By Laine Penney
Most of the hallways, corridors and rooms on campus are blank, white walls. But occasionally, you may find a large, prowling panther splayed across the gym wall. You may also find the school’s iconic logo plastered on buildings in bright blue and deep black, or a unique collage of images illustrating panther pride that wraps around the corner of the F-Wing building. These are our campus murals, painted by staff, professionals and students alike, and they give color to the blank canvases that are our walls.
One of the marvelous murals on campus is the science mural on top of the H-Wing. It was created around 2010, detailing the many different types of sciences that make up our world. Against the rainbow colored hair of a girl embracing Earth, it features chemistry, marine biology, and paleontology. It was created by many hardworking AP Art students under Mr. Thompson, the former art instructor.
Another mural painted by talented AP and Art 2 students is the one in room H-114. This mural shows different places around the world in frames in front of a beautiful landscape, featuring two wonderfully detailed painted women. This mural was created when Mr. Frazier was the art instructor, around 2012.
Some murals on our campus are painted by professional artists or local artists collaborating with students. For example, the F-Wing mural was painted by a local artist working with students over a couple of days around 2014. They created a mural full of panther pride, with fun designs and bright colors showing us that “panthers rule!” One of the walls reads “ComYOUNity,” in graffiti-like letters against a bridge, above little dancing people, showing students that they are a part of a community on campus. In regards to the many large panther logos on campus, those were done by professional muralists over the span of a couple years.
Painting these wonderful murals does come with obstacles. The school needs funding, time, and most notably, students willing to contribute. However, there have always been talks about making more murals. The graphic design classes help produce ideas to put more murals on campus. With the right support, we can make our campus even more colorful.
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