A year-long arts and environmental education initiative in Pembroke, Malta has transformed how local primary students see their own neighborhood—literally. The ceramic mural created by Year 5 pupils at St Clare College, Bice Mizzi Vassallo Primary School, now permanently installed as public art, represents a distinctive fusion of hands-on pedagogy and community-driven creativity.
The installation, titled "Traces of Pembroke: Seeing with Our Feet, Walking with Our Eyes," was inaugurated in June 2026 and features dioramas, handcrafted ceramic pieces, and environmental slogans that reflect the children's direct observations of their locality. Rather than a top-down art assignment, the project emerged from guided neighborhood walks that encouraged students to document, discuss, and reimagine the streets they traverse daily.
Where to See the Mural
The ceramic mural is now permanently displayed at the school grounds and is accessible to the public. Anyone living in or visiting Pembroke can view the work—a deliberate choice to integrate the art into the community fabric rather than confine it to a hallway or classroom. The installation serves as a tangible reminder that the area's identity is shaped not just by urban planning or municipal decisions, but by the perspectives of its youngest residents.
Why This Matters
• Local identity through art: Students gained a deeper understanding of Pembroke's environmental and cultural landscape, translating observations into permanent public artwork.
• Educational innovation: The initiative demonstrates how arts education can extend beyond the studio, turning geography, environmental science, and civics into subjects explored through creative practice.
• Community engagement: For families in Pembroke, the mural provides a point of connection and pride, showing how the neighborhood is seen through the eyes of its younger generation.
From Walks to Walls
The pedagogy behind the mural is straightforward but rigorous. Social practice artist Raffaella Zammit and art teacher Cynthia Saliba facilitated a series of neighborhood excursions where students were tasked with observing architectural details, environmental challenges, and everyday routines unique to Pembroke. These walks became data-gathering exercises, with children sketching, photographing, and discussing what they saw.
Back in the classroom, those observations were translated into ceramic forms—a medium chosen for its durability and tactile quality. Students hand-built tiles, figurines, and relief panels, each representing a specific aspect of Pembroke: streetscapes, natural elements, or environmental concerns the children flagged during their walks. The ceramic pieces were then assembled into a cohesive mural installation, designed to withstand Malta's climate while serving as a permanent visual record of how the young residents of Pembroke perceive their surroundings.
The environmental slogans embedded in the mural weren't prescribed by adults but emerged from group discussions among the students, reflecting their own concerns about litter, green space, and neighborhood upkeep. This element of youth voice is what distinguishes the project from traditional school art assignments.
Why Ceramic?
The choice of ceramics as the primary medium is worth understanding. Unlike paint, which fades under Malta's intense sun and salt air, fired ceramic is weather-resistant and low-maintenance. It also requires a multi-step process—shaping, drying, firing, glazing—that teaches students patience, precision, and problem-solving. Each piece must be structurally sound enough to survive the kiln, a constraint that forces young artists to think about material properties and long-term durability.
Ceramic work also has deep roots in Maltese craft traditions, from architectural tilework to devotional objects. By working in clay, students connect to a centuries-old practice while producing something entirely contemporary.
What This Means for Malta's Education
For educators and parents, the Pembroke project offers a model of how place-based learning can be structured within schools. If you're raising children in Malta or involved in education, this type of initiative—where students become close observers of their own community—demonstrates an alternative approach to traditional classroom instruction.
For expats and newcomers, projects like this reveal how Malta's education system is experimenting with pedagogies that prioritize community engagement and creative problem-solving. Understanding these developments can inform school selection and extracurricular decisions.
What Happens Next
The Pembroke mural will remain installed indefinitely, barring damage or renovation. The real impact of this project will be measured by whether similar place-based, community-focused art initiatives are adopted more widely in Maltese schools. Parents interested in supporting their children's involvement in arts education can inquire with their local schools about whether similar projects are planned or in development.
