Frowning, the young girl displayed the paint she had spilled on her dress.

Erin Fagan, Big Park Community School’s English Language Development teacher, leaned down and smiled at the girl. “That’s your painting dress. You’ll be wearing this when you paint. Tell your mom that.”

The girl walked away and Fagan went to address the needs of her other students — many of whom were similarly speckled in paint. Three long tables displayed the morning’s handiwork: Endearingly rough, colorful murals intended for display over the school’s reception area.

Local artist Mary Sobrina Kuder, brought in by the city of Sedona’s Artist in the Classroom program to help Fagan flesh out the murals, explained the synthesis and purpose of the project:

“Fagan wanted to create a collaborative project for her students. She envisioned  a mural in the entrance to the lobby welcoming the new and returning students and their parents from many cultural and diverse backgrounds …. Creating community in our school settings is paramount in aiding our children to become part of their larger communities.”

A state of barely controlled chaos surrounded Kuder as the kindergarten through second-grade students painted and occasionally poked each other with paint-stained fingers. The artist — barefoot, toes covered in spilled paint — walked over to one of the tables and picked up a roll of paper towels soaked in multiple colors.

To read the full story, see the Wednesday, May 13, edition of the Sedona Red Rock News.