The basketball court in 2022… Credit: Laura Glesby file photo …and the court today. Artist Haejin Park, matching the mural: “I wanted the design to be simple so everyone could paint.” Anyone taking jump shots on the Kimberly Field basketball court will now float atop swathes of yel lows, oranges, and greens — and staying a few degrees cooler — thanks to the work of a local artist and students from nearby Betsy Ross Art Design Academy. Members of the school’s inaugural high school class tried the court out for themselves on Wednesday morning, after a press conference celebrating the completion of the city’s third “cooling mural” — which is located on the basketball court itself. A cooling mural uses a highly reflective paint — StreetBond cooling paint — to help reduce surface temperatures, therefore making the court a little less warm moving into summer. The project was funded by the city arts department’s Neighborhood Cultural Vitality Grant Program and supported by the Yale School of the Environment, Urban Resources Initiative, and the city’s Parks Department. The court was also repaved in recent years, allowing it to be painted. “I remember being your age, believe it or not,” Betsy Ross Principal Jennifer Jenkins told her students. “I used to go ride my bike and go to the park in the heat of the day, and sometimes it would just be too hot to stay out and play.” Haejin Park, a recent graduate of the Yale School of Art and a current fellow at NXTHVN, began the design process for the mural alongside the school’s rising ninth graders around a year ago, she said. (Betsy Ross began the transition this year from a middle school to a 7-12th grade high school.) Park said she led students through design workshops, where she handed out sheets with the lines of a basketball court and asked them to sketch their ideas. “It had a lot of flowers,” ninth grader Ren Ayala recalled of her and her classmates’ sketches. Ren signed her name in chalk along the edge of the mural with her classmates. “It was around spring.” Park said that all the painting occurred over the course of five days, just last week. Students, families, and neighbors were invited to participate. “I wanted the design to be simple so everyone could paint,” she said. Park said she became interested in public art after taking a class with mural historian and Yale School of the Art Dean Kym Pinder, who was also in attendance at Wednesday’s press conference. “I wanted to learn how art can transform places.” Park said she typically paints with watercolor on paper and canvas. Ren and fellow ninth graders Tessa Cruz, Cristel Martinez, Nooria Noorzai, and Shamar March said that while they sketched, they “unfortunately” weren’t able to be part of the painting process. They don’t play basketball very much, either. “My cousin plays basketball,” said Tessa. The students all agreed that even if they don’t play basketball, they know what it feels like to be too hot during summer. They said they were proud to play a part in the project. A few students hung around to play basketball, running up and down the court and making shots. Shamar joined them. While the paint might help, “it’s still hot,” he said. Betsy Ross ninth graders Nooria, Ren, Shamar, Cristel, and Tessa. The post Kimberly Basketball Court Gets Cooler appeared first on New Haven Independent. ...read more read less