May 3, 2026
Every year, Upper School Applied Painting students at Mounds Park Academy paint a piano together. The first piano was painted in 2012, making this the 14th annual piano! The painted pianos are part of an ongoing partnership between the MPA Art Department and Keys 4/4 Kids, a local non-profit that refurbishes pianos and supports art and music programs in under-resourced communities.
The painted pianos are placed around the Twin Cities as part of the Pianos on Parade program. The piano that Applied Painting students painted last year is currently on display at Red Balloon Book Store in St. Paul.
A theme is decided each year, based on ideas submitted by students and also considering the design and era of the actual piano. This year’s piano included flowers carved into the molding on both sides of the front panel. This detail created a natural match for the delicate flowers seen in Christi Belcourt’s work. Belcourt, a prominent Métis artist from Canada, granted students permission to reference her painting, “Bird Song,” for this project.
Students began their study by going on a field trip to see Christi Belcourt’s piece, “It’s a Delicate Balance,” at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, and also Dyani White Hawk’s exhibit Love Language at The Walker Art Center. The field trip helped students compare and contrast the two Contemporary Native artists, both of whom are heavily influenced by traditional beadwork, yet apply that inspiration in very different ways.
Students worked collaboratively to paint the piano; They signed up to complete needed tasks throughout the various stages of the process, including painting the base, mixing the colors, drawing the design, transferring the design, and painting dots. Lots and lots of dots! Students learned that Belcourt uses knitting needles to create dots, and so they emulated that technique.
In addition to working on the piano in shifts, students each created a pair of related paintings. Students selected and researched a Native Artist or Native Art Form of their choice to influence their compositions. The group selected a wide variety of topics to study, including painting, collage, tapestry, quillwork, and beadwork. With the intention of learning and honoring, not appropriating, students credited their influences on the tags, while also incorporating their own ideas into the work.
Please enjoy viewing the connections between collaborative and individual work—a wonderful blend of both unity and variety!
