A Healthy Lynnfield Youth Council student leader, Olivia Sylvester, and A Healthy Lynnfield programs coordinator, Diana DeLeo, presented a proposal for a mural project for a 20-foot by ten-foot area on the brick wall outside the locker room exit of the high school.
“This will be the very first mural in our community,” Sylvester said. “We believe that our young people should be represented and heard in our community. This project will give us a fun and creative way to do that and is also a way to encourage students to collaborate and work together, allowing us to combine our similar and different ideas to create something great for the whole entire community to enjoy… It will be a powerful symbol of our unity, pride and expression in our school.”
After the presentation, School Committee member Jim Dillon expressed his reservations about the mural, as its location would be covering up what he sees as an important architectural feature.
“I think that Lynnfield High School is really, from my point of view, a mid-20th century piece of architectural artwork,” Dillon said. “When I look at the new schools that are built around the area now, the question is, can a brick wall be a piece of artwork.”
Sylvester noted how the youth council students considered other sites for the mural, which was shared with high school Principal Patricia Puglisi and Superintendent Tom Geary, and Lynnfield Art Guild member Heidi Reynolds, who is serving as the project’s adult lead.
Funding for the project comes from the $5,000 Creative Spark grant funded by the 84 Movement, and the art would be completed by a local professional with design inputs from students.
Dillon thanked Sylvester for her work on the presentation, agreeing that a mural being created is a good idea, but made his point about how painting over the brick wall would block a piece of architectural art.
“If you are at all familiar with Acorn Street in Boston, probably a lot of people are… I think it’s the most photographed street in the city of Boston. It’s about a 10-foot wide cobblestone alley with red brick buildings on both sides,” he said. “If someone were to paint a mural on there, it would be something that you would — that’s basically a piece of architectural art as it is, so you would really be painting on architectural art.”
Further, Dillon listed the Tobin Memorial Bridge in Boston as another example of architectural art where painting over it would be bothersome to him.
“I consider the Mystic Tobin Bridge, the Mystic River Bridge architectural art,” Dillon said. “So when people paint on that bridge, I consider they’re painting on a piece of 20th-century architectural art that shouldn’t be painted on.”
Dillon then shared his views on the definition of architectural art. Dillon did not cite the sources of the information he shared.
“So I looked (it) up — school building design, like architecture in general, can be considered an art form because it involves artistic expression and practical design,” Dillon said. “And then I read architecture is often recognized as a visual art alongside painting and sculpture and is considered, and this is under quotes, ‘high art.’”
During the construction of the Lynnfield Middle School, he noted, the architect brought in models the School Committee immediately disapproved of, telling them to look at the style of the town so they can create a building that matches those same design sensibilities.
Similarly, he wouldn’t want anyone to paint a mural on the middle school, as that building, too, is an example of architectural art.
“If they could reincarnate… Claude Monet and he wanted to paint a mural on the side of that building; I would vote against it,” Dillon said. “It’s a piece of architectural art, to me. That particular spot… that is what I have reservations about. The school is a symbol; it stands for something, a piece of architecture.”
In response to a question from School Committee member Kate DiPrizio about the other sites they considered, DeLeo commented that the group would likely not be opposed to a mural inside, but this space is used a lot by the community and was recommended by Reynolds.
“I support this… Yes, we are responsible for voting on things like this, but I also think this is the students,’” School Committee member Jamie Hayman said. “This is thoughtful. A Healthy Lynnfield Youth Council does really good work, and they’re talking about creating something for the community, and their community, frankly, and I want to be respectful of that.”
Hayman also asked Geary for his perspective on the proposed project, as Sylvester noted how she had previously brought the proposal to him as well as Puglisi.
“We haven’t really talked a lot about it, to be honest. They emailed me the proposal, and I passed along the information to you. I do like the idea of a mural,” Geary said. “I actually am rethinking now that I’ve heard from Jim, I don’t know that the outside wall is the best spot.”
