A - UCC Acosta Artist

Melanie Ariens is an environmental artist whose work emphasizes the Great Lakes and watershed awareness efforts to protect our water. She is also resident artist for Milwaukee Water Commons.

Ariens worked with Acosta Middle School students to design and paint murals at Walker’s point, across the street from the ‘A’ WaterMarker. Each mural in the 9 Pillars Mural depicts students from the school and images that depicts Milwaukee’s water history. In the murals, speech bubbles share local water facts with people who pass by. As a part of the design process students participated in WaterMarks walks and workshops.

"I would like to take the students the students through a mind mapping process to examine how water affects their life and their neighborhood and look at possibilities of sharing their knowledge of water with the community. I hope to inspire them to design a meaningful addition to the neighborhood that clearly comes from their voice. The goal is to make students feel empowered and knowledgeable about water facts and issues in Milwaukee. They don’t have to wait to be water leaders, they can start now.”

Life-sized wheat paste images of the students offering a glass or water, holding a sturgeon, or other poses based on their input, along with bilingual speech bubbles with water facts. These would be highlighted by painted accents and sealed with a graffiti-proof coating. It would be a fun way to share information while people are waiting to cross or pass through the area.