As an art teacher and professional muralist, I get a lot of requests to paint murals in my schools.  I absolutely love painting murals, especially when I can involve students in the process.  Buy some paint, give me a wall, and I am totally happy to turn your boring wall into a work of art.  Sadly, I have to decline most of the requests.  Why?  Most of the time the requests are to put copyrighted work in a mural.  I can almost tell, when the email comes up in my inbox with an attachment of a cute kid’s book illustration or cartoon character, that I’m going to have to say “no.”

I know, I know… probably 90% of schools in America are filled with murals of beloved children’s book characters.  They’re adorable!  We love those characters, and putting pictures of them on our school walls encourages students to want to read the books.  How could anyone be against anything that encourages kids to read?

The first, and biggest problem is that those images don’t belong to me.  In fact, they legally belong to another artist and they’re protected by copyright law.  This means that using these images is illegal, and breaking the law has some pretty expensive consequences.  Using these images is literally stealing from another artist.  You may think to yourself, “who is going to come after a school who is using these images to promote something wholesome, like reading?”  Actually, yes, some copyright owners would (and have been known to) seek legal action against schools who have copyrighted characters in murals.  In 1989, the Walt Disney company ordered three schools in Florida to remove murals depicting their characters.  Harsh as it sounds, it is their right to do so.  They own the copyright, and though there is a limited arguement that the use of the characters meets Fair Use requirements, would you really want to have to fight The Walt Disney Company in court?  I didn’t think so.

Secondly, we need to model good digital citizenship to our students — now, more than ever, in the digital age where it is so easy to download, remix, and publish images.  Just as we have harsh consequences for students who plagiarize writing from the Internet, we need to take a stand against copying art, too.  Stealing from artists is just as egregious as stealing from authors — and has equally dramatic consequences!  When we put copyrighted images on our school walls, we are telling students that it is fine to copy artwork. By teaching student artists to respect others’ intellectual works, we model good digital citizenship, and we also teach students how to protect their own works and be successful creative entrepreneurs.

In addition, it’s just insulting to ask an artist  to copy someone else’s work.  If an artist is talented enough for you to trust them to copy someone else’s work, imagine how amazing your mural would be if you gave artistic license for them to create something just for your space!  When creating a mural, artists consider more than just the cute characters in the picture — they consider the use of the space, the existing structures and design of the space, the history of the location, and the tastes of the people who will be interacting with the space.  Asking an artist to create a one-of-a-kind mural designed for your space will yield much better results than asking an artist to copy Pete the Cat onto your wall — and it will be all yours.  It won’t be the same as every other school with Pete the Cat on the wall.

Also, when you ask an art teacher to just copy something onto your wall, you’re missing an opportunity to connect students to your project.  When we give students an opportunity to turn their ideas into a work of public art, we give them choice over what the finished product will look like, which is important because they are the beneficiaries of this project.  We also give them ownership of the project, by giving them that choice and the ability to express their artistic voice, not mimic another artist’s.   We give them an authentic learning experience, by involving them in every part of the planning, design, execution, and exhibition of their artwork.  But, most importantly, when we allow students to create art on a big, public canvas like a school wall, we tell them that they are worthy of the title “artist,” and that their creative work is worthy of such a prominent space.

If you’re worried that a student mural will look like… well… kid art… maybe you should consider who the mural is actually for.  Is it for the adults or for the kids of the school?  Besides, a good art teacher has plenty of experience making a room full of students with art supplies work to produce beautiful art, and will know how to manage this project in such a way that you don’t end up with a Jackson Pollock-style wall (and floors, and ceiling…) in your public space.  Also, your art teacher will have plenty of experience listening to your needs and concerns and working with you to come up with an idea that makes you happy and works within the constraints of the project.  That’s kind of what art teachers do.

I love Pete the Cat.  I also respect the creator of Pete the Cat, James Dean, and his ownership of all the great illustrations of that fabulous feline.  And, of course, I really love not breaking the law!  The next time you think about adding some color to your space, please consider asking your art teacher to turn the mural into a student-led project.  I promise, the results will be much more impressive than any character copied onto the wall with a projector, and the payoff for students will be Pete the Cat- level awesome!

 

Resources:

Chicago Tribune.   “Cartoon Figures Run Afoul of Law.”
27 April 1989   (p. 26).

Dean, James. (n.d.).  “James Dean, The Man Behind The Cat.”  Retrieved from:  https://www.petethecat.com/

Ribble, M. (2015). Digital citizenship in schools: Nine elements all students should know (3^rd ed.). Eugene, OR: International Society for Technology in Education