Creating the Tool Mural
The exhibits team at Boston Children’s Museum commissioned teens and staff from Artists for Humanity (AFH) to create a ten-foot-wide installation featuring real tools for our exhibit, Dream it! Build it!
The challenge to the AFH team was to transform the tools into a playful and imaginative composition designed to spark curiosity and invite storytelling for visitors of all ages.
Concept development
After learning about the goals of the project, teens and mentors from AFH’s 3D Design Studio, brainstormed four different themes for the murals, ranging from dinosaurs to flowers. Together with Museum staff, the team decided on the “Sunny Flowers” motif to add brightness, color, and charm to the space. Then, AFH and Museum staff explored how they might create the mural, exploring different materials for the back boards, testing out ways of attaching the tools, and playing with where and how to add color.
Fabrication
AFH teens and mentors worked together to create each of the three finished panels that are part of the installation. As a bonus, they created little bees using broken drill bits as stingers!
