Magdalena high school students are working together in teams to create four murals for their school.
Kim Henkel, Magdalena Schools art teacher, said the murals help boost morale, recognize cultures and teach the students the process of creating public art.

Working in teams, students were tasked to do research and create a proposal poster that would include images, a theme and a location for the mural, to present to the school board for approval.

With the approval from the school board in February, the students started on their projects by projecting the image on the walls with an overhead projector to enlarge the images.

“Students drew the image onto the wall with pencil from the projection, then the long process of painting begins,” Henkel said. “The high school classes are currently working on four murals.”

The music mural features music notes and children playing instruments. The teach peace mural uses negative space to share a message of peace. The Native American mural features a colorful blanket being worn and the last mural is a large tree at the elementary school that will use young students’ handprints as the leaves.

Henkel is the K-12 art teacher with two high school, two middle school and three elementary classes a day. She organizes art projects for all grades throughout the year.

Jessica Carranza Pino, Editor