The Pixel Art Project

Weaving together the vibrant strokes of creativity

Nanonation has harnessed the power of imagination and transformed a delightful crayon masterpiece that schools and community groups generously contributed into an awe-inspiring interactive display.

For their most recent project, the Magic House Children’s Museum, they looked to Nanonation to create a digital version of their large St. Louis skyline mural. Creatively constructed from the flat end of crayons assembled by different schools and groups in the community section by section for months. The project became known as the Pixel Art project, geared toward teaching visitors the concept of creating images using pixels through an interactive digital process in which guests could participate.

The first part of the project consists of a 65-inch screen showing a similar image of the St. Louis skyline as the existing crayon mural. The user can then select a section of the image to work on with the intent that many different visitors can work on the large image by completing various areas of the picture. The partially completed image then remains on display until finally finished, which could take several days.

The second part of the Pixel Art project has younger visitors in mind. It includes two smaller screens that contain simple 8-bit artwork with fewer colors and less detail making it easier to complete in a shorter timeframe. Users can then email their finished artwork to themselves or family members.