Painting with Purpose

By Elizabeth Rexing, Print Editor

Acolorful new school mural, located centrally in the main hall between the East and West sides of the campus, adds artistic flair to the cement brick walls of the school. The National Art Honor Society, led by senior Max Robinson, designed, and painted the mural this summer. The mural was funded by Zionsville’s Chapter of Tri-Kappa. Robinson describes NAHS as an “art-based service group” and was excited to have the opportunity to “really change the school.” “We need more student art in the hallways,” Robinson said. “It’s a great way to get student engagement and to add more color and energy to the hallways; right now they’re just dull.” NAHS sponsor and art teacher, Jessica Sterling said that the mural came as a result of a school-wide equity walk. Teachers and administrators walked around the school and examined the school’s climate, or how the school looked and felt when it was empty. “The people that went on the equity walk noticed that our students didn’t shine on our walls or in our building,” Sterling said. “This [mural] was part of the initiative to make the students more apparent, even when they aren’t physically in the building.” French teacher Amy Conrad, a leader for the equity walk, said the purpose was to “look at the school with fresh eyes.” The teachers wanted to answer the questions, “who is represented?” and “how might the school seem to outsiders?” “One of the things that came up again and again was that in a lot of spaces in the school, it felt cold,” Conrad said. “Every teacher was thinking, ‘we need more celebration of our students; we need more to make it more welcoming.’” Part of the walk also focused on the word, “equity,” which focuses on the representation of all kinds of people. The realizations that came from the walk were a large part of the mural initiative. The mural reads, “ZCHS Stronger Together,” and depicts two interlocking hands, highlighting the unity of the student body. “It’s important, as a high school, that we acknowledge and present very clearly that we have a desire to accept students from different backgrounds, to be inclusive, to be proud of diversity,” Robinson said. “We are a school that’s stronger when we act

together and when we support each other and it’s important that we demonstrate that.” The mural team stuck with warm colors to make the hallway appear welcoming and chose red and green, opposite colors on the color wheel, for the hands. “This shows the capacity to accept different kinds of people and different backgrounds represented by the complementary pairing of two opposite colors,” Robinson said. Both Sterling and Robinson hope to see more murals painted in the future. “Next summer, we might fill the panels next to this mural,” Sterling said. “Then hopefully we move throughout the rest of the school, anywhere that needs a little bit of love.” According to Robinson and Sterling, NAHS’s hope for the future is to continue spreading art around the school. “The school feels more inviting and personable now, even with just one mural,” Robinson said. “It already feels like a school that’s representing the students and the students’ ideas.”

Senior Max Robinson paints the mural outside the Wedge. “When we were designing, we wanted to stick to bright colors and in the setting of the hallway, something colorful that would stick out when you walk out,” Robinson said. photo by Lauren Wagner

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Guest Commentary

By Iris Bailey, senior Beauty in the Ordinary

It’s hard to walk down the main hallway without being struck by the new mural from the National Art Honor Society. Compared to the stained, ivory-colored walls, the mural sticks out like a sore thumb. This isn’t to say that the mural isn’t absolutely beautiful and breath-taking, because it is, but it leaves the rest of the hallways looking even more dull by comparison. The contrast pulls out every minute detail of what is not on the walls. Those blank, dreadful walls seem to intensify every scratch and smudge, and echo the complaints of the students walking through them: that the school is in need of a vibrant renaissance. It’s an understatement to say, “the school might feel very bland,” as one of my peers mentioned to me recently. The school is dingy, dirty, and in some opinions, more akin to a prison than a place of learning. It’s almost demoralizing to walk in some of the bathrooms and examine the dilapidated green stalls and their odd graffiti. When I find myself grumbling about the depressive nature of the school, I feel ashamed for engaging in such a trivial issue. It’s not like I’m really affected by the drabness of the school, but to be fair, I’m really affected by the drabness of the school. In the kindest way possible, all five senses are somewhat abused at the high school from the lurking BO smell to the eek of a unfolding chair in study hall. Sure, the new mural is a big step for the school, but what else can be done? While the mural is a great first step, it is just a first step. Considering the resources or well, willingness, that the school has to offer, the outlook might seem pretty grim. So, for some, this would be the time to check out and continue on groaning about every way in which the halls of the school are not perfect or ideal or beautiful. But the school is beautiful. It takes an observant mind to notice how daintily the light filters in through the skylight in the commons, how the floor in the gerbil tunnel sparkles in the sunlight, how peaceful the varsity gym is when unoccupied, or how the carpet in the East Campus has an intricate and fascinating design. And that’s not all. Beauty blooms on the kind words of a friend to another. Beauty is a teacher taking time to talk with a student after class or a held door when a stranger’s hands are full. It’s the fact that you can hear a choir singing or a band playing in the midst of a busy day and that the math teachers in the East Campus always stand at the top of the stairs to greet their students, as if they were angels in heaven. Beauty is knowing what sinks spray water everywhere, laughing when they do, and then advising a friend which sinks not to use. The graffiti in the bathroom stalls giving advice and lamenting politics takes its own interpretive eye to appear beautiful, but it’s still wonderful. Beauty is abundant in the intricacies of the high school. It’s not always obvious, but it’s there, waiting to be noticed by a watchful onlooker. Beauty is found in the ordinary. In some cases, it’s painted on the walls, like the mural, but in other cases, it takes a bit more searching to find.