For the past few months, walking towards Building 16 or Fields many have noticed members of Pine View’s National Art Honors Society (NAHS) up on ladders, or sitting in the grass, with a cart full of supplies, painting a large outdoor mural.
There has been talk of the club creating a mural at Pine View since last year, with a location and sketch decided on, but at the beginning of this school year, tangible progress was made. The piece is divided into three sections — forest, marsh, and beach — featuring over 30 types of Florida native plants and animals.
Before starting on the grand mural, the club practiced working together on a large painting of George Washington crossing the Delaware River for middle school social studies teacher Liz Ballard. As they painted NAHS President Ginger Kreithen learned valuable lessons about their teamwork that contributed to their work on the mural.
“It kind of taught me that instead of having everybody just work on everything at once, allowing people to have their own parts that are theirs really lets their creativity shine because they get to use their style and they get to use the colors that they want,” Kreithen said.
Before getting to the specifics, Kreithen photoshopped their plan onto the mural wall for a reference, and they started sketching. Following the sketches, they added flat colors,— areas of solid color meant to approximate where and what colors things will be.
Finally, they started adding the details that vitalized the mural. Each member worked individually on about two animals and one plant assigned to them, with some contributing to the background and filler work.
“That’s probably one of the best parts, just seeing everyone working together,” NAHS Vice President, Hana Mullen, said. “You don’t even realize it, but then within a week or two, it looks so much closer to being finished.”
These artists could be found working on the mural from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. most days, until 3 p.m. on club days, and even on some Saturdays. Many teachers and parents donated their time to supervise, especially NAHS club sponsor Sharon Salamon.
“She has been an amazing sponsor for not just NAHS, but for this project entirely,” Kreithen said. “She’s dedicating basically all of her lunch time to supervising us and sitting out there every day. She’s just been an amazing person.”
NAHS hosted a Mural Appreciation Party April 2, to celebrate their final product. Faculty, students, and parents gathered as Pine View Principal Dr. Stephen Covert, Assistant Principal Melissa Abela, Salamon, and Kreithen spoke on all of the efforts of those involved to bring this mural to Pine View’s campus.
As NAHS Club members cut the ribbon, they marked the completion of a project that will make a lasting impact at Pine View, inspiring future generations to appreciate the arts and the natural world.