“Hopes and Dreams” Drive Latest Aurelius Residency Murals

For many artists, off-season in Door County means time to relax, take a much-needed vacation or enjoy longer days of uninterrupted work in their studios. For Jeanne and David Aurelius of Clay Bay Pottery, it means something else: a time to pack up supplies and head for a school artist-in-education residency.

Since 1994, the Aureliuses have been traveling to various schools, leading students, teachers and community volunteers in the creation of in the creation of large-scale murals which depict a theme of the school’s choice. This past school year found them heading south for two residencies, one at Bayside Middle School in Bayside, just north of Milwaukee, and the second at Dickinson Elementary School in De Pere.

Upon seeing the Aurelius’ Visions of America mural at Westwood Elementary in West De Pere, Dr. Debra Gagnon was enthralled and knew right away that she wanted her students at Dickinson to have the same opportunity. So was born the Dickinson Dreamers mural.

"What is your dream?" Jeanne asked of the students. "What do you want to be, to do, to learn?" Students brainstormed, then drew myriad pictures of their hopes and dreams for the future. From over 500 drawings, a vividly bright mural evolved, depicting children engaged in play, adults at work, fantasy scenes of a dream world, and realistic scenes of our world at its best. The Dickinson mural, designed and created by grade K-4 students, was unveiled at a school-wide celebration on May 20.

The Bayside Middle School mural came about through a recommendation from a teacher who knew of the Aureliuses’ work. Bayside staff member and former Fish Creek resident Barb McKesson was familiar with the two murals at Gibraltar School, Visions of Peace and Wild About Water. She put forth a recommendation to her principal, and plans were set in motion when the PTA at Bayside approved funding for the project. The school wanted a mural that depicted their community as a gathering place and neighborhood, and also showed how the greater Milwaukee area plays a significant role in their lives.

The latest mural, Bayside: A Gathering Community of Hopes and Dreams, Old and New, was also unveiled in May 2008. Lake Michigan and the Milwaukee skyline border one side of the mural and the Milwaukee River weaves through the community.

Artist-in-education residencies provide an opportunity for students to work directly with accomplished artists to learn and engage in the process of creating art. In the case of an Aureliuses, Jeanne and David believe the value of each mural lies in the joy and learning of the process that creates it. This drives them to work diligently with each new community of student artists to find their common visions and values, and incorporate them into their mural.

David and Jeanne Aurelius, owners of Clay Bay Pottery in Ellison Bay, Wisconsin, can be reached at 920.854.5027 or by email at [email protected].