N E W   D E A L   N E T W O R K

Conservation in Context
The Evander Childs High School Murals Project

Patrice Reid

"My experience as an artist and what I've developed in joining the mural class"

As a young artist growing and developing everyday is a challenge for me. I have known at the age of eleven that I wanted to do art, because it is fun. When I was selected to join Advanced Art by my art basics teacher I was privileged because my talent was recognized by him. When I joined Advanced Art, my art teacher announced to us that a mural class would be started for students who wanted to show their talents.

At that moment I decided I was going to join the class. I also chose it because I will be receiving two credits at the end of the semester. After a couple weeks at the mural class, I decided that I would continue. About sixteen art students joined the class and now we are down to six. I decided that I wouldn't be one of them because I am not a person who gives up without doing my very best.

We finally started to work on the mural and we have finally finished it. Looking at it and noticing what I did on it makes me smile because I used my talent along with other talented young artists in the class to put the mural together. I cannot forget our two murals teachers who worked along with us on the mural. They were there every step of the way to make sure we did things right. Manny Vega and Mr. Vargo, who is a regular art teacher at our school, made sure we were taken care of every evening, and encouraged use to continue doing what we were doing.

There are some other works that we did apart from painting on the mural as a class. Each student did three paintings as a class works, while we took a break from the mural, and it was fun. The smallest painting I did is entitled "The Beauty in Flowers." The bigger one to that painting is entitled "The Thinking Mood," and the largest painting is entitled "The Relaxing Moment." I did these three paintings based on how I felt when I was doing them. The first painting, "The Beauty in Flowers," was done because flowers are beautiful when we look at them close or afar. The second painting, "Thinking Mood," was done because sometimes I go to the window to thing about things in my life. The third painting, "The Relaxing Moment," was done because at times I like to relax. These three paintings came as inspirations and that's why I chose to paint these scenes.

Even though the class is finished, I will always remember the work that I did and the other artists who worked along with me in accomplishing what we wanted to accomplish. Being an artist is the best talent to me, because we get to paint, sketch, and draw what we feel. I would like to encourage other young artists out there to never give up, because being an artist is a privilege. God gave some of us that talent and maybe other talents, too, and we should thank him by using our talent or talents to make them be seen by others. I thank him for the talent he gave me, because I try to use it to glorify his name. Being an artist is fun and I can say from deep down in my heart that it is a blessing. Don't waste good talents, because if any of you do, you will all regret it in the future. Hard work pays off.

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