Over the last few months, the Art In Public Places class has worked on a new mural. The mural will be placed within the main A Building stairwell. It will be replacing the previous mural that has been up since 1996.
“It’s a class you can join called Art In Public Places,” sophomore Alex Brumm said. “It’s a kind of advanced class. It’s really nice, you get to work together to create art with other people.”
The original mural has remained untouched for the last 29 years. Then it was given to the Central City Market to be preserved. It’s going to be put in an old building that they’re making into a food court there.
Art teacher Kathryn Curry took the lead in painting the new mural with help from local artist Deb Bunnell. Bunnell is a local artist well known with the Allegheny Museum of Art. The two worked together to lead a group of 15 students in designing and painting the mural. These students were from her Art In Public Places class.
“It was exciting to know that there was going to be something different in the school,” junior Serenity McLaughlin said. “Something more updated and modern than what there used to be.”
The Southern Allegheny Museum helped fund the mural by providing an Artist In Residence grant, which paid for almost half of the mural’s creation, and the Altoona Area School District Foundation provided the rest. Though this mural was funded by outside sources, the full creative liberty was given to the Art in Public Places classes. They decided the mural needed to be a sign of inclusivity with bright colors; the students even included sign language and braille at the bottom of the painting.
“The kids were really heavy on wanting something bright and energetic because what was originally there wasn’t,” Curry said.
Making the mural was a final project for the marking period that Curry gave to her class. Every student was given the chance to make a new design and from those designs one was picked to be painted. The students worked on the painting starting in november around thanksgiving, working on it for two months before it was prepared to be put up in the main stairwell of the A Building.
“They wanted something that anyone can relate to,” Curry said “Something bold with energetic colors, they wanted something representing diversity in students and that we’re all a part of one school, but we all bring something different to the table. So that’s kind of the shattered pieces coming together into the mountain lion.”
When the mural was finished it came to resemble a mosaic lion centered on the canvas. Its body was made up of bright eccentric colors and bold details. Under the lion, Altoona was spelled with braille and sign language. The students were proud of what they painted and can’t wait for it to be put up on Feb. 14.
“It really helped me and my friends get along together,” senior Lucie Jones said. “and we kind of learned how to paint together throughout.”
