Artwork > Community Mural Projects > Youth Projects > Schools

Sail, 2017
Anchor Academy, Middleboro

I was honored to lead a collaborative mural project at Anchor Academy as part of an artist-in-residency with the Justice Resource Institute. This was the second of three JRI murals and it took place in the Winter of 2017 as I worked with high school students with social/emotional needs. It was inspired by the words of one of the students who described his school as “anchoring the present to sail to the future.” 

Read below for the artist statement written by two of the students:

This mural, called Sail, was inspired by the words of one of our students who shared the idea of “anchoring the present to sail to the future.” Led by artist Tova Speter and supported by JRI, this project helps to visualize the spirit of the school in a creative way.

To anchor is to ground; it gives us the confidence to succeed. Anchoring is allowing us to help each other. The things we do have an impact on each other. We inspire each other to do great things. We have the strength to change everything. We are “anchoring the present to sail to the future.”

There are many hidden meanings in this mural that wouldn’t be found at first glance. For example, the sun is a compass, as it represents the direction that we are headed. Music and sports are two “anchors” for our students. These things help ground us and help to keep us moving toward our goals. The students singing, on the far left, generate the wind pushing the sailboat, which is moving toward the basketball hoop and the sun. The person on the sailboat is trying to make a shot with the basketball, but we can’t do everything on our own, and sometimes we need support. This is depicted by the person near the hoop, helping his/her friend get the ball into the basket. The anchor in the water is connected to the boat with a string of positive words such as “perseverance” and “growth.”

The winged anchor reminds us of an angel’s wings and provides the inspiration for us all to keep moving together and onward toward our dreams. It also represents the idea that we can take our anchors with us and anchors can help fly us forward. There are four hidden anchors in the mural: in the music, in the boat, in the water, and in the sun. On the sand are the actual paw prints by Blue and Wally, the nurse’s dogs. This signifies that anchors can be many things to many people. Finally, the waves approaching the island are made up of our handprints. This means, if we all work together, we will have a greater impact.

This mural shows that the stormy weather in life can’t stop us as long as we work together toward achieving our goals and always remember that we all have an anchor.