Nicola Marray-Woods

The most recent commission from Howard Junior School was to design a Narnia themed classroom mural. The challenge was to create images that were faithful to the spirit of the stories without the associated 1950s racism, sexism and class attitudes. I re-read all of the books and pulled out many mythical elements and landscapes that could inspire the children in the class to create their own worlds in their writing. 

Some of the more obscure characters and settings were given a prominent role such as Jewel the unicorn, naiads and dryads. A sequence I had totally forgotten from reading the books as a child, of Lucy viewing an underwater kingdom from the deck of the Dawn Treader, became the focal point for the front of the room and I had a little fun painting Mr Tumnus and Mr & Mrs Beaver's lodge!