The formerly cream-colored hallways at a local elementary school are now bursting with bright colors, rocket ships and even 3-D dinosaurs, thanks to efforts from a caring and involved art teacher.
Twenty-four freshman art students from Pleasant Grove High School gathered Friday in the second-grade hallway at PG Elementary School and dipped their brushes in various shades of green paint to transform the space with a math and science theme.
High school art teacher Nicole Brisco said the students created preliminary drafts and thumbnails prior to using their talents on the walls, and the plans include items such as gears, pipes and planets hanging from the ceiling. It incorporates the district's new science, technology, engineering, arts and math initiative, she said, and enhances each student's experience at the elementary school.
"When we changed over to a STEAM district, we started trying to create hallways that were theme-based to tie into that, so when the kids would walk through them, they would be inspired by their environment," she said. "Not just the stuff they do in the class, but in the rest of the school. These two hallways are going to be transformed into spaces that inspire creativity through astronomy, through historical science, biology, recycling, rockets, things like that."
She said she, the teachers and Principal Chad Blain all pitched in last year on the school's first beautification project, with the first-grade hallway being completed over the summer. That one, with an English and reading through the arts theme, has been enhanced with individual student art placed there by the teachers and also features 3-D elements, including art comprised of painted slices of PVC pipe clustered like rainbow bubbles over the hallway entrance.
Over the summer, Brisco's art students created an installation in the cafeteria featuring many 5-foot-long yellow pencils hung with fishing line above the dining tables. Created from shipping tubes, the "falling" pencils have pink erasers and "Pleasant Grove No. 1" painted on the side.
"That was a $100 investment that made a huge impact," Brisco said. "That's kind of what we had to think about, in terms of being cost-effective. That's good for kids to know."
She said the redesign was good for her students, as they were learning skills they wouldn't get in the classroom.
"A lot of kids aren't used to doing this kind of work, so it's been a good experience for them to see the labor it takes to transform things and do things and to care about craftsmanship, details, that kind of stuff," she said. "It can get lost a lot on this generation."
Many of the freshmen painting Friday attended the elementary school, including Elle Sanderson, who said she's having fun working on the project.
"It's nice to come and decorate it and make it look good for generations to come," she said. "Something so little can make such a big difference and just make it much more enjoyable."
Brisco said the projects have not only transformed the walls with vibrant color but also have brought new life to the space.
"I don't think you notice the age of the building when it's so filled with life like this, with so much color and nice artistic visions," she said. "I've tried to unify the school so all of them kind of fit together. Even though it's a bit of an older building, it has a nice feel to it. It just needed some updating."