It's hard to miss the vibrant 3-D mural at the front entrance of the Citizens of the World Charter School - Hollywood. The mural, known as "On the Fence", was created by students, teachers, staff, and parents of CWC-H and Le Conte Middle School as a collaborative project. Both communities gathered together in a series of informal events to gradually bring the colorful mural to life.

The project was created by architect Dana Bauer, a parent at CWC-H. Bauer works as a partner for landcraft, an LA-based landscape design practice, and is a faculty member at USC's School of Architecture. The "On the Fence" mural is a representation of her emphasis on cross-disciplinary practice and collaborative creativity.

Over 300 students from ages 5 to 13 years helped produce the mural, which was "woven" onto the fence with strips of UV-resistant fabric. The mural's woven appearance was inspired by techniques used to create hook rugs and Rose Bowl floats. Since its completion, the mural has become a beautiful vivid backdrop for communal school activities and events.




"The mural depicts a geologic timescale, an abstract representation of the Santa Monica Mountains just beyond Sunset Boulevard but obscured by the relative density of Hollywood," Bauer told Archinect.

Founding Principal Marissa Berman also commented on the school community's enthusiastic response to the mural's creation, explaining that it was a great opportunity for students of multiple ages to collaborate in a hands-on way. She also said the school always tries to integrate art into everything they do, and the mural was a unique way to introduce them to representational and abstract design in working with the various textiles and colors.



"...It was at first hard to tell what it would look like altogether from the start - as each fabric tie was knotted to the fence one at a time. However, with the whole completed fence design as a backdrop for our end of year school ceremony, we were struck as a community by how powerful the design looked altogether and how many little hands went into producing something far greater," Berman explained.

"We were excited at CWC to collaborate as well with many 7th and 8th grade students and teachers at Joseph Le Conte Middle School, to beautify an outdoor space on our shared campus," she continued. "We were all really inspired by the process of partnering with one another and have already gotten excited about future projects we can tackle with each other."

Photos courtesy of Dana Bauer and CWC-H.