Exeter High School
Nudge Art Mural
Located at Exeter High School in Exeter, New Hampshire
Created by:
Exeter-based Artist Rebekah Welch & Exeter High School Students
For this Nudge Art mural, our Exeter High School (EHS) students wanted to focus on six value statements as calls to action. The number six is particularly symbolic for them, because the Exeter public schools community is made up of six towns.
After learning about Human-Centered Design, Community Organizing, and the genEquality Activations, the students began designing with the idea of creating space for everyone in their school community by transforming their school mascot - a “blue hawk” - into a symbol of belonging and inclusion.
This mural has many points of symbolic elements, each representing something special in its own way. The hawk in itself, and the way that it is positioned, represents Exeter students as a whole; it signifies that as a school, they are a community. The way the wings wrap around the people in the center and brings them together to form a community, represents what the students strive for: belonging and inclusion. Within that community, the people being “hugged” by the hawk represent the diversity within the school and the togetherness of everyone. The six birds flying towards the students is another way of showing that togetherness, each one representing one of the six towns that make up Exeter High School’s student population.
Almost every color in the mural has an intended meaning behind it. The students chose to design and paint colorful wings represent the LGBTQIA+ community and people of color who can sometimes feel marginalized in Exeter’s mostly white school community. The blue color of the hawk represents Exeter High School “blue hawk” mascot. The EHS students added the calls to actions over the wings to “set” them as goals for their community, and to strive for as calls to action for today and the future.
<1 Minute Mural Creation Video + Behind-the-Scenes Photos
Interested in learning more about our Nudge Art programs in schools and communities?
International Community High School (Bronx) - Lord Dufferin Public School (Toronto, Canada) - Kurt Hahn Expeditionary High School (Brooklyn) - Manhattan Inclusive Safety Mural (Polo Grounds Houses) - Queens Inclusive Safety Mural - Staten Island Inclusive Safety Mural (Stapleton Houses) - St. Nicholas Houses - Townsend Harris High School (Queens) - Wagner Houses
Resources
Learn more about SAU 16's Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, & Justice efforts.
Check out their vision statement and programming on their website.
Interested in learning more about what you can do to advance gender equality daily?
Check out the 10 genEquality Activations to learn about how you can advocate for and make change through your daily beliefs and behaviors. We share 10 core beliefs and behaviors that you can practice; they touch on social cues and cultural norms, daily communications (language and humor), and economic equality behaviors, choices, and values.