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!
This message is from MPA’s Office of Admission from the November 25, 2025 issue of InsideMPA. 
This message is from MPA’s Office of Admission from the October 27, 2025 issue of InsideMPA. 
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It had been a handful of months since Mounds Park Academy Middle and Upper School visual arts teacher Renee Sonka learned that she had been nominated for a prestigious honor—Art Educator of the Year.
Upper School students at Mounds Park Academy dedicate tremendous time and energy to their work, embodying the values that make our community proud. In recognition of their accomplishments, MPA held the Upper School Awards Assembly on Friday, May 23 in the Nicholson Center. The event celebrated students who earned distinctions in areas such as Academics, National Merit, Scholarships, Yearbook, Choir, Band, Orchestra, Visual Art, Math, English, Science, Social Studies, Forensics, French, Spanish, Drama, Athletics, the Spirit of ’86, Certificates of Distinction, and the Alumni Association. Join us in congratulating these outstanding students! 
Approaching the end of their final year roaming the halls of MPA as students, we had the honor of interviewing many of the MPA Class of 2025 Lifers about their experiences at MPA, the only school they’ve attended for their entire academic careers.
A lot of things make MPA special, but for eighth grader Aili, these are the top five things that stand out the most!
At Mounds Park Academy, music is much more than an extracurricular activity. It plays a vital part in a child’s cognitive and emotional development by engaging the brain in ways few other disciplines can. It sharpens memory, strengthens attention, and boosts language skills. But beyond academic growth, music also nurtures empathy, creativity, and social and emotional intelligence through composing, performing, or simply listening. This is why music plays an essential role in Mounds Park Academy’s whole child, progressive, college-preparatory curriculum, PreK through grade 12.