murals with fresh eyes each time I would come in and see what I needed to add to the piece for balance and composition. GS: Tell me about the designs you created for the cabins the girls named and funded through the cookie proceeds.
Meet
PAIGE POPPE
W
e caught up with Paige Poppe, the artist who painted the delightful murals in the cabins at Parsons Leadership Center, to talk about her art and being a Girl Scout. GS: Where did you find your inspiration for the murals in the Parsons cabins? PP: Knowing that Girl Scouts and campers would be opening these doors, being surprised to find art behind them, and enjoying them for years to come really inspired me! I wanted each painting to be unique, colorful, and really spark the imagination of the girls. I kept this in mind for each painting, which helped them become bold and memorable. Each mural began with ideas from me and from the team at Girl Scouts–Arizona
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GIRL SCOUT
Connections
Cactus-Pine Council. For some murals the team had a vision for the piece, such as the STEM Activity Center, and for other murals I was inspired by the cabin’s name or the Arizona landscape. Each mural began with a sketch that I created with watercolor and pencil, or with digital drawing on an iPad. After the team reviewed the sketch, I would hear their feedback and adjust the sketches or create a new sketch, so we had clear visual direction for each mural. Then it was time to start painting! For most of the murals I was able to freehand them, so I would jump right in with my paint and start creating. But some did require a lot of planning in advance, with extensive measuring, leveling, and taping so it would look just right. Since I was painting multiple murals at the same time, I would work on one for a while, and when that one was drying I would pop into another cabin and paint in there. This was great because I was able to see the
PP: For the desert cabins, I was able to pull from my own artwork and the surrounding South Mountain desert for inspiration. This trio of cabins are named “Sonoran,” “Monsoon,” and “Chuckwalla.” I wanted each cabin to be a desert scene full of flora and fauna, so they would all relate to each other, but also wanted them to stand out. The Monsoon Cabin is inspired by the plants and animals that thrive during monsoon season in the Sonoran Desert. Monsoon season made me think of cool-toned colors, so this became the inspiration for the color palette in greens, blues, and purples, with hints of yellows for contrast. The Sonoran Cabin also incorporates plants and animals that thrive in the Sonoran Desert, but I pulled from my vibrant color palette that appears in most of my personal artwork. For the Chuckwalla Cabin, we wanted to highlight the lizard that the cabin was named after, so I painted a bunch of them basking in the sun in a neutral desert scene full of rich browns, reds, and oranges, with thriving green plant life. GS: Weren’t you a Girl Scout in this council? PP: Yes, I was a Girl Scout from about 1999 through 2005. I attended camp at South Mountain in my first year as a Girl Scout, back when it was known as Camp Sombrero! Even though I was only 7- or 8-years-old, I remember it so well as a VERY fun part of my summer. I remember having the realization that the Girl Scout organization was something
FALL 2018
