Banksy signs mural at elementary school

Administrators at an elementary school in Bristol, England, arrived in the morning to find acclaimed street artist Banksy had painted a mural on one of the facility's walls as a gift to students.

The mysterious artist, whose identity is unknown, took advantage of a school break last week to complete his work depicting a girl rolling a tyre in flames, EFE news reported.

Banksy left behind a letter that was found by the Bridge Valley School's principal.

The street artist expressed his gratitude for having one of the buildings in the school named after him in a vote by students.

Principal Geoff Mason said his intention was to preserve the mural where Banksy painted it, adding that "there are no plans to sell it".

"I got here and found this beautiful mural painted by Banksy. It's fantastic that Banksy, such a famous person, chose to do this in our school," Mason said.

The school had sent the artist a letter informing him about the use of his name on one of the facility's buildings, but Mason said they were not expecting such a response.

Many of Banksy's murals in London and other cities have been sold or auctioned off for hundreds of thousands of pounds.

A Banksy work, titled "Slave Labour", was removed from the wall in north London's Wood Green district, where it had been painted, and later sold for more than $1.1 million at an auction.

--IANS

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