If you’re a student at Los Altos High School, you’ve probably noticed the large mural on the wall of the auxiliary gym in passing. The mural — boasting a large eagle and bright splashes of warm and cool colors — is a brand new addition to campus, organized by the Los Altos High visual arts department.
The visual arts department has one primary goal: to make art more visible on campus, art teacher Jessica Hayes said. In the past, she said this has been done by hosting annual art shows and showcasing students’ work in the student services building; this year, the department took a new approach.
“I’ve been at Los Altos for 15 years, and [the visual arts department is] always trying to make art more visible on campus,” Hayes said. “But this is the first time that something on campus is permanent, which is really exciting.”
The piece was inspired by the Los Altos Community Mural — a multi-themed mural created in downtown Los Altos last year — which gave the visual arts department the idea to promote art visibility through such a mural, Hayes said.
After selecting the mural as their next project to promote art, the visual arts department reached out to professional artist Cameron Moberg, the very same artist who worked on the community mural. Hayes said that while the visual arts department considered other artists, they liked Moberg’s style of painting and involvement with students he’d taught in the past.
Hayes said there was a lot of student interest in having a mural on campus. Despite the commitment to working on the mural requiring hours of students’ time, there were around 60 students who helped create the mural alongside Moberg, Hayes said.
“The students have been phenomenal,” Moberg said. “When it comes to paint days, they’ve been super attentive and really helpful on the mural.”
Preparation for the mural began with Moberg teaching students about graffiti, mural art and the process of spray painting, shading and creating stencils. Students were then split into two groups of 30 to work on the mural, working to paint it on Wednesdays and Fridays, during the school hours of Academic Collaboration Time.
“One of my favorite days was the day that we actually worked on the mural itself,” said junior Aarushi Shukla, who was one of the students who helped create the mural. “We all chose a shape to fill in, and then we used the stencils that we’d made before to make the little pattern designs.”
After six ACT sessions, the mural was officially completed last week. In the future, there is hope that Los Altos High could paint another mural, Hayes said.
“The mural is just really amazing,” Hayes said. “There were so many people that were a part of helping us bring this to life. … It was a lot of fun working with [everyone].”
