When thinking about painting the first things that come to mind might be paint, a paint brush, or a canvas. For the student artists at PLHS their canvas changed to something unique that they had never thought they would be told to paint on.

Over 20 art students at PLHS spent their summer painting beautiful murals on the walls in the halls of the school. These students came from a variety of different grades including graduated seniors. All the students selected were talented painters and had been perfecting the art of painting for years. One mural is in the fine arts hall and the other is in the foreign language hall. These murals were made to decorate the halls of PLHS and also offered art students a way to express themselves and explore a new form of art.

The murals were both beautiful depictions and were connected well to the hall they were in. The fine arts had depictions of drama, band, and choir. The foreign language contains the flags of many foreign countries and a painting of the earth on it.

“I really liked the piano [on the fine arts mural] because I like how it is kind of 3D and wavy,” junior Ash Saliny said. “ It is really cool and connected well to the fine arts theme.”

Many of the artists working on the mural had years of experience. Talent was a huge part of the selection process because they wanted the best painters to work on murals to represent the school’s artist talents. Though the decision was mostly based on talent it was also decided off of their ability to work with others.

Many of these artists’ talents had been perfected for years.

“I have been doing art since I was a kid,” Saliny said. “I was never a very sporty kid so I kind of gravitated toward art.”

Even though they had many talented artists working on the murals every day it still took a very long time to complete. They spent the whole summer working to get it done without missing any of the details and making sure it was cleaned up and ready for the new school year

“We started over the summer and we finished right before school started,” junior Amy Dickamore said. “So it took around 3 months.”

Once the students were selected they got to pick what mural they wanted to work on. Many chose one that they related to or were a part of.

“I wanted to do the fine arts mural because I play the clarinet [in band],” Dickamore said. “The instruments were the reason I picked it [the fine arts mural] because I am in the band and I also got to paint the clarinet”

Even though there was a lot of pressure with the time limit and the new canvas that none of them had painted on before they still had lots of fun. It was a new experience that they were excited to be a part of and will hold close to their hearts.

“I loved all the people I worked with and I made some friends,” Saliny said. “It was just a really cool experience.”

These incredible artists are not done yet because they have one more piece to complete. They are getting fired up and ready to paint another mural to add a touch of paint and talent too.

“We are doing one more mural in the stem hallway,” Dickamore said “I can’t wait to get started.”