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Overview:
​The New Roots mural project began in fall 2017 in collaboration with Ithaca Murals. A call went out for artists to submit mural designs for the back of New Roots with a theme of “Social Justice and Sustainability.” In the spring of 2018, staff and students voted and Lachlan Chambliss was selected to be the lead artist. When finished in 2019, the mural will be accompanied by a website documenting the process, honoring participants, and describing the many details within the public art piece.
2018-2019 Timeline:

Aug-Nov 2018: Lachlan and volunteers paint a general outline of the mural. 

Jan-Apr 2019: Public give topics to include in mural: sustainable & instability systems, just & unjust systems.

​Apr-Sep 2019: Lachlan paints the topics into windows while volunteers stencil the intricate borders.
About The New Roots Mural
by Artist Lachlan Chambliss
Art is a powerful tool for conveying messages to a wide audience and making the world a better place.

The New Roots Mural is about environmental justice and sustainability - issues at the core mission of New Roots School. These subjects interest me, not only because they relate to climate change, but also because they involve investigating the social and cultural systems that we all participate in, whether willingly or unwillingly. It means looking at the environmental damage that these systems cause and inequalities that they produce. This mural aims to encourage reflection about these topics, how these systems are structured, and how they could be changed to make for a more sustainable and equitable future. I studied anthropology and environmental science as an undergraduate, and this study has led me to believe that altering social and cultural norms is crucial towards addressing larger environmental issues. While technology and retroactive fixes, such as clean-up and restoration projects, can accomplish many good things, they do not really get at the source of many environmental issues; because the root of many human-made environmental problems is ultimately social in nature.

The Clinton House is Greek Revival architecture and this will be incorporated into the painting. This will make the art merge into the existing structure as if it belongs as part of the building instead of just appearing as a stand alone statement.

Painted within the central archway of the mural, painted in a realism style, will be a potential vision of a sustainable future.

This archway will be surrounded by a series of 26 windows containing different images. The design of these areas will be loosely based off of ancient Greek painting styles, showing a series of environmentally significant events. The specific content of each image will preferably be created based on considerable input from students. The panels will show connections between events and also reference the wider social systems that created those incidents.

Examples of possible image material might include Deepwater Horizon, the Dakota Access Pipeline, Bhopal, Fukushima, Fracking towns, the Exxon Valdez, Love Canal, Chernobyl, Picher Oklahoma, Oil Drilling in the Niger Delta and Artic, and the Aral Sea. The images could also include natural disasters with major social justice implications like Hurricanes Katrina, Maria, and Sandy.

Hopefully the style used for these smaller images will contrast with the style used for the main image inside the arch. This contrast will show the idea that the current systems we have now will be need be relegated to the past in order to get to the central archway. That we have to leave many current ways of doing things behind in order to arrive at a more environmentally sustainable future.
Photo by Felix Wong

History of this project...

Come join us this summer for painting sessions. We’re looking for volunteers to help us paint at the corner of Cayuga and Seneca St.  Anyone (regardless of age) is welcome to come! 
Thanks for your support,
Ahja Haedicke
Lead Project Coordinator, New Roots Mural

August 2, 2018: PRESS RELEASE!
Dear Ithaca community and surrounding areas...

We are excited to announce that the winner for the Justice and Sustainability Mural at New Roots Charter School will be Lachlan Chambliss!  His powerful design is inspired by the Greek Revival architecture of the Clinton House and shows the interconnectedness of social systems and environmental conditions, bringing hope that we can build a better future. 

This mural will be momentous both for New Roots and Ithaca.  It conveys an important message and it will join as one of the largest murals in Ithaca, the largest on any school in the area.  Art is powerful, especially public art - because it is accessible to everyone & these large art projects need teams of people working together to make them happen.  We believe this mural will remind us of our history, our present, and will inspire us to work together to find justice, peace, and healing. 

Lachlan Chambliss has created a design that works well with community input and participation.  He will be mapping out his general design on the wall in the next weeks and then painting some back ground.  Then when students and staff arrive back into the building in early September, they will engage with him to influence much of the content of the art piece, as well as help paint.  

Lachlan Chambliss has amazing community building mural experience, painting murals in West Africa as well as recently being the lead artist for the Muslim Culture Mural "Portals to Peace" in the Green Street Garage.  Over 150 volunteers assisted painting "Portals to Peace" and we are excited for students and community members to participate creating this new addition to the Ithaca Cityscape.
We would like to extend a huge thank you to everyone who has donated so far and helped make this project possible!  Thanks to our community partners Ithaca Murals, as well as Sustainable Tompkins for funding through their Mini Grant and Travis Hyde Properties for their ongoing logistical support and contributions.  
If you or anyone you know is interested in helping us reach the last bit of our $ funding goal, here's a link:  https://www.givegab.com/campaigns/new-roots-mural

​To learn more about this project:​ https://www.ithacamurals.com/new-roots-mural-2018.html

To follow or engage with other public art projects, check out: #ithacamurals or ithacamurals.com

We cannot wait to see this mural painted! 
Ahja Haedicke
Lead Project Coordinator, New Roots Mural

Press Contacts:

How Lachlan Chambliss was selected to paint the mural...

This poster went out in March in search of artist proposals:
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​Please support this inspiring Community Project by helping us reach our $3,500 fundraising goal. Thanks for your support! With your help, this mural will be a colorful expression of our school values important for our whole community to see.

"We want this project to build youth leadership both at New Roots and in the larger community. Art is a positive and creative way to do this and will represent the values of Social Justice and Sustainability in a way that can be enjoyed by the entire community. A unique aspect of this project is that students can be involved throughout the whole process, from fundraising to decision making to painting, so they can develop skills necessary to work on a project like this. This project will also contribute to building positive relationships; between New Roots and the community, between New Roots students and other young people, aspiring and experienced artists, community organizations and artists, young people and community leaders."                                 
Huge thank you to our amazing volunteers! This is just some of the people who made this mural possible. 
Ahja Haedicke, Caleb R Thomas, Jen Jacoby, Osamu Tsuda, Lucy Farmer, Amy Reading, Juliana Q,uaresma, Mary-Kate Taylor, John Hamilton, Devra Rivkin, Amy Garbincus, James Shultz, Rebecca Cutter, Amadou Chambliss, Noel Bentley, David Froehlich, Winnie Ho, Sneha Kabaria, Trisha Ray, Charu Murugesan, & Cristie Huang!