Here are a few things to think through before we get started.

Designate a point person.

A site-based project lead is required. Often, an art teacher is our primary partner, but other teachers, a parent liaison, or others can organize and secure the logistics and overall help things to run smoothly.

This point person will also work with the PTA, a grantor, or another funding resource (see the section about costs, below). The point person will help decide which group of students are best suited for this project, based on many school factors well outside of our domain.  They will coordinate with the principal and the maintenance team for installation logistics.

This person needs to be organized and a good communicator and overall be the go-to person for our studio staff. This cannot be a group of people.

Select a location for the mural.

We will install your mural! We use a cement grout that we dye to a color of your choosing and do not grout. Installation time depends on size, but generally we need at least eight hours, and up 12 hours for larger murals. The point person (mentioned above) will need to arrange all building access logistics. For schools, this is best done when students are not there (we take up space & sometimes make a mess, but we clean up after!), but we’re flexible.

But, first we need to know where you want it done.

The location can be indoors or outdoors, and must be chosen together with our team before we begin the project.  We will only install large murals in permanent locations; temporary large installations are not realistic.

If a temporary location is absolutely necessary, small or portable murals (about 2ft x 2ft) could be installed into frames; however, the school would need to supply frames or any other impermanent structure.  We are unable to provide any frames, wood, or other impermanent infrastructure.

Outdoor installations must be planned around weather. We do not install in the winter nor in wet weather.

Decide on student/community participation options.

We can collaborate in one of two ways:

Participants come to our studio and make tiles, about one hour per group is enough.  They can be random tiles, or made with a theme. Participants  would return a second time to glaze the tiles. The number of students depends on which studio we’re using (Create or JP Clay), timeline, size of mural, and other details as they unfold. 

- OR

The art teacher or classroom teacher makes tiles in the classroom, with clay we have provided.  We will fire the tiles, let you know what glaze to get and use (we do not provide glaze for off-site use), and fire a second time.  Teacher/staff must pickup any/all clay that is needed at our studios, and deliver all tiles to/from the studio two-times for respective firings. In this case, we recommend the lead teacher take our tile-making class to best prepare them for the details of how to guide, make, dry, and glaze successful tiles with students. This is not obligatory, but suggested. Scholarships may be available.

Determine budget based on cost.

Pricing depends primarily on

• which of the tile-making options you choose

• the number of students participating, and

• the size of the mural.

For schools, we can often do this very affordably, but we appreciate it when schools raise more than the bare minimum.  To give you a sense, we've had schools find grants for $5000+, and others who were able to raise $1000.