Medford’s McGlynn Middle School unveils new mural

Diana Surabian has been walking by a white wall in the corridor near her McGlynn Middle School classroom every day for years. Last year, she even loaded the area with student artwork for an exhibition.

But the wall remained plain, despite Surabian’s efforts to use it as a display area.

“I can’t do that all the time,” Surabian said. “I just kept looking at that wall and said, ‘Something needs to go there.’”

The question was what? And then a lightbulb went off: a mural!

Eight years ago, Surabian worked at an afterschool program in Burlington with a woman named Anna Dugan. The two became friends.

These days, Dugan owns and runs her own successful mural-painting and art project business Annadidathing. She’s done murals for everything and everyone, from schools to the TD Garden to the Dunkins’ suite at Gillette Stadium.

“I love her work,” Surabian said. “I knew I wanted to collaborate and I wanted it to be meaningful to the kids and community.”

Surabian reached out to Dugan.

“I’d say I started planning last summer,” Surabian said, of her idea for the mural. “I started talking to Anna about how she worked and I started looking at grants.”

But all the grants were awarded at different times and Surabian knew she was going to need more than one to cover the $7,500 needed for the mural.

And, she said, she didn’t let on to the kids in her classes just in case the grants didn’t come through.

“Once I got a few grants, I knew it was going to happen,” Surabian said. “I think that’s when two of the four had arrived.”

That was February and March.

Anna comes on board

Surabian talked with her students about what the mural should entail. First, she said, they talked about the concept of fine arts and then the McGlynn’s four pillars (Achievement, Collaboration, Equality and Support).

The school then held three workshops, inviting all students to participate in putting the images up on the wall.

“They did an awesome job,” Dugan said, of the students. “This is one of my favorite projects that I’ve worked on.”

Dugan added Medford’s students were really able to express the concepts they wanted for their mural.

“They stepped up to the plate,” she said.

Dugan said sometimes she goes to schools and there’s little interest from the students. But that just wasn’t the case in Medford.

“The kids were very excited and very engaged,” she said. “They asked good questions and showed genuine interest. This was really, really special.”

Dugan said the entire project took about five days, the first two working with students. Then she spent about three more days working by herself.

Dugan, who has been painting murals full time since 2020, said just watching the reaction of students at the unveiling on May 1 was amazing.

“It was very validating,” Dugan said. “I put in a lot of work and the kids put in a lot of work and Diana put in a lot of work and we had the support of the school faculty. This entire thing was super validating. It just gives you the warm and fuzzies.”

The unveiling

The mural is a first of its kind for the Medford Public Schools. And on Thursday, students and faculty filled the fine arts hallway to see the finished mural.

Surabian thanked the Mass. Cultural Council, the Medford Cultural Council, the Medford Educational Foundation (MEF), the Cummings Foundation and the Medford Kiwanis Club for their grants and contributions to make the mural project happen.

Former School Committee member Paulette van der Kloot and former Assistant Superintendent Diane Caldwell were at last week’s event. Both are part of the Medford Educational Foundation, which started 10 years ago and gives out grants for just these types of school projects.

Van der Kloot, who founded MEF in 2015 with Anne Frenning Kosuth, said there are two funding cycles, one in the spring and one in the fall. Teachers are invited to put forward proposals.

“We look at the impact of the projects,” van der Kloot said. “We try to make sure different students are impacted by the projects.”

For Surabian, that meant $1,000 from MEF. A well spent amount, especially for the students who participated.

“Everyone wanted to be part of the mural,” Surabian said. “We held sessions in the afternoons and Art Club also knew about it and participated. I can definitely say there was a good amount of participation. We had a full class, every seat was full.”

And how did Surabian feel once she finally saw her blank wall finally come to life?

“I almost started crying,” she said. “When I helped pull away the barrier, it was very touching to see it all come together and all the kids were a part of it.”