Every day, students on campus walk past the sweeping and stunning artwork on walls, painted by both current and past students. These murals are the products of art classes on campus, inspired by, designed, and executed by students.
Milo Armstrong (‘24) helped paint one of these murals during their sophomore year.
“It was a really fun process. We actually ended up combining a lot of sketches into one thing,” Armstrong said.
However, not all the art ends up staying forever, and soon, some murals on the main side of campus will be painted over with new facility updates.
While it is sad to say goodbye to these murals, students are aware of the erasure ahead of time. Jenna Draine, an art teacher on campus believes that the change is necessary.
“Every four years we have a whole new set of students on campus. It would make sense that it is going to be painted over at some point and I tell my students that too. This is not going to last forever, but it’s here for a while,” said Draine.
The well-known culinary building mural is, full of cartoon vegetables and cooking eagles; whether or not a new one will be replaced on the new culinary building is not known by Culinary Arts teacher Amber Russel.
In addition, the culinary mural was a project asked for by Russel, and she encourages other teachers who want one to ask Draine as well.
“I contacted the art department, and Draine thought it was a great idea. Over days, the [students] painted it,” Russell said.
Even though some murals are being painted over, there will still be the ones in the 900s, and possibly new ones on the main side again.
Armstrong expresses interest in having more on campus and also hopes to help paint new ones.
“[Because of] the fences and how consistently colored the school is, it’s very bland and boring— it’s not a lot of fun,” Armstrong said. “It would be better if we brought more fun to the campus. Art brings beauty.”
Whether or not there will be new ones, murals are important to the school and allow students to represent themselves.
“It’s one of those pieces that represent the student population as they are. It’s really important that students feel connected to their school, and it’s certainly a way they can feel connected and leave something behind for others to enjoy and to beautify a space,” Draine said.
