"Band Room Mural" features a blend of jazzy musical imagery and Brooklyn iconography. It is a celebration of music appreciation, created for a new band room at Brooklyn High School of the Arts (BHSA). Fourteen students contributed to the creation of the mural, which conveys how greatly music is woven into New York culture. The mural features two large-scale young musicians set against a Brooklyn skyline featuring the Williamsburg Savings Bank Clock Tower. Buildings in the far background take the shape of instruments. The group created numerous drawings related to music and iconic Brooklyn imagery, which were then woven into one cohesive design by the Lead Artist Conor McGrady. Students learned about color, mood, composition, and how to work on a large scale. When the mural was completed, BHSA hosted an official dedication with much of the school in attendance to appreciate the life brought to their new band room.

“Communidad Global, Global Community” was created by third and fourth grade students to celebrate the diversity of the PS 24 school community. PS 24 students of different races, physical abilities, and personality traits coexist peacefully in the mural. A series of kites, which serves as a visual thread linking all the images together, are trailed by bilingual kite tails written in Spanish, English, Bengali, Arabic, Polish, and Chinese to represent the different languages spoken at the school. From left to right, the students symbolize Dreamers, Helpers, Peacemakers, Creators, Learners, Friends, and Global Community.

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 56 believed it was  important to tell pedestrians to "Make a Smart Decision." The young people used the symbols of the  hand, eye, and ear to remind us all to stop, look, and listen as we cross the street.

“MetrOrganism” was designed for three cylindrical pillars in the Aspirations Diploma Plus High School library. Student artists developed imagery through observation of the immediate neighborhood and environment. They maintained notebooks of their personal reflections about the characteristics of their local community and the city as a whole. The students also studied the Da Vincian principle of Curiosita: an insatiable approach to life and unrelenting quest for continued learning. Free association exercises led the students to a vision of the city as living organism. Each image in the triptych is continuous to the left and right in either direction.

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. This sign, designed for a street near PS 5, suggests ways to safetly cross the street in English and Spanish.

"Coney Island Aquarium Mural" adds even more color and life to the New York Aquarium. It is a large-scale mural created by a youth group from the South Brooklyn Youth Consortium (SBYC) in partnership with Groundswell artists. Flowing across a span of 100  feet along the boardwalk, this giant collage celebrates the ocean and includes many endangered species. From the Aquarium staff, the mural team learned about the habitats of sea animals. The team then picked out colors and patterns they found in aquatic exhibits. Team members used color to create intensity and movement, and to draw the viewer in from a distance. The mural’s vibrant colors and simplified shapes convey the childlike delight spectators feel at the aquarium, when viewing the wonders of the sea.

Created by East River Academy high school students incarcerated on Rikers Island, “Balance” explores how the Feng Shui ideal of balance might be realized in the students’ everyday lives. Professional artists Chris Soria and Misha Tyutyunik introduced the students to the origin, tradition, philosophy, and applications of Feng Shui. In response to the discussion of balance, the students suggested that the game of chess has many similarities to life and the ideal of balance that practicing Feng Shui aims to achieve. The central image in the mural is a chess piece in which a man holds the world on his shoulders. The yin yang and the man’s eight arms represent the eight elements of Feng Shui. The development of the mural involved youth from diverse backgrounds in a collaborative and inclusive process.

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.

Fifteen youth created "Natural Inspiration" in partnership with the Bowery Resident’s Committee (BRC) and its women’s residence in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. The mural, which was fabricated on parachute cloth and adhered to the wall, wraps around the lobby of BRC’s Women’s Residence, covering all four walls. The design was inspired by images that the women at the shelter desired to see, including hands, plants, birds, and warm brilliant colors. By using different elements of nature to symbolize growth, change, and prosperity, the mural serves to inspire all who use the lobby with a message of support.

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. In this design, students used an eye as the pedestrian’s head to call attention to the need to be alert and look both ways before crossing the street.