Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Kimball High School art students painted a mural, designed by art student Hollie Clark, full of school spirit at the intersection of Walnut and Second streets in Kimball.
The students worked during class time for more than two weeks to complete the mural, designed by KHS senior Hollie Clark.
A new mural supporting the Kimball Longhorns has been painted on the east side of the A&L building across the street from Firstier Bank.
The idea started last fall when A&L contacted the school that they wanted to make the east wall of their building available for a school mural project. The owners, Allen and Lindsey Chavez, felt that making the bare space into a mural would be, "a cool way to support the school and give students a chance to be creative," and contacted superintendent, Marshall Lewis to get the ball rolling.
Art teacher, Kim Beyer explained the lengthy process of getting the mural from idea to finished product.
It all began last year when the art students were given the option to draw a design for a mural. There were around a dozen designs completed and all the art students then voted for a winner. Hollie Clark created the original pencil and ink design.
"I was really proud that the other art students like my design so much," said Clark. "I was thrilled that my design was going to be a mural that could be in the school for years to come. I'm a senior this year, and I'm glad I was given a chance to leave something behind at my school."
The project started February of this year when the art students then transferred a smaller version of the drawing onto the wall near the south gym. The original design simply said, "STAMPEDE" and fit well within the space at the school; however they knew that it wouldn't be large enough to fit the 40'X10' space on the side of the A&L building. Clark reworked her original design, adding more longhorn cattle and changing the wording to say, "LONGHORN STAMPEDE." The drawing was then divided into a grid pattern and each section of the grid was hand-drawn into an enlarged version. Seventeen Kimball High School art students, from three separate classes, are working together to create the Longhorn Stampede mural. Since the beginning of this school year, students have worked intermittently on transferring Clark's design into 56 large panels with each student responsible for 2-3 of the panels.
Once all of the panels were complete, the students then used oil pastels on the backsides of the hand-drawn panels and then taped the panels in place on the wall. After retracing the drawings, which allowed for the oil pastels to be transferred onto the building, the students were able to have then entire drawing quickly and accurately copied onto the wall.
The hope of A&L is that eventually all donors who support KHS will be added to the south side of the mural.