ALPHA MURAL PROJECT
"THE MAGIC OF ALPHA"
Celebrating 50 years of putting children at the heart of learning
Artists: Kseniya 'K' Tsoy & Tara Dorey
THE MURAL CELEBRATION
Join us Thursday, September 28th, 3-4pm at ALPHA Schoolyard for a mural celebration!
Learn more about the project, hear the ALPHA song performed by students, remarks from our supporters, and join in some photo opps as we celebrate the mural being completed!
THE DESIGN
✨ The Magic of ALPHA ✨
The final design for this mural has been created by the ALPHA community who participated in the process through a series of art workshops with students and community as well as through information and ideas provided through an online Brainstorm survey. The lead artists of Mix & Match Collective then pulled these ideas together and created a final mural rendering to present to the project stakeholders.
From the extensive work we have done with the community between January and April 2023, what we found most “magical” about ALPHA is that this is more than a school, it is a place where children are allowed to be …children! The magic of ALPHA is in the nourishment of play, diversity, and most importantly - freedom. These three main aspects are woven into the mural itself: we chose a rainbow colour palette to whimsically represent diversity, and bright tones of the primary colours bring the feeling of childhood, play and joy. All the while depicting sweet stories we heard from students, parents and teachers:
Rainbow, flowers, birds and insects are inspired by the works of younger students. 🌷 🦋
“Art” and “Making art” was mentioned quite a bit by older students - you will notice children painting a rainbow :) 🖌🎨
A curious child climbing up to see the world outside of the boundaries (in the place next to the actual school fence)
Music was also a recurring theme, as well as the slide - so these found its way to be combined in one image - of a child sliding down the rainbow and playing an instrument. 🌈🎺
“A bird flying out of the cage” was a drawing by one of the students to represent freedom, here it is connected with an image of a child letting the birds go. 🕊
ALPHA Swimming days are obviously very cherished, and we do know that the aquarium with fish is very cared for, so to add extra “magic” again these two were combined in a playful image. (We acknowledge that the aquarium downstairs is not quite same shape, but this “fish bowl” just makes it a cuter of a drawing and so is there for “artistic purposes” :-P) 🐟
“50 years of ALPHA” was translated in a cake with “50” number candles by one of the students and it is surely represented here :) 🎂🎉
“Books”, “Library” & “Reading time”! …is taking place on the “window shelves” of the building :) 📚
“Computers” - could not leave this one out! 💻
“Play outside” & “inclusivity” is in the image of a circle game, incorporating a reoccurring participants-suggested image of “holding hands”. 💛
The child joining the circle is bringing “banana bread” - a nod to a school tradition as well as to the “sharing food” and “potlucks” themes that came up quite a bit. 🍞
“Camping” & “nature” with “music notes” can be spotted. ⛺♫
A graphic representation of a historical point of ALPHA’s history when parents broke asphalt to build a butterfly garden - and another metaphor for freedom. Also a beautiful image of butterflies flowing into the sky and flowers growing out of the cracks <3 🌷🦋
The shirt saying “be free” is actually drawn from Zio’s TDSB shirt!
- Throughout the mural one can read select lyrics from the ALPHA song - created by students and that capture ALPHA so well in the actual words by the ALPHA community 💜 ♫
This final mural design as well as the art created during the design workshops were shared at the ALPHA School Anniversary event on Saturday, May 13th, 2023, 12-5pm.
THE PLAN/ TIMELINE
ALPHA is celebrating its 50th Anniversary this year and we are excited to have been working on commemorating it with a legacy mural led by the children, teachers, parents of ALPHA - past and present!
Mix & Match Collective (artists Kseniya 'K' Tsoy and Tara Dorey) have guided the ALPHA students and community members through a participatory design process that has consisted of:
1) Community Brainstorm: March 1 - 20, 2023 (to participate, ALPHA community submitted answers to an online survey)
We invited you to share your love and memories of ALPHA to co-create this mural together! Thank you to everyone who took a few moments to answer the prompt questions in the online survey - any that resonated with you ❤️
2) Community Design Workshops: March 23 - April 6, 2023
These workshops were for ALPHA students, and extended community who were invited to join in bringing brainstorm ideas and themes of 'the magic of ALPHA' into visual symbols using bright, bold, and playful collage.
3) A collective mural design has been created and shared by the artists
This design was created as a result of this participatory design process, community brainstorm and art workshops.
This final mural design was shared at the ALPHA School Anniversary event on Saturday, May 13th, 2023, 12-5pm.
4) Mural Painting with students and community
We painted this collaborative mural celebrating ALPHA in the outdoor school yard on the big yellow wall of Rotblott’s Hardware Store. Students and ALPHA community members were welcome to help paint the lower sections, and the artists completed the higher sections later this summer. We welcomed everyone to paint beginning June 22 - we hope you joined in painting it together!
ABOUT MIX & MATCH COLLECTIVE
Hi! We are Mix & Match Co - a Toronto based arts collective composed of two professional community-engaged visual artists, Kseniya Tsoy and Tara Dorey.
Kseniya (aka 'K') is a newcomer to Canada, from Uzbekistan, who brings her experience as a cultural programmer in China and South Korea as well as artist and facilitator in Toronto and Ottawa since 2018.
Tara is an artist, educator, and programmer who has worked in community arts in Toronto for the past decade. She recently completed a Master of Education at OISE, U of T in Curriculum & Pedagogy with an Arts in Education emphasis.
We are passionate about crafting meaningful experiences welcoming community members of all backgrounds, ages and abilities into the world of public art. We believe that the world needs more opportunities for people to work side by side, talking, sharing and getting messy together.
We use collective brainstorming and storytelling, playful and accessible art techniques to bring different ideas together and transform our spaces with the power of collective energy. Joy, vibrant colours and uplifting messages are the medium of our community art as we hope to bring about positive societal change one brush stroke at a time.
We have so enjoyed getting to know and work alongside the ALPHA School community!
Mix & Match Collective
CONTACT
You can contact us at: mixandmatchcollective@gmail.com
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS & THANK YOUS
Thank you to our Mural Committee for all of your guidance, work and support throughout this process: Teachers Claire Huang Kinsley, Emily Chan, Diane Hamilton & more! Parents & ALPHA Community Members Joan Kivanda, Mary Louise, Sue Hess, Tricia Twogood
Thank you to our Mural artists team: Rob Matejka, Karan Sidhu and Aniqah Rahman
Thank you to our project supporters!
Produced with the support of the City of Toronto through the Toronto Arts Council’s “Creative Communities” Grant.
Supported by Mural Routes, a local non-profit arts organization who activates communities by facilitating the creation of responsive, collaborative murals, and provides opportunities to build and advance careers in mural art.
This mural project is in partnership with StreetARToronto, a program of the Transportation Services Division, City of Toronto.
Thank you to Rotblott's Discount Warehouse, for trusting us to create this mural on your big yellow wall that faces ALPHA schoolyard, and for the support along the way! 💛
