his artwork focuses on the smile.

In the summer of 2003, Bataclan began his street art installation he called "The Smile Boston Project." The project involved the artist leaving his cartoon inspired paintings for people to take for "free" all over Boston, such as on park benches, train stations, hospitals, senior centers, schools and more.

Almost 10 years later, Bataclan has left his paintings in unexpected places in 32 countries and given away 800 paintings.

And now his work can be seen at the Igo School, where he was clearly a hit with the students.

During one of the artist workshops, Stanton overheard one student tell Bataclan, "I want to be just like you when I grow up."

Bataclan looks forward to returning to Foxboro to the Taylor School in February, with a possible visit to the Burrell School in September.

The article from this:http://www.foxbororeporter.com/articles/2013/01/24/features/12827445.txt