ARTHUR HAYWOOD & CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL UNVEIL NEW MURAL INSTALLATION
IMAGE: Dragon Heart mural by awardee Arthur Haywood (2023)
Tulsa Artist Fellowship programming is free and open to all.
Central High School / Dance Studio On May 19th at 2:50pm Arthur Haywood will be displaying four mural paintings that will be installed within the Central High School dance studio. Each near life size painting depicts students from the school inside of fantasy or science-fiction stories to encourage students to dive into the world of reading. Students will have assisted in painting on the border panels around each mural.
This mural series for Central High School is one among the few other schools that Haywood is developing murals for in Tulsa during the 2022-23 Tulsa Artist Fellowship. His paintings are a response to the chain reaction that being exposed to reading can have on a student's success later in life. Many studies show a link between students who read for fun and their success in their other subjects. Being literate and advancing literacy, as well as developing the comprehension skills, vocabulary, and all these other essential factors to studying and also school, can lead to more opportunities later on in life. Showing the world of stories visually encourages students, some who may not even already be reading a lot, to want to pick up a book and dive into a fantasy story.
From defeating evil spaceships to limitless flights with dragons, these murals are a metaphor for courageous aspirations through a fantastical lens. The stories in the fantasy and science-fiction genre are metaphors for the dreams and hopes that we all have and the difficulties that we overcome. Portraying youth as heroes is another way to show how limitless they are.
Please join us in the Central High School dance studio on May 19th at 2:50pm in celebrating the excitement of reading.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Arthur Haywood is an illustrator and muralist from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His work celebrates the wonder of stories. His paintings are seen on murals for the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program, the Summer of Soul film, the Sprocket Mural Festival, his book “The Great Library,” and Space and Time Magazine. He exhibits his paintings in New York and Pennsylvania and completes commissions. Creating murals and illustrations to inspire others and engage youth in reading is his passion. He is focused on making murals for libraries and schools in addition to book covers. He earned a B.F.A in Illustration from The Maryland Institute College of Art, before furthering his study of classical drawing and painting at Cambridge Street Studios in Philadelphia and Grand Central Atelier in New York. He is a recipient of the 2020-2021 Harriet Hale Woolley Scholarship at the Fondation des États-Unis in Paris and 2022-2023 Tulsa Artist Fellowship.
VISITOR EXPERIENCE
Tulsa Artist Fellowship strives to provide a welcoming and accessible experience. Our public programming is free, documented, and archived.
To learn more about Tulsa Artist Fellowship programming, please follow our social media channels or signup for public emails at tulsaartistfellowship.org. For questions about accessibility, to request accommodation, or to share feedback, please email info@tulsaartistfellowship.org or call +1 (539) 302-4855.