WISHING & PAINTING

The Wish Wall Mural was made by having people write a wish on one brick of the Thistle & Shamrock Convenience Store's wall and then paint over it. Students from the local Graham & Parks Alternative Public School were the first to put their wishes on the wall, followed by anyone else who was interested. The event was advertised through the Cambridge Chronicle/TAB, City of Cambridge Events Calendar, community and neighborhood association meetings, posters, and a handful of email newsletters.

Below are pictures of all those who helped to make the Wish Wall Mural by adding their wishes. If you have a picture you'd like to share, send it to me at kelly@kellysherman.net and I'll be happy to post it.

THE STUDENTS FROM GRAHAM & PARKS SCHOOL

Lucy McMullen's class of fourth-graders from the Graham & Parks Alternative Public School were the first to put their wishes on the wall. After many classroom lessons leading up to the day, the group of seventeen students came to the wall, each prepared with a wish. Every student wrote their wish on one brick of the wall in permanent marker, then painted over the wish and brick with paint. The paint colors were chosen to blend in with the wall and surrounding houses, to camouflage into the neighborhood.


When all the wishes had been written onto the wall and all had been painted over, there was a subtle pattern that emerged. On the left side of the wall is the title of the mural, the website address, and a brief description so that people walking by will understand how the wall was made. It reads:

Wish Wall Mural
Made from wishes covered in paint, 2007
www.wishwallmural.com
Beneath the title are the names of all those who added their wishes to the wall.

THE COMMUNITY

The Wish Wall Mural is intended to cover the Thistle & Shamrock wall completely in wishes. To help do this and involve as many people as possible, the community was invited to add their wishes as well. The day after the Graham & Parks School students worked on the wall, people from the community came by to do the same.