Following in the brushstrokes of Michelangelo and Raphael, 70 students at Traverse City West Junior High School immersed themselves in the ancient art of fresco making.
While it is no Sistine Chapel ceiling, the resulting 4-foot by 8-foot creation depicts a lush fantasy world drawn from the students' imaginations. The resulting mural on fresh plaster features knights, castles, a dragon, a winged horse, a ship, fairies and a white owl — all images following a theme chosen by the students.
From research and sketching ideas to troweling on layers of plaster, mixing pigments by hand and painting, students mimicked the methods of the old masters.
"I liked how you could take something and just from nothing create art," said Tressa Davis, a seventh-grade student who worked on the project. "It was really fun."
For two weeks, these 7-9th grade students studied with Detroit artists Debby and Rick Zuccarini, with Debby dubbing them "Frescantis" after Friday afternoon's unveiling.
The Zuccarinis, who studied with apprentices to well-known artist Diego Rivera, have taught students around the state the classical process of fresco making. They have shared with everyone from second graders to graduate students the beauty and grace of an art form that uses just 12 colors and a host of simple tools.
"It's a good confidence builder," noted Rick Zuccarini. "Art is always good, it teaches them to use other parts of their brains."
After meeting the Zuccarinis on May 15 and choosing a theme, the West Junior High fresco began taking shape in the school's library. The school's extensive collection of art books got heavy use by the project participants as students sifted through millennia of art history. Excited students delved into the works and methods of masters and also checked out examples of famous frescoes around the world.
They also spent days creating sketches of their own for the fresco, sharing their ideas and voting on what would be included.
"They looked into art movements from the dawn of time to the present — on their own time," said Cathy Berman, the school's librarian. "It was just a huge amount of enrichment that went on, across curricula."
"These artists are very talented and nurturing, a real gift to our students," she added of the Zuccarinis.
Students worked in shifts throughout the two-week project, heading to the library or the teachers' cafeteria where the fresco took shape, whenever they could find free time. The Zuccarinis and the students used traditional tools throughout the process, including grinding the natural pigments by hand.
The next steps were plastering the plywood work surface and then transferring student sketches to it using charcoal. The plaster had been divided into a grid to provide workable chunks on which students could sketch and paint. The actual painting of the fresco took over two days, an intense block of work completed last Friday, not long before the unveiling. Students had to be careful not to touch and mar the wet plaster while painting, a challenging task.
"It's a lot different than painting," said Andrew Clark, a seventh-grade student. "I didn't really know about [frescoes,] I've seen them before but didn't really know what they were."
Like other famous frescoes throughout history, the West Junior High masterpiece was created for future generations: grandchildren and great-grandchildren of the 70 student artists will be able to enjoy it in decades to come.
"This art project is probably going to be here for hundreds of years," said George Wyklige, a science teacher at the school who helped coordinate the project. "I'm so proud of you guys, it's just beautiful."
From start to finish, the fresco-making process inspired Darlyn King, a ninth-grade student at the school.
"I didn't know anything about frescoes, I knew about murals," she said. "I love art and wish I could be an artist."