By Yuchen Yang
Among all the hallways in Pioneer, D1 stands out with its brilliant and unique artworks leading up to the art classrooms at the end of the hall. The brilliance of the hallway has just been renewed by a new mural that is going up.
The new mural that will join the rank of all the other pieces on the walls of D1 is designed and will be painted by senior Corinne Griffin, a four-year veteran of the art program at Pioneer. The mural depicts an outline of the United States as well as Africa, and connects the two maps with stencil portraits of notable activists who have worked for equality for African Americans and for all people.
“It’s more like uniting everyone,” said Griffin, pointing to a fist in the picture that she says represents unity, and a banner spelling out “peace” in Arabic. Griffin’s mentor and Pioneer art teacher, Helen Bunch, says the mural’s significance is to “empower anybody whose voice is not heard.”
Griffin also hopes her painting will educate others. “If I can get someone to be curious and want to learn more about African American history, like, ‘Who’s the first black astronaut?’ I feel like I have done my job,” she said.
Griffin has been taking art class for all four years of high school, having been enrolled in courses such as Graphic Design with Crystal Westfield, and Art and Design with Ms. Bunch, but she said she has not publically displayed her art abilities before. “This is my first year telling people that I am good at art,” said Griffin. “I really kept art low-key before.” However, this year, she said she felt like she wanted to use her artistic abilities to express her feeling that racial minorities are not getting enough representation in society, “so, I just took it upon myself and asked what are the requirements of doing a mural.”
As it turned out, there is a process in place. “You have to give me a complete sketch, and you have to get it approved by administration,” said Bunch. “It also is student funded…so, it is really student-driven.” Before a mural is approved, the administration needs to look at “the thoughts behind it: whether it is offensive to anyone, is it expressive?” said Class Principal Kevin Hudson. “It should be impactful for all, and [should have] a definitive meaning.” Principal Tracey Lowder used the fist from the painting by Griffin as an example to demonstrate the guidelines. “The way I was explained to is when you have your hand spread out with five fingers separated, it is very easy for me to move and shove it,” said Lowder. “When you have a fist, it’s much harder. It represents unity of all the races.”
“And that’s what we call impactful,” added Hudson.
Pioneer is already the home for many illustrious and impactful murals. Perhaps the most eye-catching of all the murals is the underwater scene with a massive and vividly painted whale spanning the last one-fifth of D1 close to E-hall. The whale was done by a quite famous painter, said Bunch. “If you see the paintings [like this] that are typically in Hawaii or California, of these underwater whale scenes, very often it is this artist, Robert Wyland,” she said. Wyland has painted life-sized marine life murals around the world to raise awareness of environmental conservation. She said that after the artist painted the main whale, students then completed the scene. The painting was finished in 1998, and since then, there have been numerous additions, “averaging about one per year,” said Bunch.
However, she said she would like to see more. “I would like to see D1 covered by murals,” said Bunch, gesturing to all the free space on the wall. “Very often, students will come up to me and ask to do a mural, and don’t get past the planning stage,” she said, adding with a laugh, “You also have to be committed to the time frame: if you will only have your mural half-way up by summer vacation…and if you are a person who historically does not get things done, you will not be allowed to put it up.”
For Griffin and her mural, things are moving along. She is currently committing to her work almost everyday for an hour, with brushes and paint purchased by herself. “As long as it gets to the people I wanted to touch, it would be all worth it,” said Griffin.
The new mural that will join the rank of all the other pieces on the walls of D1 is designed and will be painted by senior Corinne Griffin, a four-year veteran of the art program at Pioneer. The mural depicts an outline of the United States as well as Africa, and connects the two maps with stencil portraits of notable activists who have worked for equality for African Americans and for all people.
“It’s more like uniting everyone,” said Griffin, pointing to a fist in the picture that she says represents unity, and a banner spelling out “peace” in Arabic. Griffin’s mentor and Pioneer art teacher, Helen Bunch, says the mural’s significance is to “empower anybody whose voice is not heard.”
Griffin also hopes her painting will educate others. “If I can get someone to be curious and want to learn more about African American history, like, ‘Who’s the first black astronaut?’ I feel like I have done my job,” she said.
Griffin has been taking art class for all four years of high school, having been enrolled in courses such as Graphic Design with Crystal Westfield, and Art and Design with Ms. Bunch, but she said she has not publically displayed her art abilities before. “This is my first year telling people that I am good at art,” said Griffin. “I really kept art low-key before.” However, this year, she said she felt like she wanted to use her artistic abilities to express her feeling that racial minorities are not getting enough representation in society, “so, I just took it upon myself and asked what are the requirements of doing a mural.”
As it turned out, there is a process in place. “You have to give me a complete sketch, and you have to get it approved by administration,” said Bunch. “It also is student funded…so, it is really student-driven.” Before a mural is approved, the administration needs to look at “the thoughts behind it: whether it is offensive to anyone, is it expressive?” said Class Principal Kevin Hudson. “It should be impactful for all, and [should have] a definitive meaning.” Principal Tracey Lowder used the fist from the painting by Griffin as an example to demonstrate the guidelines. “The way I was explained to is when you have your hand spread out with five fingers separated, it is very easy for me to move and shove it,” said Lowder. “When you have a fist, it’s much harder. It represents unity of all the races.”
“And that’s what we call impactful,” added Hudson.
Pioneer is already the home for many illustrious and impactful murals. Perhaps the most eye-catching of all the murals is the underwater scene with a massive and vividly painted whale spanning the last one-fifth of D1 close to E-hall. The whale was done by a quite famous painter, said Bunch. “If you see the paintings [like this] that are typically in Hawaii or California, of these underwater whale scenes, very often it is this artist, Robert Wyland,” she said. Wyland has painted life-sized marine life murals around the world to raise awareness of environmental conservation. She said that after the artist painted the main whale, students then completed the scene. The painting was finished in 1998, and since then, there have been numerous additions, “averaging about one per year,” said Bunch.
However, she said she would like to see more. “I would like to see D1 covered by murals,” said Bunch, gesturing to all the free space on the wall. “Very often, students will come up to me and ask to do a mural, and don’t get past the planning stage,” she said, adding with a laugh, “You also have to be committed to the time frame: if you will only have your mural half-way up by summer vacation…and if you are a person who historically does not get things done, you will not be allowed to put it up.”
For Griffin and her mural, things are moving along. She is currently committing to her work almost everyday for an hour, with brushes and paint purchased by herself. “As long as it gets to the people I wanted to touch, it would be all worth it,” said Griffin.