Editor's note: The following is a press release from the Jackson School.

Students at the Jackson School in Newton have been talking with their teachers and each other about genres of literature, and now, with the assistance of Bren Bataclan, Artist-In-Residence, they have unveiled a multi-panel mural that will hang in the Jackson School Library.

Bren Bataclan is a Cambridge, MA, artist with a background in computer animation. He has visited Jackson School many times in the role of Artist in Residence, and two of his student-inspired murals now hang in the school. Batacian’s projects elsewhere in the country have been covered by national press, such as CBSnews. 

Batacian’s “studio” is a conference room on the first floor of Jackson School, replete with canvases, paint brushes and sketches, and students frequently visit to view the progress of the murals. Very often the students are heard to identify various parts of the mural as their ideas now represented in art. Classes throughout the school also come down to the “studio” to discuss the art-in-progress with Batacian.

“The arts are an important part of our curriculum. The children are excited to see their symbolic interpretations of genres of literature as part of what will be a continuous mural,” said Principal Susan Niden.