Brilliant green paint filled the wall each day for months as senior Ivan Sandler meticulously pieced together a mural with the writing “Sko Vikes.” Designed with Paly green block letters and cartoonish spray-painting robots, the new mural, located across from the science building, aims to promote unity and collaboration. After eight hours, the mural was completed during the last week of April.
Sandler said this project has been in the works for quite some time.
“I started street art when I was abroad in Barcelona for a summer, and I got really into it,” Sandler said. “I thought it’d be cool to bring it to Palo Alto, so I started by asking the city if I could do a mural for them, and after they said no, I went to (Principal Brent) Kline. Then, after some convincing, I gave it a go.”
Art teacher Sue La Fetra said the process of approving student murals on campus has evolved to become more formal.
“All the art teachers got to see his proposal before and see if there were any objections to it,” La Fetra said. “The murals that we want to see need to be done by someone who knows how and has aesthetic qualities to do them. The murals should be visually pleasing and have a message that we want to communicate to the larger community.”
Kline said the approval process in this case was straightforward as Sandler showed both commitment and talent.
“Ivan created the Paly values ‘Learn, Connect, Respect’ banners across the school,” Kline said. “Getting to know him through that work and seeing his portfolio, (this idea) looked really cool. He really wanted to do a project like this, and so I supported it throughout.”
Sandler said the mural’s message is one of community and collaboration.
“It depicts four characters working on it, which is kind of ironic, because I had some of my friends helping out, and it was a very collaborative process,” Sandler said. “Also, the design is supposed to reflect the float building that is held in that same area.”
Kline also said this mural symbolizes unity, and he is proud of how it turned out.
“I think art’s always great to look at, and it’s artwork that represents our school,” Kline said. “If you look at the picture, it represents people working together on a project. So for all those reasons, I think it’s a good thing.”
Sandler said the mural also encourages students to unite in multiple ways.
“What makes me specifically into street art is that it’s very social and collaborative,” Sandler said. “While I’m painting, people walk by and talk to me. Instead of being in my room late at night just drawing for hours on end, I’m out in the daylight with the sun out, having a good time, listening to music and hanging out with friends. It’s just a more relaxed kind of fun style.”
Palo Alto Public Art Program Director Elise DeMarzo said she has seen other Palo Alto murals bring the community together much like Sandler’s.
“We’ve seen a huge impact on public murals in the community, and the new ones that (the public art program) did on California Avenue,” DeMarzo said. “The community really loves the outreach, meeting the artists and giving them feedback about what might be appropriate and special. While the artists were out there painting, we saw the same people who would come day after day, sometimes leaving little thank you notes for the artist or bringing them coffee. People really appreciated the care and attention and getting to see the work being painted.”
La Fetra said while mural art may unify the community, unification of the art can be the trickiest aspect for any artist.
“Probably the most difficult part (for murals) is the fact that it’s a huge area, and it needs to be unified,” La Fetra said. “You need to go in with a really clear plan of exactly what you’re doingIt frequently is a smaller drawing or painting that you’re trying to expand. So getting that expanded and then getting the colors right and everything, it’s a big challenge, especially if you have more than one individual doing it, because people tend to have a certain style and trying to unify the style throughout the whole mural is difficult.”
Nevertheless, La Fetra said murals are unlike any other artform when executed well.
“It’s different than putting art inside a museum or even inside a gallery where not everyone is seeing it,” La Fetra said. “That is the amazing thing about murals. Everyone sees it, even if they don’t necessarily don’t think of themselves as someone who’s into art.”
DeMarzo agrees, emphasizing the rising popularity of murals in the Palo Alto community and beyond.
“Murals have seen quite an upsurge in popularity in the last several years everywhere, not just in Palo Alto,” DeMarzo said. “I think that the accessibility and also the fact that they’re not as expensive as fabricating and creating sculpture, for instance. So murals are a less expensive way to bring public art to public space, and it’s very accessible to a wide range of styles and expressions.”
And La Fetra said she has already seen the joy Sandler’s mural brings to the school community.
“I think it brightens people’s days to see something like that,” La Fetra said. “I mean, the ‘Sko Vikes’ is definitely a great message, and it’s done humorously. It provides a positive atmosphere for students to be in.”
