This is a 4’ x 10’ mural featuring the tribes of the Chesapeake region.  

We learned about and were inspired by the watercolors of John White, governor of the lost Roanoke Colony.  John White was an insightful and accomplished artist who painted day-in-the-life imagery of the indigenous people of the Ablemarle Sound in the 1580’s.  

 

White was the grandfather of Virginia Dare, the first recorded English birth on the Atlantic Seaboard.  Virginia and her parents disappeared with the rest of the 100 or so colonists while White was in England gathering more supplies for the colony. No trace has been found of the group although there are several promising archaeological sites in the area that have provided clues to their fate.

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Working with a group of 70 children with learning differences we painted Chesapeake flora and fauna and an Algonquin village circa 1550 AD based on Governor White’s artworks.  

 

This project was created as part of our artist in residence program which is designed to teach cultural literacy of the Tidewater area

in classrooms across the region.

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