Urban legend
Art students bring culture to hallways

By LAUREN HALL/Staff Writer
Feb. 26, 2008

Advanced placement art students Jenny McMeans, Brianna Salazar and Jessica Frase say they are excited to leave their legacy on China Spring High School by painting a mural in one of our hallways.
Many students, however, ask why the cougar was covered up rather than just painting the picture somewhere else.
            “We all hated that cougar, especially Mrs. (Rhonda) Heckel, (art teacher), so we decided to put a very cool, urban picture there instead,” McMeans said. “Urban. Something you wouldn’t see in China Spring.”
            The four began working on the mural November and say they are hoping to add culture to the rural China Spring area.
            “Art is very important, because it expands your mind when education doesn’t always do it for both sides of your brain,” McMeans said, “We could definitely use more of it.”
            The four seniors said they have become very close over the period of time spent together on this art mural. The group collaborated to decide what the picture would be and when the word graffiti was mentioned, everyone agreed. They began to sketch ideas and all decided to go with this particular picture and let it evolve into others’ ideas.
            They say students ask them if the picture is China Spring in 10 years but McMeans said, ‘Since everything is Cougars, we wanted something city/urban.”
            Another question that came up from the concerned students was why the particular color scheme was chosen.
            “With murals you have to stay realistic, but to the extreme,” McMeans said. “That’s why the blue is wavy and dramatic. We also wanted really bright contrasts and non-China Spring colors for the graffiti.”
            The four students are eager to finish their project. They say it will be finished by the end of March