“Transforming Your Transit Into Tranquility” was created in partnership with the New York City Department of Transportation. The mural was created by seventeen youth artists led by artists Chris Beck and Tanya Albrightsen-Frable. It complements a Groundswell project from 2009, entitled “Worker Bees;” together, the two artworks beautify both sides of a traffic barrier in Downtown Brooklyn. In “Transforming Your Transit Into Tranquility,” nine panels facing vehicular traffic evoke transformation and motion. The image depicts a single sheet of paper transforming from a plane into a boat. It is designed to be “read” from either direction of traffic, like a palindrome. Nine additional panels face pedestrian and bicyclists, and augment “Worker Bees,” adding images of flowers and flora in large scale to the existing mosaic.

A team of youth led by artists Clare Herron and Grace Baley worked with The Trust for Public Land to transform PS 164's blacktop schoolyard into a green play space for the students and neighborhood residents to enjoy. “Infinite Dreams” was envisioned as a gift to the school and local community in the ethnically diverse neighborhood of Borough Park, home to Brooklyn's largest Hasidic population. The mosaic's design celebrates the realization of the community's dream to build a new green space with natural imagery, centered around a dandelion "wish" flower. It also incorporates ideas significant within Jewish culture, including the use of the number eight in visual repetition and a motif of pomegranate seeds to represent renewal. The coming together of these diverse communities in the creation of a shared public space is an illustration of a more peaceful society we can all help to build.

“Justice Mandala” explores restorative justice: the act of seeking solutions that repair, reconcile, and rebuild relationships. Through a unique partnership between the NU Hotel Brooklyn, the New York City Department of Correction, and the Court-Livingston-Schermerhorn BID / Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, a team of young artists, including some formerly incarcerated youth, transformed the State Street side of the Brooklyn Detention Complex. Empowered to add their voices to the public dialogue, these young people spent seven weeks connecting their personal experiences to the larger conversation about restorative justice. The youth explored the concept of the Buddhist mandala, contemplating what it means to live restoratively. The result is three vibrant and contemporary mandalas lining the back wall of the Brooklyn Detention Complex. Interspersed between the large circles are floating keys, which represent the ability to open doors and unlock new opportunities.

Young women participating in Groundswell’s Voices Her’d Visionaries program created a unique public art campaign in partnership with Day ONE to raise awareness of teen dating violence among their peers. As part of the campaign, the girls designed posters in Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop, screen printed t-shirts and tote bags, and hosted a blog, which outlined their research process and provided educational resources for their peers. The posters illustrated the different kinds of abuse experienced in negative teen relationships, including physical, sexual, emotional, verbal, technological, and financial abuse. These posters were distributed to Day ONE’s community partners and public schools throughout New York City. They are available online as well.

Youth worked with the New York City Department of Transportation’s Office of Safety Education and the agency’s Urban Art Program to create a mural entitled “Stop, Look, Listen” on a pedestrian and vehicle overpass in Sunset Park. The teen artists explored safety and traffic statistics, studied sign-making, and conducted interviews throughout the neighborhood before taking on the massive wall that spans approximately 270 feet between 62nd and 64th Streets. The mural is a vibrantly colored reminder to “Stop, Look, and Listen” when driving and walking through traffic. “Stop, Look, Listen” reminds us that it is everyone’s responsibility to improve safety conditions in our neighborhood. This project both beautified an unsightly overpass and empowered the youth artists to take a lead role in making our streets and neighborhoods safer.

“React, Respect, Intersect” was designed to promote traffic safety at the location of a dangerous intersection in Kensington, Brooklyn. Teen artists worked with Yana Dimitrova and Adam Kidder to conduct studies on local traffic patterns and strategize ways to promote safety and respect amongst the many communities present in the neighborhood. This project was created in partnership with the New York City Department of Transportation’s Office of Safety Education and its Urban Art Program division. The team investigated what makes the intersection dangerous, tracked the speeds of passing cars, conducted a neighborhood survey, and studied local signage designed to control traffic. The mural highlights a large central figure of a young girl holding her hand up as if to say, “Stop!” With its bright colors and vibrant imagery, the mural is a visual speed bump that grabs the attention of passing drivers and reminds them what is at stake when they break traffic laws and endanger others.

Together with the Community League of the Heights (CLOTH) and American Friends Service Committee, Groundswell youth explored alternatives to violence and peace promotion to create “Weaving Change Beyond the Shadows” in Washington Heights. The mural team of 15 youth was led by artists Crystal Bruno and Frank Parga. The team interviewed victims of gun violence and their families. With their stories as a starting point, and CLOTH’s building as a canvas, the young people created a vision for a more peaceful future. Depicted in the mural are a series of diverse figures representing individuals from the local Washington Heights community. A long, beautiful cloth connects these figures. The cloth is whole in some places, torn in others. By standing together, the figures take responsibility to mend the fabric and restore peace to their community.

“Rainforest and Butterflies” was designed in partnership with The Trust for Public Land as part of its larger transformation of a vacant lot at PS 78 into a new community playground. Over 100 4th and 5th grade students collaborated with artists Yana Dimitrova and Amy Mahnick in the creation of the mural. Imagery is inspired by the students’ classroom study of the rainforest and its many different species of butterflies. Butterflies are also PS 78’s mascot. The mural supports the students’ vision for a vibrant natural green space in which to play and grow. Many of they young people recognized their sketches in the painted mural and felt extremely honored and proud of their work.

Groundswell and the New York City Department of Transportation (NYC DOT) designed the Traffic Safety Sign Residency Program to engage public school students in exploring traffic safety information through the creation of original street signs. Signs designed collaboratively by students at each of our partner schools are digitally rendered by Groundswell artists, fabricated by NYC DOT’s Sign Shop, and temporarily installed in local locations students identify as in need of traffic signage. Through this program, students learn how signs and symbols can work to communicate ideas and explore visual art techniques to develop graphic images. These signs then help increase safety awareness and prevent accidents in locations around each school community. Students from PS 35 chose to represent the "Stop, Look, Listen" theme as a mathematical equation.

New School students from Eugene Lang College for Liberal Arts worked with professional artist Conor McGrady to learn about the mural-making process and collectively design and paint a mural for a community-based organization. As part of the design process, students gained an understanding of the historic context of murals and pubic art, and learned the basic art and research skills required to execute a mural. Working in Groundswell’s studio, the group discussed politics, funding, community involvement, collaboration, social change, and aesthetics. Imagery from these themes was ultimately included in the mural.