For the seventh consecutive summer, selected art students have devoted 80-100 hours of their summer vacation to paint reproductions of master works on the walls of Merrill High School. Through an Honors Art Workshop, ten students have reproduced Master Artists’ works on the rough brick walls throughout the school.
The goal of the Merrill High School Art Department is to create a gallery-like environment throughout the school and to familiarize the entire student body, as well as the community, with well known artists and their paintings. At the completion of this summer’s workshop, a total of eighty two murals will be found throughout the first and second floors of the building. Not only do these murals introduce the student body to art history, they also create a visually stimulating atmosphere.
The selection process for the Honors Art Mural Painting workshop is a prestigious one. Junior and Senior students are selected by their art teachers to participate in the workshop by demonstrating outstanding artistic talent and commitment over the previous school year. Students must complete a year of intense study of drawing and painting and show an excellent work ethic along with evidence of being able to commit to this huge endeavor. This year’s muralists include Steven Clark, Alix DeBroux, Maria DeBroux, Emily Gessler, Olivia Heitz, Madeline Klippel, Luke Moat, Nicole Prochnow, Steven Roets, and Kristen Verdoorn.
A seventh annual open house and reception honoring the ten student mural artists will be held Feb. 4, from 1-4 p.m., at the high school. An alumni art show will also be held. All MHS art alumni who are practicing artists, in art-related careers, or students in the arts are invited to exhibit. Contact Linda DeBroux at the high school for more information.