Giant student-inspired mural completed

(For a view of all 10 panels of the Westridge Elementary mural, click here.)

The giant, 10-panel mural on the outside of Westridge Elementary School was finished and dedicated ahead of a school-year-ending deadline. And virtually every kid in the west St. Louis County school had a hand in finishing the mural.

The multi-colored mural is the largest art project ever attempted at the school. Westridge kids and teachers like to use different artwork to make their building "more welcoming" for kids and adults.

The artwork helps to soften the rather utilitarian, one-story construction, which looks a little like a light-industry factory building.

But, not any more.

(Young St. Louis.com first wrote about the Westridge mural project in the March, 2005, edition. At that time, the mural project had just cleared a difficult hurdle. Ballwin Mayor Robert Jones, Jr., broke a 4-4 tie in the Board of Aldermen that gave the school a "work-of-art" exception to the city's strict sign ordinance. To read that earlier story, click here.)

(l to r) Tyler Fischback, Dustin Readenour and Jeffrey Orf

Eleven-year-old Jeffrey Orf said the completed mural gives the school a "good presence."

Eleven-year-old Dustin Readenour said he really liked the inclusion of the Rockwood School District's tree symbol in the mural. The district's tree logo is based on a giant oak tree that used to be on the Westridge school grounds.

Dustin said, before the mural, the 10 plain board panels on the front of the school "were kind of ugly."

(l to r) Cecilia Knappmiller and Elizabeth Doing

Eleven-year-old Cecilia Knappmiller said she likes the mural because "it shows the things we do in school." She said it also "shows we have a good art teacher."

Art teacher Carol Mobley and principal Meg Brooks were involved in the mural project from start to finish. The two also led the dedication ceremony outside the school on Wednesday, May 25.

Ms. Mobley told the kids, "Now the school looks on the outside like the great school we know it is on the inside."

Kids were in the mural project all the way. In the beginning, kids were asked to submit drawings on what they wanted in the mural.

In the final days, Ms. Mobley was at the school on weekends to put finishing touches on the mural.

She said all the students, even the kindergarten kids, were given a chance to apply paint to the mural. The school also utilized two professional mural painters-Catharine Magel and Sarah Frost-- to translate the kids' design ideas into the final mural.

The school's 5th graders had the biggest part in the mural design and painting. After all, this is their last year at Westridge. They'll be in middle school next year.

Ten-year-old Elizabeth Doing said the mural will give the school a "welcoming feeling" when young kids come to their first days of kindergarten next fall.

She said she's looking forward to returning to Westridge in future years. "I'm going to come to see my former teachers and I can say that I had a hand in the mural," she said.

However, Elizabeth and some other older students wished they'd had more time to paint.

Juggling time for kids to work on the mural was difficult. That was especially true for older students who have very busy schedules. For instance, they got to work only during school hours that didn't involve basic core curriculum classes.

But, 5th graders Cecilia Knappmiller and Jeffery Orf already have three other classes in those "free time" class periods. Both were in two musical programs and also in the TAG program. TAG is an accelerated program and kids from Westridge have to travel to a special TAG buildings elsewhere in the school district.

As a result, they only got to work on the mural for four days in a two-week period. They were in one of their other "free-time" classes the other six days.

Ten-year-old Tyler Fishback said he worked on five different days. "We went where the artists told us we were needed. We had to redo some of the things that the little kids had done," he said.

He said the mural turned out to "look like I thought it would" and

Mural dedication ceremony

the mural will help make the school a "better place." He added, "That blank wall was rather boring."

Dustin Readenour said he got to paint on the mural nine out of the 10 days the two-week painting period. He said he got to work on a variety of different mural panels. "I worked on just about everything," he said.

He said he was happy that he was part of the art project. The artists and kids used high-quality exterior latex paint so it will last many years. The mural will be a good reminder for the kids on their years at Westridge Elementary.