Artistic Additions

With blank brick everywhere around FCHS, simple changes can go a long way. Art teacher Michelle Coleman took this opportunity to her advantage and had her second and fourth block students paint murals in the upstairs history hall and the downstairs foreign language hall. These new additions of art represent their hall subjects. For example, there are paintings of the Coliseum and Abraham Lincoln upstairs, while downstairs there are paintings of dancers and words in other languages. The colors of the murals are in a strict palette. “The murals do represent the school. We chose to do them in all shades of blues and golds to keep them within the school colors,” said Coleman, who oversaw other murals in the school last year. 

Inspiration and motivation for the murals was basically just the blank space for Coleman and Principal Margo Bruce, who asked Coleman and her students to paint the murals in the first. There has been positive feedback about the murals around the school, including from students who find  it relaxing to watch the students paint.“Generally, people love seeing color on the walls. It’s something that breaks the monotony of unmarked walls,” she said. This project had set goals in mind, and while most goals were met, some were not. The murals were originally supposed to be on all three floors, but the first floor has currently not been painted. “There are a few touch ups that need to be done, but I needed to give my kids a break. My plan is to finish it closer to the end of the semester,” said Coleman. 

Students participation was very essential to the process. Most students only painted one mural, but some did parts of multiple pieces. Seniors Madison Crawford and Dante Carter are two of Coleman’s fourth block students who painted murals. Carter’s piece was a cannon while, Crawford’s piece was a depiction of Rome’s Coliseum. “It was helpful to my art skills, but it was difficult because of all of the intricate tiny lines,” said Crawford.  Both students had their own projects in mind that they would like to paint, including Mount Rushmore and a World War II tank. “I would paint Mount Rushmore because it would show off the greatest presidents and it would be a big accomplishment because it’s a difficult piece to paint,” said Crawford. There were a couple of drawbacks to the project. “I hated that I had to wash my hands so much. I was always going to the bathroom washing my hands and it was really hard getting the paint off,” said Carter. Meanwhile, Crawford said that she would have rather done one big project that everyone could work on because it was too difficult to have multiple projects going on at once.

There newly added representations of student’s artistic abilities allows students to leave a piece of remembrance for up and coming students. Expect more out from Coleman’s students in December when they begin Coleman’s annual tape mural project.