March 29, 2024

Student murals add character to C-M community

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Located throughout the Colfax-Mingo Jr-Sr High School are more than 10 large-scale wall murals designed and constructed by students throughout the past eight years. These murals have become staples in the academic culture and have allowed students and teachers to become more involved in their school.

"I found the murals to be a wonderful way to bring students in who wouldn't otherwise be interested in art," C-M junior senior high school art instructor Jeff Sontag said.

The first student murals were made using old tables thrown out following the construction of the new school. These murals are now hung on the walls in the art classroom.

In 2007, the idea of a "fantasy city" mural was created by art students and Sontag helped enlarge the drawing. The mural, which took numerous classes and students involvement, was completed after two years.

But the the mural project didn't stop there. Since then, C-M students have made four middle school murals, nine high school school murals and enriched the lives of students, faculty and visitors of the school facilities.

"I very much enjoy the murals," C-M Jr-Sr High School Principal Todd Jones said. "I have yet to have anyone from outside our school not 'ooh and awe' over the murals when they come in the building. They get more positive comments than almost anything else we have."

The process of creating a mural requires innovation and teamwork. Students work in small teams to come up with a mural concept, sometimes using bright colors and abstracts, or a reproduction of classic or even a student original.

Teams then enlarge the image and apply it to plywood. Over the years, students have used their creativity to expand on acrylic color and texture by incorporating recycled materials such as broken CDs, Gatorade bottles, toothpicks or ceramic tiles. The murals have morphed into using twenty different mediums.

It has become a well-known and familiar project for all students.

"I believe that the murals act as symbols of pride for our students. Like a majority of our murals the “Tigerhawk” mural in the front lobby has had many hands involved in its conception and completion. Each person, no matter how fleeting their involvement, has had an important part in the mural’s completion," Sontag said.

It has become a project that involves faculty as well. Some of the murals are done on the doors of classrooms, like the Picasso done for the Spanish teacher, and an abstract done for the music classroom.

"Up until recently my favorite mural was the trumpet keys outside the band room. However, now the Tigerhawk mural out front is my favorite," Jones said.

Sontag tries to finish murals before the end of the school year, but oftentimes a mural continues to take shape with a new class of students. The murals are public art done by a rotation of artists, he said.

"Students want to keep working on them and its not necessary for the same students to work on them until their done," Sontag said.

The projects have taught students lessons in art such as color and history, but more broadly lessons in self-reflection, teamwork, leadership and problem solving that can be applied to all aspects of life. The aesthetic appeal and more importantly witnessing students grow as individuals has been rewarding for faculty and administration.

"This has been an ongoing project for the art department and you can see the different flavors of the students as they develop the mural and then complete them," Jones said. "This was a great idea by Jeff Sontag, and I am very proud of this project."