Art Unveiling Marks the End of Mural Camp at Skyview

The unveiling of a completed mural marked the conclusion of a five-week Multicultural Art Camp at Skyview Community School this week.

Students and parents alike gathered Thursday morning over snacks to reflect on the camp before the unveiling took place.

Catie Marty, 12, does a lot of painting at home and has hopes of becoming an artist someday, she said.  

“I loved everything about the camp,” Marty said. “It was awesome that I got to paint all day.”

Cade Seberson, 10, another happy camper had little interest in art, but thought the camp sounded intriguing when his mom, Liz Seberson presented him with the idea. 

“I didn’t think it would be so fun. I only missed one day in the whole camp,” he said.

The cafeteria was bursting with gasps of shock and amusement as the parents took their first look at the mural.

“It’s amazing, I am really impressed with all their hard work,” Seberson said.

The camp was lead by artist-in-residence, Melodee Strong and four student interns that assisted her and the 15 fourth- through eighth- grade students throughout the camp.  

The students spent the first week of the camp brainstorming ideas that not only showcased their school, but their pride as well. A divider in the cafeteria is often used, so the students also had to consider a design of two separate images that could come together as one.   

“The students worked really well together and came up with a lot of ideas. Unfortunately, there were really great ideas that we couldn’t use just for size reasons,” Strong said. 

The students settled on a theme of “A Journey Through Education” with a main focus on the transition from elementary to middle school. They spent the last four weeks sharing thoughts and ideas, drawing and painting until the 86-by-5 1/5 foot project came to completion. 

The mural’s concept begins with a train conducted by the principal and teachers, each car representing subjects like math, science and sports. Everything that follows the train is a collaboration of symbolic images such as the lighthouse, which represents lighting up the journey, and the treasure chest of school supplies.

The students also researched several different quotes to coincide with different portions of the mural.  

“It’s a whole hodgepodge of coming together, not only visually but conceptually too,” Strong said. “The kids had a lot of fun and they were very proud of their work”