Colorful celebration at Windermere Elementary

The walls at Windermere Elementary School are looking more colorful these days thanks to local artist Mike Pulido. He has been painting murals on the white walls in the cafetorium and hallways, showcasing the history of the town, which turns 100 this year.

Pulido has been working with his paints and brushes for about a month, creating different scenes throughout the campus.

Kindergartners are greeted with the town crest and a nature scene with trees, flowers and happy animals: a rabbit, squirrel, deer, blue jay and cardinal.

The first-grade hall depicts a sidewalk leading up to the town’s 1887 Schoolhouse, complete with a teacher welcoming a student. Small animals also are looking at a picture book in the foreground.

In the second-grade hall, children play in a lakeside park by a gazebo with various animals nearby. Third-graders see the town crest, trees and a heritage clock when they walk their halls.

The walls of the fourth-grade wing are painted to look like an orange grove, which used to dot the landscape in Windermere and West Orange County.

Pulido currently is working on the fifth-grade wall this week. He’s creating a swamp, with half of the swamp below water and half above. He’s adding an alligator and a sign warning folks of “dangerous creatures.”

Other hallways have blue skies and trees dripping with moss.

The cafetorium depicts a pine tree, lake and a soaring eagle on one wall and a shoreline with a moss-covered tree on another. The concrete pillars in the room resemble trees with various animals hiding among them.

Students exiting the room after lunch appear to be entering Windermere Town Hall.

“It just adds a little life to the room,” Windermere Elementary Principal Janet Bittick said.

The entrance to the media center looks like a library shelf with book titles such as “Charlotte’s Webb,” “Wonder,” “Dog Man,” “The Wild Robot,” “The City of Ember,” “Diary of a Wimpy Kid,” “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” “Wings of Fire” and “Dork Diaries.”

The main mural, created last year in the lobby, paints a serene scene by a tree-lined lake with flowering plants and an egret.

“Last year, Jane Ramsey (my co-PTO president) and I met with Ms. Bittick to discuss school improvements and how the PTO could help,” co-president Erin Hudson said. “She had mentioned that some other schools were adding character to their school through design and murals. We loved this idea! Last year, we focused on the front lobby, worked with a designer (who) volunteered her time (who is also a former student), and a few other vendors to bring the ‘Among the Lakes’ feel to this space.

“We updated furniture, added signage and had a beautiful mural painted on the main wall of the lobby,” Hudson said.

At that time, Pulido was advertising his mural-painting services, and the connection was made.

“We were lucky enough to find a very talented muralist, Mike Pulido with Mike’s Murals, (who) does a lot of work on vacation homes in Orlando. While he was in our school painting, it was a lot of fun to watch the kids walk by to see him working. He even gave a quick lesson on blending colors as they passed.

“This year, we had a very successful fundraiser, and with the town (of Windermere) celebrating the centennial, we asked Mike to come back and do some additional murals throughout the school,” Hudson said.

Walking through the halls is like taking a walk through Windermere, she said.

“Mike is so talented, and it has been so much fun to watch him transform our school,” Hudson said.

“The kindergarten one is more fun, cartoon animals for the kids and trying to do it a little more fun for the younger grades,” Pulido said.

“Last year, (Hudson) emailed me and asked if I would be interested in doing something for the school,” he said. “It’s really nice. … It’s fun. They’re very nice people, and the kids are all great here. They’re all complimentary, and it’s fun. I wanted to make it nice for them. I want them to have a nice memory.”

The PTO designed the mural program and went to Bittick for approval to make sure all of the pictures would match the aesthetics of the school.

“They came up with it and worked with him on the themes; it’s just very sweet,” Bittick said. “And the kids have loved watching him. He’s doing it while they’re all here. So, they got to sit during lunch and watch him, and they watch him in the hallway, and they’re just enthralled. And the teachers are using it as a teachable unit. They’re like, ‘You can take a talent and make it a job.’ This is that man’s talent and passion.”

The school also is participating in the town of Windermere’s Centennial Country Fair Saturday, April 5, at the Pines at Windermere. The chorus students have been invited to sing a centennial-themed song written for the occasion.