A new mural was completed in early July on the side of the Buffalo Academy for Visual and Performing Arts.

Cecily Brown, one of the foremost painters of her generation, spent six days in Buffalo to complete the mural. It is the first public art project of her distinguished career.

Students and teachers from the school got involved in the 11-week effort, along with local artists and Brown.

Students helped create stencils, mix paints and paint the mural.

An example of a stencil is shown to students in the art room. The teacher points out how the stencil needs to have bridges when it is cut so the design will hold together. The eye will fill in the pieces when it appears on the wall.

Brown (wearing a face mask) shares ideas with the students.

Jodi Lynn Maracle, a Mohawk artist and storyteller, shared a part of the Haudenosaunee creation story about a chickadee that sacrificed its life so humans could live that became part of the mural's imagery.

"Flight of the Chickadee" was completed on July 3.