This article was written by Inkwel Young, a Journalism student at U-32.
U-32 Middle and High School has many pieces of artwork around the building, with another piece on the way during this year’s J-term.
This artwork lines the walls on every floor. This includes large murals, paintings and prints. Most of these pieces of colorful art are created by students, but many of them do not know their meanings.
One of the largest pieces of artwork is a tall mural in the science hallway in the high school. This colorful mural was made by students during YES(year end studies) in 2023. The design for the mural was taken from a pool of designs made by the students in high school science classes.
Ella Thomas, a junior at U-32, She put a large amount of thought into how to combine art with science in her design, and the design was chosen by the science teachers to be the official mural.
Creating the mural itself was fun for Ella, and she saw it as a good community project, as students of all ages contributed to the painting. “I think it’s really nice to have art in the school […] they just make spaces more welcoming and more beautiful,” she said.
Another large mural is stationed on the walls of one of the stairwells to the high school. This mural was created by Phil Montenegro, a Spanish teacher at U-32. The two pieces were modelled after a famous mural created by Mexican artist José Clemente Orozco titled The Epic of American Civilization.
“It is combining two things. It’s combining visual arts with what I teach; Spanish. We talk about a little bit of the history, Latin American culture, mural painting, and then add it into the actual project,” said Phil.
The mural itself was workshopped and painted by students during J-term. Each year they added one part of it. There is one planned to be created during this year’s J-term in the same stairwell. Phil said, “We’re just going to keep going, hopefully every year, and just fill that whole space with murals, if we can. That’s the goal.”
There are other murals, one created by Ella Thomas in the library through the pilot program. There are others in the library, and one in the senior lounge which was voted on and created by students.
These pieces are decorations that bring joy to people who see them. Kristine Chartrand, an art teacher at U-32 said, “I think that having those celebrates student work and working together, and they’re nice to see.”
Not all of the art in U-32 is so lighthearted. Some have important meanings that many students do not know. There are two pieces of student-made art in the U-32 amphitheater dedicated to important people in the school’s past.
One painting hangs above the courtyard entrance of a woman named Laure Angel. She was a middle school teacher in U-32 prior to her passing away. After working at the school and becoming beloved by her students, Laure passed away unexpectedly in a snowmobiling accident in February of 2017. The loss of this teacher prompted two brothers who were students of hers to create the painting, which they presented to the school to be hung in her honor.
Hollis St. Peter, a middle school math teacher, said, “she was a vibrant, energetic, passionate social studies teacher, who, again, was a strong woman leader, […] and she was well loved by her students.”
The other dedicated artwork in the amphitheater is a print of some graffiti art done by students dedicated to a woman named Karen Weiss. The print says her name, and the words “we will never forget you” and “what a long strange trip it’s been”.
Karen Weiss was an english teacher in the U-32 middle school since before Hollis joined U-32. “Karen was a really fantastic teacher, and just understood kids and adolescents especially. So she was looked up to as a, you know, a teacher here and was very well respected in the community,” he said.
During Hollis’s second year teaching, Karen tragically passed away due to a heart attack. Hollis said, “It was really a shock. It was a shock to the school and the students. She was such a big part of U-32.”
The graffiti was created by her students in a part of the school that has since been covered by renovations. A print of it was put up in the amphitheater instead to remember her. “It’s nice to see those for me, because it’s like a chance every time I walk down those stairs to look at those people and remember those people,” said Hollis.
Many students know nothing about the history of these student-made artworks. Ari Chapin, a senior at U-32 said he knew “the littlest bit” about the murals in the school, despite having researched it himself. Even teachers in the school are unaware of the importance of not only the beautiful art, but the meaning behind it.
For some students, the art in the school is there to brighten the space, and to brighten their days. To Hollis, the art in the amphitheater is there to remember people, and for new members to learn about who those people were.
He said, “For some of us who’ve been here a while, we knew them personally, and for other people, it’s just a chance to ask a question, ‘what is that about?’”
