WALKING PAINTINGS
PÍO BAROJA SCHOOL, Bilbao
Curricular subject: Civic and Social Values
12 students, 3rd grade
Teacher: Leire Urkidi
Artist: Zaloa Ipiña
Language: Basque
The students at Pío Baroja School became “walking paintings.” Wearing colorful overalls–which they painted themselves–they walked the parks in the school area looking for the ideal locations to create murals with their bodies.
The compositions they created by taking different positions and combining in different ways were captured in photos. Their collaborative creative game led to nurturing interactions and new relationships between them, and to interesting thoughts about their bodies and teamwork, guided by artist Zaloa Ipiña.
Using the “exquisite corpse” technique, the students painted a collective mural in which each boy or girl had to continue the lines and colors employed by a classmate before them, in an effort to produce a piece to be understood as one, rather than individual parts, when seen from a distance.
In the words of the artist, “The main goal, or challenge, was to learn how to adapt ourselves to others, embracing their desires and working together as a team.”