Students of Saint Louis School’s fine arts program are nearing the completion of a mural at Saint Joseph Parish School, after months of hard but delicate work displaying the skills they have developed as artists.

The idea for the project came up last year when a Saint Joseph teacher created a digital drawing of the mural’s concept.  A team of eighteen students worked from last September to February in alternating teams to paint the mural.  The most important skill they needed to paint the mural was the ability to take the concept and recreate it on a larger scale.  

“Every Saturday, it was a different crew [taking] over parts that were painted already and needed to be continued [in order] to [follow] the example from the teacher from Saint Joseph,” explains Mike Amerino, the Fine Arts department chair at Saint Louis. “They [had to learn] how to take a small picture and work big, how to enlarge it, and how to [create] something that’s proportionally large from a small picture.”

“I have never worked on anything on that big of a scale before,” explains [division] Eli Suan.   “It was my first time ever painting a mural,” he added, “after seeing the final product I would definitely want to do something like this again. I hope more opportunities like this project come up this year.”

The result depicts two Saint Joseph students being invited to join the Holy Family, conveying that everyone is welcome to join.  In many ways, the mural depicts the Catholic values embodied at Saint Joseph and Saint Louis schools.  

The project was a tremendous success and a step forward for the students who wish to continue studying the Arts as a career or a hobby. “Anything you do in art will always help with the next level,” explains Amerino,  “even if you don’t go into the art field. The Fine Arts department is already planning its next major project, a rain barrel that utilizes the same painting skills the students learned while working on the mural, giving the participants a good opportunity to show off what they’ve learned and improve even further.