From the moment kids entered the lobby of Stanley Museum, their faces lit up. Open tables and a surplus of art supplies awaited them.

One girl was so excited, she was bouncing in her chair. Their excitement only increased with the arrival of cheerful music playing in the air.

This was just the beginning of the Stanley Museum of Art Musical Mural event.

As the event began, the children eagerly grabbed paint sticks and drew shapes on the paper-covered tables while the tunes of Keith Haring’s mixtape played around them. Once a song ended, the event coordinators would call “Stop!” and the kids would be given 10 seconds to find new chairs, giggling all the while.

Keith Haring completely inspired this event, according to Graduate Assistant for Learning & Engagement Melanie Landsittel and University of Iowa MFA Candidate Agnes Harry Mills. According to them, Haring used to do drawing exercises with children.

One of his more famous collaborative murals was painted in 1989 when the city of Chicago designated the days of May 15-19 as “Keith Haring Week.” During this time, Haring worked with nearly 500 students from 63 high schools to paint a mural. Haring first painted his characteristic black outlines, and the students were given five colors: red, orange, sky blue, light green, and yellow.

According to the City of Chicago website, “The students were then given…minimal instructions to paint each section in a solid color and adjoining sections in different colors.”

Many students took creative liberties and painted messages to themselves, their schools, and their families.

The completed mural spanned 488 feet and is simply called “The Chicago Mural,” the panels of which currently reside in various schools across Chicago.

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While Iowa City’s Musical Mural may not be as famous, it is certainly just as impactful. Seeing how much the children loved to draw, at the end of the event, Landsittel encouraged the children to cut out their favorite drawings and take them home. She controlled the music, a bouncy mix of songs that had attendees tapping their feet.

“This mixtape is the same music [the Stanley] played when we announced the opening of the Keith Haring exhibit,” Landsittel said.

Here, imagination thrived, as a robot acquired a cactus hat, a green butterfly suddenly had bright pink spots, and a heart smiled up at you from the page surrounded by a wavy, colorful border. Here, a simple mark on a page became a collaborative masterpiece.

Stanley Museum’s Musical Mural event was the perfect blend of fun and art, the atmosphere filled with laughter and good music, crisp white paper buried under creative drawings and colorful scribbles, smiles all around from both kids and adults.

The Stanley Museum is familiar with events geared toward kids, as their “School’s Out at the Stanley” series includes events that are also free-to-attend activities for younger audiences. One upcoming event on Oct. 11 will focus on sculpture-making instead of murals.

It will teach children the art of sculpture by helping them transform a simple, cardboard tube into a colorful, creative masterpiece. This event will further the goals of the Musical Mural game by continuing to inspire artistry in youth in a fun way.