Vocabulary
A large-scale artwork painted directly onto a wall or ceiling.
What is a mural?
To ensure they can be enjoyed by everyone, murals are almost always placed on walls in these highly visible types of areas.
What are public areas (or public spaces)?
To honor history and inspire the public, murals frequently feature large, painted portraits of these types of people.
Who are important figures (or heroes/leaders)?
Before ever touching the wall with paint, a muralist always plans out their idea by creating one of these on paper or a tablet first.
What is a sketch (or design/draft)?
This art term refers to the dark shape or solid outline of someone or something visible against a lighter background.
What is a silhouette?
Unlike a traditional canvas painting that can be easily moved, a mural is permanently attached to this architectural feature of a building.
What is a wall?
Instead of random designs, a mural often includes flags, traditional clothing, and symbols to celebrate a neighborhood's specific background or this.
What is culture (or heritage)?
While some muralists use spray paint, many prefer to use these traditional art tools with bristles to paint details directly on the wall.
What are paintbrushes?
This word describes the size of an artwork or the objects within it, especially when compared to the human body or the massive wall it is painted on.
What is scale?
Because the artist has permission or was hired by the building owner, creating a mural does not fall under this category of crime, unlike unapproved graffiti.
What is illegal (or vandalism)?
A mural created specifically to remember and honor an important person in the community who has passed away is called this.
What is a memorial?
This wet, colorful liquid is the absolute most important material an artist needs to bring a mural to life on a wall.
What is paint?
This term refers to the cultural identity and history of people of African descent in Latin America and the Caribbean, which is often celebrated in vibrant community murals.
What is Afro-Latinidad?
Because murals are created for everyone in the neighborhood to see and enjoy together, they are widely considered to be this type of art.
What is public art?
Murals are often used as a powerful visual tool to bring public attention to these types of real-world topics, such as civil rights or environmental protection.
What are social issues (or political issues/social justice)?
Because murals are so large, the lead artist rarely works alone and usually brings in these helpers to fill in large blocks of background color.
What are assistants (or a team/volunteers)?
This is a technique artists use to accurately enlarge a small sketch onto a massive wall by drawing a series of intersecting vertical and horizontal lines.
What is the grid method?
While most murals are painted on the outside of buildings to brave the weather, they can also be painted on the walls ________ of schools, hospitals, and libraries.
What is inside/indoors?
While murals and graffiti both happen on walls, murals are planned, legal, and created specifically to uplift and represent this group of people who live in the ___________.
What is the community?
Instead of using the grid method, some artists wait until nighttime and use this electronic machine to shine their image onto the building so they can easily trace it.
What is a projector?