Train to Read

  • “Train to Read” uses bright colors and clever visual puns to illustrate how vital literacy is to young people.
  • This train is not just a toy. It was one reference used by the team to help them draw the train in the painting.
  • These two girls wear worn dresses and overalls to protect their clothes from spills.
  • Everyone is busy painting this expansive mural.
  • Reading is the foundation for this boy’s—and any child’s—education and success.

Project Description

Wyckoff Gardens is a public housing development located in the Gowanus area of Brooklyn. As the Wyckoff Gardens Community Center looked for opportunities to support the community’s revitalization efforts, the Center's Director contacted Groundswell to create a series of murals. Groundswell's Teen Empowerment Mural Apprenticeship (TEMA) afterschool program partnered with Wyckoff Gardens to create "Train to Read,” a mural that wraps around the Center’s entire literacy room. TEMA apprentice muralists met with staff and children in the literacy program and created a mural to meet their needs and the needs of the room. The finished mural visually transforms the entire space in a colorful celebration of the importance of reading and literacy. This was the first of two murals created at Wyckoff Gardens Community Center.

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Project Info

Location: 280 Wyckoff Street Brooklyn, NY 11217

Fun Facts

Fun Fact
Depicted in the mural is a boy about to graduate. The tradition of throwing your cap during graduation is said to have begun in 1912, when cadets of the United States Naval Academy tossed their caps in celebration.
Research
As much as 23% of the adult American population (40 - 44 million individuals) is functionally illiterate.
Suggested Activity
The mural features several reading-related puns, like “train to read.” Can you think of more visual puns?