Rainforest Mural Inspires Children of Tollgate Primary School

Brewers were only too happy to donate 12L of Albany Vinyl Silk, in a great number of colours, and sundries to local Eastbourne artist Megan Buttle. Megan wanted to design a vibrant, tropical inspired mural for the children of Tollgate Primary School where she and her siblings once attended. 

Watch the video here!

   Toreador                    Swansbill                     Pollen                      Iced Cupcake                Heather

    Tuft                           Lavish                     Green Eyes               Thirst Quencher          Mediterranean

With her dad, Tom’s encouragement, Megan designed the mural with the children of Year 5 in mind. As their school topic is currently around the rainforest, Megan wanted to design the perfect mural to encompass this. 

The once pale blue wall is now a broad array of vibrant colours, filled with all the wonderful animals and plants that inhabit the rainforest. The children also gave a hand in deciding which birds and animals should feature in the design, so they could have an active involvement in the mural.

Megan has always had a creative flair but had never created art on such a large scale before. With the help of her dad, the project took a total of 30 hours and gave Megan a great opportunity for her art to be experienced and admired. She also learnt more about painting on a large scale which she will take forward in future projects.

The children and teachers of Tollgate school were amazed by the final piece and every time they look at the mural, something new is discovered. Megan put painstaking detail into the design, and incorporated features of the wall to make them blend in with the mural…including little ants on top of the hand sanitiser!

The mural is also proving to be a great educational tool as the teachers draw on Megan’s use of colour and technique to inspire the children to make art themselves. Head of the school Stephen Dennis was thrilled to welcome Megan back:

“Megan is a former pupil at Tollgate, and it has been wonderful to welcome her back into school to work alongside the children in designing this fantastic mural.

The children had a very special opportunity to give their input and opinions over the design and format of the mural. The fact that it ties in so well with their topic work on rainforests has made the experience even more beneficial to them. To work alongside a local artist in making such a positive difference to their school environment has been extremely valuable and engaging for them all.

Thank you to Megan, and her dad Tom, for working so professionally with us in order to produce such a stunning piece of artwork.

Thank you also to Brewers for donating the paint and other materials for this project. This has been a real community project that will enrich the lives of our children for many years to come.”