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Two girls look at McNair Elementary's art mural located on the side of the Denton Center for the Visual Arts.
“We knew we weren’t using this paneling for anything at the time, so we wanted to change that,” said John Riegelman, facilities manager and programs coordinator for the Greater Denton Arts Council, at a Sept. 26 ceremony. “When we looked at what we could do, we realized we have all these empty panels and no art, so we wanted to change that.”
With donations provided by First State Bank, the Arts Council allowed five schools to each select five students that would paint murals on the restored panels. Art teachers from Borman, Cross Oaks, Evers Park, McNair and Nelson elementary schools decided to have their students, all fifth-graders, paint murals that reflect Denton through the year.
Each mural incorporated unique Denton mainstays, such as the city’s Dog Days of Summer celebration and Holiday Lighting Festival on the square.
Denise Clyne, Nelson’s art teacher, said the plan was created because elementary students often don’t get their artwork showcased in major events, unlike students in secondary grades.
Borman fifth-grader David Bustos poses in front of his school's mural on a side wall of the Center for the Visual Arts.
Each school’s five students arrived at 10 a.m. on a Saturday to begin painting their art, which they described as a fun group experience.
“It was really fun getting to know everybody,” said Nelson’s Trinity Ramirez. “As we were painting, we came up with a lot of ideas as a group, such as blending the paints together and finger painting.”
Trinity added that she’s been to the Holiday Lighting Festival, which Nelson’s students were painting, which made the event even more fun. Another fun aspect of the event, she said, was knowing that others can now admire her art.
“This was really my first time doing art where everybody can see it,” Trinity said. “I’ve been to the Jazz Fest and saw a lot of art there, so it was really fun being one of the people who has art shown in a place where a lot of people will see it.”
Caitlyn Cox, a fellow Nelson fifth-grader, agreed with Trinity, saying her parents “really loved our art.”
“I really love all the awesome colors, and I also really love painting,” she said. “One of our classmates came up with the idea to start with electric blue and then fade to purple for the sky. We all added our own ideas to it like that.”
When people now pass by the CVA’s location on Bell Avenue, they’ll see the five murals on its side paneling as well as the hand prints and signatures of the students who created them.
If Denton ISD’s elementary students have their way, people passing the building should get used to an interesting sight.
“It was really fun to paint something so different and seeing us all come together to create something like this,” said McNair student Yazmin Garcia. “I really like knowing people will see what we worked so hard on.”
Elementary students create artwork on local building
Two girls look at McNair Elementary's art mural located on the side of the Denton Center for the Visual Arts.
When a car crashed into the side of the Center for the Visual Arts last year, it damaged paneling on the side of the building that would obviously need to be repaired. When thinking about how to repair the facility, its leaders quickly realized beauty could come from the damage.
“We knew we weren’t using this paneling for anything at the time, so we wanted to change that,” said John Riegelman, facilities manager and programs coordinator for the Greater Denton Arts Council, at a Sept. 26 ceremony. “When we looked at what we could do, we realized we have all these empty panels and no art, so we wanted to change that.”
With donations provided by First State Bank, the Arts Council allowed five schools to each select five students that would paint murals on the restored panels. Art teachers from Borman, Cross Oaks, Evers Park, McNair and Nelson elementary schools decided to have their students, all fifth-graders, paint murals that reflect Denton through the year.
Each mural incorporated unique Denton mainstays, such as the city’s Dog Days of Summer celebration and Holiday Lighting Festival on the square.
Denise Clyne, Nelson’s art teacher, said the plan was created because elementary students often don’t get their artwork showcased in major events, unlike students in secondary grades.
“We have a youth art show every March, and we worked to find out what would be something feasible elementary students could be involved in that’s a big project,” she said. “The secondary schools often get opportunities to show their art at shows and outside of school, and we wanted to do the same thing for elementary students.”
To get the project started, the five school’s art teachers first had to decide what to paint for each season, such as the Holiday Lighting Festival for winter. After that, they came the night before or morning of the event to sketch outlines for their students to paint over.
Borman fifth-grader David Bustos poses in front of his school's mural on a side wall of the Center for the Visual Arts.
Each school’s five students arrived at 10 a.m. on a Saturday to begin painting their art, which they described as a fun group experience.
“It was really fun getting to know everybody,” said Nelson’s Trinity Ramirez. “As we were painting, we came up with a lot of ideas as a group, such as blending the paints together and finger painting.”
Trinity added that she’s been to the Holiday Lighting Festival, which Nelson’s students were painting, which made the event even more fun. Another fun aspect of the event, she said, was knowing that others can now admire her art.
“This was really my first time doing art where everybody can see it,” Trinity said. “I’ve been to the Jazz Fest and saw a lot of art there, so it was really fun being one of the people who has art shown in a place where a lot of people will see it.”
Caitlyn Cox, a fellow Nelson fifth-grader, agreed with Trinity, saying her parents “really loved our art.”
“I really love all the awesome colors, and I also really love painting,” she said. “One of our classmates came up with the idea to start with electric blue and then fade to purple for the sky. We all added our own ideas to it like that.”
When people now pass by the CVA’s location on Bell Avenue, they’ll see the five murals on its side paneling as well as the hand prints and signatures of the students who created them.
If Denton ISD’s elementary students have their way, people passing the building should get used to an interesting sight.
“It was really fun to paint something so different and seeing us all come together to create something like this,” said McNair student Yazmin Garcia. “I really like knowing people will see what we worked so hard on.”