Art students create mural

The+new+Wildcat+mural+that+decorates+the+wall+in+the+commons.

Taylor Radomski

The new Wildcat mural that decorates the wall in the commons.

Taylor Radomski, Reporter

Westerville South art students are finishing a mural in the commons, which they hope brightens the space while the current construction is happening.

The students working on the mural are from art teacher, Amy Roush’s, advanced painting class, which includes six seniors: Kylee Bratton, Rocio Mora senior, Vanessa Thabethe, Aidan Gias,  Catie Less, and Maddie Staheli. 

According to Roush, each student was given the task of creating three different designs  of what they wanted to put in the space. Then, they put them into a google slide that was shared with the class, and the final design for the mural was chosen from their suggestions. Ultimately, Roush said, the class chose Staheli’s artistic design.

Staheli was extremely excited about her artwork being selected.  But, she said, “I wanted to make it all of our own not just mine.” 

The students all had ideas they wanted to incorporate into the mural; the main ones Staheli said were a wildcat, wildcat eyes, and the South name. Staheli said she learned communication is key with incorporating everyone in the group’s ideas, and she is truly proud of her art class in itself.

 Roush mentioned that the project was not without complications. In order to project the image on the wall, they used a projector and traced the image using graphite sticks.  However, this task was initially challenging because mediums like charcoal and sharpies were either too dark or able to be smudged easily. 

Before deciding on a mixture of latex paint, Roush said they tested different paints such as watercolor and acrylic to find out which ones worked the best.

The Wildcat mural is located where the old doors were located to leave the commons area toward the senior lot. This mural is only temporary, meaning it will only be up for 18 months while the renovations are happening at South. 

Despite being temporary, Roush and her students are happy to gain experience in fixing the work environment, like patching the area and sanding it down, and  painting a mural for the school in general.