When we first noticed the mural gallery, this middle school had more than 60 reproductions of great works of art, painted by students under the supervision of one of the teachers. In the summer of 2001, the school was renovated, and only a few of the murals were preserved. Today less than a third remain, but they are still worth a visit.
As Chris said on his web page about the murals, we like these reproductions because they remind us that the art is in your mind. You have to already be familiar with the works depicted to understand why they are considered great.
Start at the front of the school at the coordinates posted above. Notice how the point of the building's roof that sticks out is used. (This is no longer a clue, but I still wanted to point it out.)
Before you walk down the main corridor, go to N 37° 21.844 W 122° 04.958. The number of letters in the first word of the painting's title here is B.
Now walk down the main corridor and around the quad and examine the murals for answers to the following questions. The answers are not intended to be tricky. Identifying the correct painting for each answer should be the hardest part.
There are two adjacent pictures from a popular children's book. A is the number of muralsts involved in reproducing the older one.
C relies on two works that have recently appeared. Look for Georgia O'Keefe's "Red Canna", (behind a fence) then follow that wall around to the right. The second painting you come to is a still life. C is the digit that appears the most times in that painting.
In a painting by one of the doors to room B4, what is being held by the subject of the picture? (This is D.) Is it:
7: a purse
8: a musical instrument
9: an umbrella
0: flowers
E is the number of muralists from 1981 listed on the painting situated between Edward Hicks'"Peacable Kingdom" and Manet's "The Fifer".
F is the number of points on the highest "star" in the blue painting directly across from the detail from Dali's "Persistence of Memory".
The cache is located at 37 21.ABC 122 04.DEF.
Blach School welcomes visitors when school is not in session: weekends, after 4pm, and most of the summer.
Added August 31, 2003:(Sorry mmp; I forgot until after the FTF.) There's a bonus here for the first several cachers to show up with cameras. There's a virtual cache "Murals Across America", for which you just have to be the first to take a picture of a particular mural (and your GPSr). I've already logged one of these murals, but the rest are still up for grabs.
Added September 8, 2003: In response to a few comments, we have clarified the questions for Answers C and E.
Added November 5, 2004: The painting for F is gone, so the clue has been changed.
Added June 19, 2005: As shadow101 pointed out, the final cache location is not wheelchair accessible, but you can get within 10 feet of it. Wheelchair-users who are caching with others should be able to enjoy this cache.
Added March 5, 2006: Another work used as a signpost has disappeared. I've rewritten the clue for F to not rely on the missing works.
Added October 12, 2009We moved the cache off campus and changed a few of the clues to use new murals and point to the current location.
Added September 13, 2014We changed the clue for B slightly, without changing which mural it referred to.