The knight mural painted by art students under direction of Mr. Gillespie.Ethan Trunnell
SJHS Staff Writer
Last year Mr. Darrel Rolfe, the principal at SJHS, asked Mr. Jehtro Gillespie, the art teacher, about replacing the meadow mural with something more SJHS-centered. Mr. Gillespie liked the idea of the students painting it. The next day he asked for volunteers, and over the course of a month six to eight kids replaced the former mural with a picture of our school mascot, the SJHS knight.
Our school goal is to become like knights and to be effective communicators, responsible citizens and successful learners. If we see the representation of these goals every day, big as life, it will help inspire us to become what our teachers and administration are teaching us to grow up to become.
This mural is painted with house paint. Yes you read right, house paint! Mr. Gillespie went to Lowes and bought mismatched clearance paint. It is fairly cheap, very durable, and super long lasting. These characteristics ideally suited the artists’ needs.
A grid system was the solution to the dilemma of making a small picture nearly ten times the size it started out as. First Mr. Gillespie copied a picture of the school mascot (the knight) and applied a grid to the picture. Then the students drew a giant grid over the older mural and carefully worked on each box. Then they drew what was on the small picture onto the wall and moved on to the next box eventually the whole picture was completed.
It took them a month, and the final product was a great new picture of our symbol and mascot. The new mural represents what the teachers and students of Springville Junior are striving to and accomplish.
