The art program at Lakeview provides students with many unique opportunities to make their creative mark on the school. In such a case this mark isn’t just a metaphor, but a physical change to the campus. Junior and Art 4 student Lillianna Masteller is currently undertaking painting a mural on the wall of the entrance to the Media Center as a long-term assignment.
School librarian Angela Sarko recalls that, “When Lilli first approached me for the assignment, she wanted to paint something permanently on the wall. We talked about different ideas of things that she could do, then it just hit me, we wanted to get rid of the bulletin board in the entryway and if she could do the mural there that would solve a lot of problems. I also wanted to have some sort of welcoming area for the Media Center as well as honor William J. Roush, the person that the Media Center is named after.”
This mural didn’t come without its own set of challenges. Renovation of the Media Center which entailed removal of the old carpeting and refinishing the concrete floor underneath created some obstacles.
According to Masteller, these changes caused her to stop and rethink how she would go about completing the project, “The wall was a bit messy for a while. There were different textures and holes and colors. The base of the wall had carpet that I tore off first thing. I knew the floor would be replaced while I was still working on it, so I had to refrain from painting a large portion of the wall.”
This wasn’t entirely a bad thing. Sarko expressed that “Waiting for the renovations gave her time to work through these issues and come up with a new idea. Students working on such projects are going to have to overcome problems with anything they do, and I think she did a good job. She has come in on the weekends, she has come after school, she comes in during her 5th period and lunch sometimes. She has to gather mostly her own supplies.” Clearly Masteller hard work has been paying off.
Art teacher Jeffery Piper has stated that he has “had several students create murals in the school depending on the class and project. Many of the murals around the school however have been done by my independent study students (Art 3 and Art 4). Some of their works have been assigned as a project and some of them have been suggested by the students.”
A lot of preparation is required before a student can paint a mural in the building.
The process goes like this: “Usually before a student is allowed to paint on the walls here at Lakeview we like to know that they understand how to use the materials and that they are dedicated to doing a good job as they see the project through.”
Piper also commented that “Lillianna Masteller is one of those students who is extremely passionate about art and is talented enough to create something impressive in our Media Center entrance way. She has not disappointed us with her execution of the painting.”
Students can eagerly await for the mural to be completed at the end of the first 9 weeks.
