Today we’d like to introduce you to Carol Bowman.
Hi Carol, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I started Learning In Color in July 2014 as a Special Education classroom teacher who simply wanted to get my classroom painted. I understood the critical role environment plays in how students progress in their learning spaces and I wanted to ensure that when my students walked into our classroom that they felt inspired, supported, and motivated to learn. I didn’t want to paint it using the traditional white or gray colors used in most classrooms, so I did a little research and was blown away by the amount of information that existed around the topic of color and learning. Having discovered this information, I simply could not just stop at having my classroom painted but I then sought out to raise awareness of the impact that color has on learning and to add color and meaningful art to more schools on a larger scale.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The most challenging obstacle I faced starting out was getting the key decision-makers in the schools to buy into the value of the work that I was doing. Although many principals and district leaders were impressed by the work that I was doing, they weren’t quite ready to allocate funding to cover the costs of what they saw as beautification. As I continued to do more projects on a volunteer basis and involve local businesses as funding partners, the demand for our services grew and schools were now reaching into their discretionary budgets and soliciting the support of their school partners to fund these projects.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
We bring school walls to life with COLOR! The vision of Learning In Color is to design color-rich, art-filled learning environments that inspire students and help them make meaningful connections to their learning environment, this in turn helps to improve student academic and social-emotional learning outcomes. We work with local contractors and artists to paint interior spaces and add custom art and murals.
We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you?
When people ask me how Learning In Color got started, I simply tell them I’m just a teacher who was insistent on getting my classroom painted even after my principal told me that there was not enough money in the school’s budget to do so. He recognized my persistence and finally said, “If it means that much to you, you have my permission to paint it yourself”. This was the green light or “stroke of luck” that I needed. I never could have never imagined that this one single desire would turn into a movement to transform K-12 school buildings into art-filled, color-rich learning environments where ALL students excel!
Pricing:
- Classroom Painting $800.00 – $1,200.00
- School entrance & lobby painting $2,250.00 – $3,750.00
- Interior Murals $3,500.00 – $5,000.00
- Exterior Murals $4,000.00 – $6,000.00
- Interior Design & Consultation $1,750.00 – $2,500.00
Contact Info:
- Website: www.learningincolor.org
- Instagram: @learningincolor
- Facebook: Learning In Color Corporation
- Youtube: Learning In Color
Image Credits
All photos taken by Learning In Color’s Founder, Carol A. Bowman
