Posted by Kevin Dudley on 5/2/2024
New public buildings in Washington are required to spend a small percentage of construction funds on art. With 57 buildings across the city, Spokane Public Schools has one of the largest public art collections of any school district in our state.
The latest piece was recently installed at Shaw Middle School. This week, the school gathered to learn about the artwork, which is displayed on a column in the school’s nutritional commons.
Misha Tyutyunik created the painting with the help of students and staff, who were included as part of his effort to truly make it Shaw’s art.
“If you’re creating a piece of artwork in a specific space and you’re not taking into account the people that live there, is it for them, or is it for you?” he said.
Learn about the process in this video:
The school and Washington State Arts Commission officially dedicated the art on April 30 at an all-school assembly. Social studies teacher Sarah Smith, who was part of the art selection committee, shared these remarks about the artwork and its meaning:
Hello Shaw and our guests for this dedication,
I am honored to be here as a representative from the art selection committee. We worked over the course of several months to select an artist that would best represent our school and community. Once our team selected Misha, we worked with him to gather input from our students on what Shaw, Hillyard, and Spokane mean to them and how they wanted to be represented. Misha used the input from students to design this unique mural.
There are a few parts of the mural that I want to point out and encourage you to find for yourself when you next enter the Shaw commons. And let me know if you find other things I haven't seen yet!
First, in the upper left, you will see a Spokane indigenous youth looking into the sun. The Spokanes are the “Children of the Sun.” Below that you'll see the railroad and factory stacks of Hillyard's proud past.
In the upper right you see birds and stars to represent the hopes and aspirations of all students, with a rainbow to represent our inclusion of all students.
Below you see Shaw students together around a book while a teacher figure points to those flying birds, showing the path between learning and your future.
In the center left you can see the Monroe Street bridge with the Spokane River flowing through it. Along the river rides a Viking ship — go Shaw Vikings! —with the addition of a turtle — a Pacific Islander symbol of strength and protection.
The design is meant to encourage your eye to see something new each time you look, to see new connections and draw new meaning for yourself. Although the actual students whose voices inspired Misha are now in high school, please know that this mural is for all members of our school and community. In part, the selection committee chose Misha because we knew he would create art that would make all who entered Shaw feel welcome and represented.
Our schools are filled with state-commissioned artwork. See all the public art in our schools here.
