What you need to know:
- The Public Art Club is painting a mural on the large metal storage container in the art wing
- Officers and members have been working on the mural during lunch and tutorial, and anyone who wants to help out is welcome to join
- The club is planning on completing more murals like this one in the future, starting with other sides of the storage container
On Jan. 15, Public Art Club commenced work on their mural to beautify the campus art wing. After having completed various temporary murals on bulletin boards, this project will be the club’s first permanent mural in years. One of the major goals of the club is to decorate the school through various forms of art, and painting the mural is just one of the first steps for them to achieve this objective.
Club leadership have hoped to paint a mural since before the COVID-19 pandemic, and were finally able to realize this goal this school year. After gaining approval from ASB, the officers carefully budgeted out the supplies they needed: paint, paint rollers and primer. After consulting their adviser, art teacher Judy Schulze, they decided to locate the mural on the side of a storage container facing the window of Schulze’s classroom in the courtyard of the art and choir wing.
“I talked to the previous art teacher about the view outside the art room window and we both thought the large metal storage container wasn’t very nice to look at, so we thought it would be a good spot to paint a mural,” Schulze said.
During weekly meetings, club members brainstormed a variety of ideas for the design of the mural. Through a careful selection process, they ultimately decided on a drawing made by senior and club treasurer Ayla Feng. This design was inspired by the decorative succulents and vines that can be found around Schulze’s art classroom as well as silhouettes of students featured in the middle of the painting.
“We were originally thinking of doing a monochromatic mural, but then we decided on having six main colors for the design,” Schulze said. “Another important thing was figuring out how to incorporate the window with the bars on it that is on the crate into the design.”
After kick starting the process on Jan. 15, the club has been hosting weekly meetings on Wednesday at lunch to work on the mural. Outside of the weekly meetings, officers and members have also been working on the mural during their free time during tutorials and after school. The painting will ultimately be completed with the help of PAC members, but anyone who is interested is welcome to help the team.
The mural is estimated to be completed sometime in the spring of 2024. After the completion of this first project, PAC plans to begin other similar projects around the school to spread their love for art.
“Our mural will definitely beautify the art room, and, in the future, we also plan on expanding the project as well,” junior and PAC Vice President Effie Wang said. “Since there are multiple sides to the storage box, that will probably be where we focus on next.”
While the main incentive for painting the mural is to beautify the campus, this project will also be promoting the PAC as a whole.
“I hope the mural can give the Public Art Club more exposure as more people can see the members’ skills,” sophomore and PAC member Tanishka Sharma said. “I also wish that it can inspire a lot of the students that pass by to join the club as well.”
