Next to Peace Lutheran Church in downtown Seymour is a building the church rents out for storage.
Pastor Scott Roberts wanted to give the building more curb appeal and cover the windows to help protect the items inside.
He turned to the Trinity Lutheran High School Art Club for some ideas.
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Carrie Adler, art teacher and club sponsor, said she was excited to have an opportunity for students to share their artistic abilities through public art and to help beautify the community.
Being right on U.S. 50 in downtown Seymour, the building gets seen by a lot of people, both local and from out of town.
“Every time people realize our students painted those, they are surprised,” Adler said. “It’s amazing to have our students’ work recognized.”
There are 28 students in Trinity’s Art Club, and everyone contributed to the mural in one way or another, Adler said.
The students painted a total of 11 plywood panels, completing the project in May.
The club’s chosen technique for the mural was to layer colors of paint to make the windows look like panels of stained glass featuring images such as a cross, an angel’s wings and the tree of life, a fitting way to help tie the building to the church and give people a way to interact with the art.
“The goal is for pedestrians to potentially take pictures in front of the art, grabbing an apple or having the wings come from their backs,” Adler said. “We have been using #seymourpublicart, #tlhsart and #interactiveart as we try to get more involvement on social media.”
Each of the four club officers was responsible for the design of a panel of the mural.
“They (Peace Lutheran Church) gave us complete control over what we wanted to do,” Adler said.
Senior Abigail Moses said the inspiration for the artwork came from the many beautiful stained glass windows that are in area churches.
“A lot of churches feature stained glass, and they can be really amazing pieces of artwork,” she said. “So we thought since it was for Peace Lutheran, we wanted to incorporate that into it.”
She also said the way the project was executed made it easy for everyone to be involved.
Roberts said he was impressed by the students’ work.
“These guys did a great job,” Roberts said. “It’s beautiful, and it’s just good for the community.”
Sophomore Chloe Criswell said being in Art Club is a great way for students to express themselves creatively.
“You can do whatever you want,” she said, noting her favorite medium is painting.
Senior Emily Thompson said she has always loved art and was glad she could take both two-dimensional and three-dimensional art classes at Trinity.
“I enjoyed this year a lot because there was a lot more freedom,” she said. “It was a lot of fun to just be able to take your ideas and pretty much run with it.”
Other projects the club has completed include ceramic cylinders that were used as centerpieces for Trinity’s annual fundraising auction this year, soup bowls for a soup dinner fundraiser, an adult coloring book fundraiser and Christmas ornaments and painted glasses to raise money for Southern Indiana Center for the Arts.
