RiverScape Mural Project

Roseway Heights Middle School has embarked on an adventure in watershed education through art. By June 2001, the walls of our main hallway will display the east and west shores of the Willamette River. Our mural begins with Willamette Falls in Oregon City and follows downstream, past Lake Oswego and Milwaukee, through Portland until it meets the Columbia River at Sauvie Island.

Every student at RWH (about 850) will participate in this project. A class begins with a daylong field trip to the Willamette River aboard the Captain Connor, chartered by Headwaters To Ocean, a local watershed education organization. The students then spend about two weeks with our artist, Wendy Dunder, working on a select section of the mural. The students work from photographs taken during the field trips to paint each section. The mural is representative of the enthusiasm, artistic talents, and diversity of the student body.

The mural will be used as an educational tool for teachers for years to come.This project is interlaced with studies in local geography, history, life science, physical science, creative writing, public health, and many more topics soon to be explored.

The RiverScape Mural project is funded by grants through Metro Regional Government and Portland Public School Foundation, Run For The Arts school fundraiser, and supported by many donated supplies and volunteer hours.

Praise for the RiverScape Mural Project:

"I saw the mural yesterday and was inspired by the work and effort that has gone into this project both from the school, the artist, the teacher and especially the students! For H2O, whose mission is to foster community stewardship of the Columbia / Willamette River system this project truly creates ownership of the river to students who live fairly far away from the river, but are learning about how their actions can still affect the water."

from Kiirsten Flynn,
Headwaters To Ocean Program Director