Flydog has a fat, round body with crooked, spindly legs and a cute nose.

Flydog is also the name of a community project created by Canadian artist Fred Franzen, who has decided to help students make Bermuda a little more beautiful by constructing a giant mural to cover ugly Hamilton construction walls.

Flydog represents the creative spirit, our fullest human potential, guardian of the rights and quality of life for children of present and future generations.

Flydog looks like the artwork of an eight-year-old because, as many are beginning to appreciate, children are the ones with true, unfiltered creative talent.

Mr. Franzen, Masterworks Foundation artist-in residence, first came up with the idea for a beautifying mural project in 1974 while walking past a grey concrete wall in his Toronto neighbourhood. He convinced area students and teachers to work with him to create a large scale mural based on a collage technique.

One group of kids created the Flydog character, which served as the basis for a children's book entitled "I Am Flydog'', co-written by Mr. Franzen and Ruth Higgins and translated into five languages.

Since 1974, Mr. Franzen has worked on projects with at least nine different schools -- and with the Corporation of Hamilton's recent go-ahead, Sandys Secondary Middle School, Montessori Academy, West End Primary and Somerset Primary will create their own Flydog mural.

Mr. Franzen explained that regular-sized artwork created by the younger students will then be transferred onto eight-foot tall grids by older students.

More than 3,000 square feet will be covered on the walls surrounding the Seon Building property on the top of Spurling's Hill and along Front Street.

"What I like about this kind of project is that you don't reject kids because they're not `artists' - you bring in as many as possible,'' he noted.

"Frequently, students' artwork ends up stashed somewhere or on the fridge, but with this type of project their artwork is in a public space.

"The junior students do the artwork that can only be done by kids -- most of us have lost that kind of freedom -- and the older students become the producers, so to speak, responsible for making it happen.'' Students appear to be enthused and excited over the prospect of being recognised and respected for their creative output.

Sandys Secondary Middle School student Danielle Bailey said the project will be visual proof that youngsters of this generation are not as "lost'' as some tend to think.

"At first, I didn't even trust myself to do the gridlines because I thought I'd mess up, but they just said `go for it'.. . this project shows we're not hopeless.'' Thirteen-year-old Nicholas Clarke said the project was a positive one that helped boost students self-esteem.

"We want the public to know that we deserve this facility (the new middle school building) as much as anyone else,'' he said.

"All the people in Somerset are saying we aren't worth this and they shouldn't have spent this much money on us -- but we want them to know we can do anything we try to do.'' And Eric Bean, Jr. said: "It's giving us an options instead of writing graffiti. We're graduating soon and this is the last project we'll work on together... this is a way of telling the public that we can do anything we put our minds to.'' Student Shauntia Simmons said organising and constructing the mural was teaching students how to work together.

"We all have to cooperate with everybody because without cooperation, nothing will get done,'' she noted.

"I think it's better to have our art on the streets so everyone can see what we're doing... instead of it being in the school halls where they don't see it, they can pass it every day and remember us.'' Some of the younger students already began to think up ideas for the mural and are being given a few tips on artistic perspective by their teachers.

West End Primary student Makai Trott said his teacher took students outside to look at the building and figure out how they could draw it.

And ten-year-old Kamal Bashir said he was "happy, because my artwork will be in town and everybody's going to see it!'' Barbara Dillas, coordinator for Music, Dance, Art and Theatre at Sandys Secondary Middle School, said working on a large project like the mural helped promote a spirit of collective responsibility.

"For their art to be seen by locals all over is a positive vanity, and gives them inspiration to show an even greater quality of work,'' she said.

"Working on a large project like this gives them the ultimate freedom of not just looking at something rigid and small,'' she added.

"It's a brilliant idea, and with this type of mural, students are working in groups and everyone plays a part.'' Montessori representative Deborah Mitchell agreed that the collaborative effort was important for the students.

"In the final analysis, they'll be the ones to decide what pieces of the original artwork will best support the theme and assemble the collage themselves,'' she noted.

Erma Nisbett, art teacher at West End Primary and Somerset Primary, said the project was a benefit to everyone involved.

"I think it's helping the community and it's something good the community can see about our students,'' she noted.

"The students like their work to be displayed, and it's making them feel good about themselves.

"Some are very artistic and this is one of the only opportunities to realise what's inside them,'' she said.

"They're free to express their own ideas, and I don't curtail them -- I don't want to destroy what they see, their vision.'' Organisers for the Flydog project are also seeking adult support in organising students and helping to ensure safety on Front Street.

And the Masterworks Foundation will be exhibiting some of the students' artwork on February 12 so the public gets a better idea of what the finished project will look like.