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?He?s given our walls voices? said a first grade teacher at PS 114 in Brooklyn as she watched her excited students paint a magnificent mural on the wall of the school auditorium, inspired by the vision and guidance of Dimitar Lukanov, an internationally renowned sculptor and Arts Horizons? artist-in-residence. The mural depicts President Barak Obama surrounded by memorable figures of history, current events and the community. The attached photo display also shows murals created in the school library by Dimitar?s intensive summer program executed by summer school students in July/August 2008. Working under Mr. Lukanov?s direction, the children learned the rigorous techniques required in the creation of the murals, starting with the correct way to hold a brush. The work on the monumental mural was preceded by two rigorous, classroom lectures and demos on how to draw a human protrait and figure. A unique aspect of this work was the team effort by the children. At each session, each student worked on a different area of the wall, completing each others? images and learning that there is no such thing as ?mine? and ?yours.? Thus they not only developed their proficiency in art, but also learned the important life skill of teamwork. The most extraordinary fact is that this huge mural - 30ft by 10 ft - was executed straight on the wall by the students only, without the artist-in-residence painting at all. Teachers and parents watched in disbelief and in awe as students from ages 6 to 12 painted all by themselves. As a result of an artist in residence program at PS 63 in Queens, Mr. Lukanov inspired 200 fourth and fifth graders to create 21 murals and mosaics that were displayed in JFK Terminal 4 from 2003-2005. Mr. Lukanov was educated, with honors, at Columbia University and The Parsons School of Design in New York and Paris, on a full scholarship. Recipient and winner of numerous grants and competitions, and a fellow of several institutions all over the world, his work can be found in private and public collections worldwide and is currently on display in places as various as New York, Moscow, Santiago de Chile, Mexico, Shanghai and Geneva. http://www.dimitarlukanov.com Click HERE for a Full Slideshow | 
